Growing and scaling companies know that culture change is essential. But even in more established organizations, your culture should be something that you’re constantly striving to improve.
When we talk about the future of work, a lot of the conversations hinge around working environments – but there’s no reason that we can’t also think about company culture in relation to workplace improvements.
So if you’re looking to change your company culture in 2022, here are five new years resolutions you can make to start off on the right foot:
1. Conduct an employee culture survey
If company culture is on your radar, you’re already on the right track. It sounds obvious, but many businesses still don’t believe company culture is an important aspect of the workplace. The ideas around what company culture is can also be outdated; culture is more than mandatory after-work activites.
The best place to start improving your company culture in 2022 is by asking your teammates what’s working, and what’s not at the moment. Creating an anonymous survey where your employees can share their opinions is a great way to take stock of your starting point, and get ideas for improvements.
2. Commit to trying something new
They say new year new you for a reason. When we push ourselves out of our comfort zone, we often get great results. For 2022 challenge your company to try something new in regards to your company culture. This could be anything from a four-day workweek to giving each employee an extra paid day off work to volunteer with. You could also host a virtual event, get a guest speaker, or host a lunch and learn series with business stakeholders.
3. Dedicate some budget to an employee initiative
Investing in your employees doesn’t just mean paying their salaries. Putting aside some budget for employees to access in order to run their own culture initiative is a good way to empower your team mates. Wether it’s tied to a cultural holiday, or a cause close to an employees heart, putting your money where your mouth is can help build a better company culture.
4. Host a town hall
If you don’t already host semi-regular town halls in your company, you should start in 2022. Especially if your team is mostly remote, having a all-hands check in where wider company issues are discussed and successes are shared is a good way to boost team morale.
These can take different formats depending on how they are delivered and the size of your company, but town halls can include:
- Product updates and demos
- CEO message
- Company forecasts
- Introductions to new team members
- A Q&A session
- Customer success stories
- Employee recognition
5. Revamp your culture playbook
You should update your company playbooks on a yearly basis as a form of good housekeeping. The point of contact for certain circumstances may have changed, or a software process might have an update. The same is true of your culture playbook.
Based on the feedback from your employees, and new initiatives you have tried, it’s good to update your playbook with these findings and successes. It’s also important to make sure that the information you share in your playbook is up to date and accurate.
In your playbook update you should also consider rethinking the policies and processes for internal communications, in order to make sure they are accessible to your entire workforce.