How to Start Building a Great Company Culture
Defining your company will change your life
Building a great culture within your company is a project that will consume you for a long time if your strategy is successful. Although no ‘quick fix’ is going to work in the current business climate, if you set about the effort with a winning attitude, there will be no better place to be over the next few years. Keeping in mind that this is a marathon and not a sprint, it is best to start now.
What is valuable to you?
Your current position within the company will have a lot to do with your initial tactics. If you are the owner of the company, or the Human Resources Manager, then you will definitely have more power to shape the culture than if you are an assistant. But no matter your position, the first step in deciding and influencing the character of your organisation begins with deciding what your values are.
Do you share core values with your co-workers?
The identity of your company must be based on a core of shared values held by the members of that company. These shared values will be the base of the culture of the company.
Eliminate pre-conceptions
Before any guidelines can be presented, team members must be able to communicate their ideas and suggestions, and that begins with listening to each other.
Initial workshops can cultivate listening skills on a personal, role-playing level, and then transplant those skills to more formal structures until communication on all levels includes a willingness to accept the uniqueness of each individual. This process makes it easier to understand the uniqueness of their ideas and suggestions.
Create an environment where people can speak out
Start with the strength of your surrounding culture. Australian business culture has a forceful honesty combined with a conservative presence that serves a disciplined strategy very well. Do not confuse the respect for traditional business etiquette with restriction of creativity. But don’t dismiss a complaint without being able to prove that you understand exactly what the complaint is really about. For example, maybe there is a good reason to change the dress code.
Encourage your own creativity with a well-rounded lifestyle
Linda Lacina presents this useful infographic which includes suggestions for supporting your creativity by meditation, diverting walks, healthy living, innovative conversations, and challenging ideas. Positive inquiry into the unknown is essential if we are to understand the future as it is evolving.
Contact us for more ideas about directing your firm toward a creative and productive future, and to find out about our upcoming events.