A crucial, and often overlooked, part of building any business is being purposeful about your company culture. Building a good company culture should be in your top three priorities when it comes to growing, adjusting, or scaling your business.
But what a good company culture looks like in practice is more difficult to define. Each company has a different culture unique to their employees, industry, and values. And whilst it’s hard to define exactly what constitutes as “good company culture” there are signs you can look out for.
1. Your staff turnover is low
It’s a well-known concept that people don’t leave jobs, they leave workplaces. It could be because of a bad manager, a work pace that is impractical for employees, or a lack of respect from management.
However if your staff turnover is low, and when staff leave it’s for practical reasons such as relocation or a career change, you can take this as a sign that your company culture is pretty good.
2. Your workplace is diverse
Creating a company where people from all backgrounds are able to thrive is a great sign that you are fostering a good company culture. Different experiences breed different ideas, and making sure that you are actively creating a diverse workplace is a great way to build a great culture.
An inclusive workplace is a good workplace, and it’s important to make sure you are prioritizing your Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts as part of your drive to improve company culture.
3. People feel empowered to take ownership of their jobs
Remember your first job when you were too afraid to ask questions because you didn’t understand? We’ve all experienced that, and it can be stressful to be the newcomer—especially when you’re just starting out. But picture a place where you not only felt encouraged to voice your thoughts but were also backed up in doing so.
Creating a good company culture means creating a respectful and supportive environment for people to take full ownership over their jobs, and to do so with pride.
4. Your employees say so
Your employees are the people you’re building a good company culture for – so why not ask them if you have a good company culture?
Conducting an anonymous culture survey is an effective way to check if your team feels the impact of your culture-building efforts and if you’re focusing on the right aspects of culture. If an anonymous survey isn’t suitable for you, think about organizing a town hall or an Ask Me Anything session to encourage employee feedback.
Though you might find, more often than not, if your company culture isn’t working for your employees you’ll hear about it through exit interviews or informal chats.
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If you tick all four of these boxes – congratulations! You have a good company culture. That doesn’t mean your work is done though. Good company culture should be ever-evolving, and as your team grows and changes your company culture must grow and change too.