How to Improve Your Company Culture

As a manager or leader, it’s important to recognize the value of company culture and its impact on the success of any team. A negative environment can breed more negativity, lethargy and general apathy that will impede forward progress. Alternatively, a positive environment can inspire, motivate and unite a team to work together to bring success to the company. It is your job to ensure that the company culture reflects the values of the company and positively supports productivity.

Happy employees are productive employees. So, what do you do when you realize that your company culture is no longer serving its employees or the company itself? It may be time to make some changes. Here are a few ways to improve your company culture and get your team back on the road to success.

Evaluate the Problem Areas

The first step towards making a positive change in your company culture is recognizing and evaluating the problem areas. Take a hard look at the systems in place and the efficiency of your team to see if you’ve really set your staff up for success or if they’re working with a system that doesn’t allow them to shine. View these problem areas as an opportunity to grow and develop as a team, and not so much as a roadblock to success. Your company should be dynamic, always changing and evolving in step with shifts in the industry.

Once you’ve evaluated the areas that need improvement, the next step is implementing changes that will have a positive impact on the company culture, while also continuing to evaluate their success.

Communicate with Your Team

One of the most crucial parts of improving your company culture is the line of communication you keep with your team. Their input is valuable and necessary to make the choices and actions that will influence positive change within the company.

When you’ve evaluated your company culture and pinpointed the opportunities for improvement, communicate those opportunities with your team. Ask for their insight on what they’d like to see changed within the office and involve them in the process of making those changes. Improving your company culture is largely about making sure that each individual is contributing to the overall success of the team. You want to build a company culture that is inclusive, supportive and comfortable for all of your employees, so it is important to show them that their insight is valued and their ideas are put to practice.

Implement Changes Slowly

When you’ve recognized and communicated a need for change within your office, the natural inclination is to proceed full speed ahead and set your plan in motion. While it is important to act on the ideas and plans you’ve communicated with your team, don’t expect too much to change too quickly.

There are many systems in place that keep an office running smoothly, and changing even just one of those can throw of the flow of productivity. Ultimately, the changes you will make to your company culture will benefit the team and the company in the long run, but trying to change everything overnight may be too much chaos for your team to manage while also trying to complete their daily tasks.

Ease into the process and make changes slowly to allow your team some time to adjust, as well as to give yourself a chance to evaluate the success of those changes.

Get Feedback Regularly

Once you have opened a line of communication to your team, it is important to keep that line open. When working to improve your company culture, you cannot ask for the input of your employees and then end the conversation there. This continuous conversation should be considerate of the changes taking place within the company and within your industry. Make it known to your team that their feedback is appreciated and necessary in maintaining the changes you have chosen to implement. When feedback is offered, receive the information openly.

If you recognize that it’s time for a change in your company culture, don’t despair. Every company experiences such changes - it is a necessary step in growth and development. Recognize and evaluate your problem areas, communicate with your team and set the wheels in motion towards positive change at a pace that is manageable for everyone. You’ll soon be celebrating a culture that sets your team up for success.

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