As a business leader, it is your responsibility to ensure your team enjoys coming to work each day. A hostile, inefficient, or poorly managed environment will not only impact morale, but it can affect a company’s reputation, productivity, and profitability.
If you want to retain your top talent and run an efficient, harmonious business, you might need to transform your team’s working life. For help getting started, read this informative guide to improving a brand’s company culture.
Work on Communication
Every leader must take the time to communicate a company’s missions, values, and vision for the future. By doing so, both the business and staff will have a shared goal, which can improve engagement and brand loyalty.
According to Harvard Business Review, employees who understand a company’s values are 51 times more likely to be fully engaged than those who don’t know or understand a brand’s goals.
Listen to Your Team
Many managers make the mistake of delegating tasks to their employees without taking the time to listen to their needs. However, it’s important to check-in on your team members to identify any problems they are facing or concerns they have in their role.
Setting time aside to listen to your employees’ worries, ideas, and issues could improve morale and make you appear more approachable. A recent Gallup poll proved the importance of listening to staff, as 65% of employees who believed they couldn’t approach their managers felt actively disengaged with a company.
If you are guilty of not listening to your staff, you can right this wrong by:
- Providing opportunities for your employees to speak – such as hosting one-to-one meetings, requesting they fill in surveys, and taking questions after meetings.
- Asking about their career goals and offering constructive feedback.
- Stating you have an open-door policy for problems or questions.
- Taking action after gathering feedback.
- Following up on their worries, problems, and ideas.
Plan Team Building Events
Create a positive atmosphere at work by encouraging your employees to develop friendly relationships outside of the office. To do so, you could host various team-building events to help your team get to know each other.
Fantastic team-building activities can include:
- Hiking trips
- Laser tag
- Escape rooms
- Scavenger hunts
The above activities could help your staff members feel a part of a talented, friendly team, which can boost productivity, efficiency, and morale.
Lead by Example
A leader’s actions can determine a company’s culture. If you arrive late to work, lie to clients, or ignore requests for help, your employees might believe they are free to act the same way. Avoid creating a negative, hostile, and unproductive work environment by leading by example. For example, you must arrive to work on schedule, avoid leaving early, practice transparency, and communicate with others in a professional, approachable, and honest manner.
Speak to Members of Management
Every member of staff must be on the same page when it comes to the company’s missions, vision, and values. While you might be leading by example, other members of management might not. To build a positive company culture, your senior employees must follow in your footsteps. Gather your managers and supervisors together to discuss the importance of embodying the values set.
Support Your Employees’ Career Goals
Every employee on your payroll will have hopes and dreams for the future, which you shouldn’t ignore. If you do, you could lose a talented member of staff to a more caring competitor. Instead, you must ask your employees where they see themselves in five years and then create a roadmap to success.
Also, you could support your employees’ dreams by providing:
- Mentorship programs
- Training and development opportunities
- Regular evaluations
If you invest time and money into your employees’ career progression, they will be less likely to leave your business for an industry rival.
Reward Your Team
Your employees will have worked hard throughout the year to improve your company’s reputation, productivity, and profitability. Rather than ignoring their efforts, you must look for ways to reward your hard-working team.
For instance, you could provide various office perks, such as free fruit, a relaxing lounge space, company massages, etc. Also, you could host annual events to thank your employees for all their hard work and achievements throughout the year.
Visit Alive Network for inspiration on how to create fun and memorable corporate events, as you can host themed parties or hire party bands or after-dinner entertainers. It’s a fantastic way to express your appreciation, and it could help your employees to strengthen relationships with co-workers outside of the workplace.
Offer Flexible Working Hours
Even your hardest-working members of staff will have personal responsibilities, such as childcare issues, healthcare appointments, or caregiving requirements. Create a happier workforce by providing your talented team with flexible working hours. It will help your employees to juggle their personal and professional responsibilities, which will take some of the pressure off their shoulders.
Conduct Annual Company Culture Audits
A business is only as strong as its team. As your departments will be busy managing various tasks and projects each day, it is easy for values and goals to be ignored or forgotten. It is for this reason why you must schedule annual company culture audits. In addition to reviewing existing processes and perks, you must survey your team to identify if your efforts are working or there is more work to be done to create a happy, productive work environment.
Conclusion
Good leaders understand the importance of developing a positive company culture. If your employees appear bored and disengaged, or your business is struggling with a high staff turnover, you might need to boost morale. Ensure you don’t lose a talented employee by listening to your staff, improving your communication skills, and leading by example.
Plus, you must look for ways to reward their efforts and create a supportive, friendly workplace. It could increase employee engagement and business productivity while helping your brand to develop a positive reputation as a caring employer.