Top tips for building a strong company culture
While the term culture might be easy to define in pleasing words, it can be much harder to grab hold of in daily business. Company culture can fall into the ‘nice to have’ space, but then be ignored or forgotten when times get tough.
But culture is definitely a ‘thing’ and all companies have one. It exists whether you like it or not and shouldn’t be neglected, especially during testing times.
A strong company culture is a driving force and underpins a successful, resilient team.
So what can you do? Buy a pin-ball machine for your people, install a slide between floors, give everybody unlimited leave? How about starting by paying people correctly and treating them with respect?
We’ve put together a list of top tips on how New Zealand businesses can develop and manage a good company culture.
1. Get the basics right
This is not the exciting side of people management, but do not underestimate the importance of setting a firm base for the employment relationship by sorting out the basics.
Make sure new people get essential paperwork, like employment agreements and company policies, before their first day of work. Be ready for them when they arrive; meet them and make them feel welcome.
Deliver an organised onboarding programme and establish objectives and key performance indicators at the start of the performance period not 6 months later because ‘somebody’ is waiting for ‘somebody else’ to sign them off.
This is about process, organisation, and meeting your legal obligations. Some of it may seem administrative and boring, but is critical to developing and maintaining credibility, which becomes the foundation of everything that follows. Discipline and good systems make it work.
2. Be human
The employment relationship is a human relationship.
Once the compliance work is complete, try not to manage every situation like you’re in a courtroom drama, even if an employee tries to.
Talk to people like people, seek to understand. Treat people fairly.
Even in tough situations, with potential dismissal outcomes, little is gained by behaving like the company is an army and you’re a military interrogator.
3. Listen
When a problem or complaint is raised, don’t become defensive. Listen to what is being said and even if the complaint is incorrect or ill-informed, try to understand where it has come from so you can avoid it happening again.
4. Have a clear strategy & align expectations to this
Knowing where you want to go will help you understand what you need to do. When a business strategy is clear, it will shape a culture, for example, aggressive growth vs. market consolidation vs. innovation.
Once the strategy is clear, it informs all decisions. You can hire people who will help deliver it and support the company culture. Team members will know where the company is going and how their efforts contribute. Management and leaders can be genuine, not fake.
In a strong and positive culture, everyone knows what to expect and what is expected.
5. Manage problems swiftly
Allowing behaviour that is inconsistent with the company’s values or at odds with the workplace culture is incredibly damaging, no matter how functionally proficient a person may be.
There is no excuse for bad behaviour. Deal with issues quickly and ethically. Remember the focus is on the wider team, not just the badly-behaved employee who needs performance management or disciplinary action.
This can be hard to get your head around when somebody is otherwise good at their job, but it is essential to maintaining a strong company culture.