Organizational culture directly can affect employees’ attitudes and productivity. According to www.forconstructionpros.com, a positive culture has engaged employees who feel respected, valued and invested; lower turnover; more innovation; and better ability to hire based on reputation. A company with a poor culture faces high turnover, disengaged employees, lower production quality and difficulty hiring.
There are ways to cultivate a more positive company culture, but it starts with commitment from leadership and taking an honest look at your current culture. Following are strategies to help you start creating the culture your company needs to become more innovative, productive, respected and profitable.
- Assess your organization by asking questions. For example, when you walk in the door, do you get the sense your employees like being there? Is there a shared feeling of ownership, responsibility and accountability?
- Assemble a team. Gather a group from all levels of the company to help build a new culture.
- Create a prioritized plan. Your team can help design a more positive culture; you can use a book, philosophy or even another organization as a template, but ultimately, it needs to become your plan with your voice.
- Empower managers and supervisors, who are in key positions that can significantly affect culture. To create and sustain a positive culture that will produce engaged employees, managers and supervisors must have training and buy in to the plan.
- Check communication. Successful companies recognize the importance of communication within the organization and ensure it fosters participation, shared decision making and open dialogue.
- Engage employees, who are the largest investment of any company. How you engage your employees is critical and can make the difference between the company surviving and thriving.
- Communicate progress by celebrating, acknowledging and rewarding. According to www.leapsome.com, 78% of U.S. employees say they would work harder if only they were given more recognition, and 35% explicitly note underappreciation negatively affects their productivity.
Creating a more positive culture is possible and often leads to greater innovation, increased productivity and a healthier financial outlook.
