Corporate culture is essentially the way you and your team do things day to day in your business. Some businesses focus on creating a culture that is high performance, while others focus on being people-friendly. Generally speaking, people leave a firm because of the people in the business, rather than the firm itself. Getting the corporate culture right can be a great staff retention tool in any business.
If you find that your staff turnover rate is high even though you benchmark things like pay, etc., perhaps you should consider the culture of your business. people may be leaving because they don’t think it is a nice place to work.
So how do you turn things around in order to create a good, positive corporate culture? To start with, try to lead by example. If, for example, you want your team to be punctual and enthusiastic then you, as a manager, should display these characteristics yourself.
Many firms focus on creating a positive corporate culture through firm engagement. To really engage with your staff, you need to involve them more with decision making in the business. Empower your teams to make smaller decisions themselves, build trust and value feedback and suggestions from your team. By actively encouraging your people in this way you build relationships, motivate your people and really help them to engage with the business. This type of empowerment also tends to create a positive and more entrepreneurial culture in a business.
In order to create a positive culture in a business, management should take the opportunity to show appreciation to the members of the team. In addition to this, businesses should try to offer some flexibility to staff in terms of working hours and work practices. Whether staff have family commitments or wish to work earlier and finish earlier due to travel arrangements, etc – giving a degree of flexibility (on the condition that work is completed in line with the requirements of the business) can contribute to creating a more positive culture among the team.
Finally, in order to create a positive culture in your business, focus on getting the right balance between hard work and fun. The old adage of work hard, play hard rings true in the best businesses. Managers should make time for fun – whether it be a summer BBQ or drinks in a local bar – it’s the little things that count when it comes to making your business a great place to work.
