7 Tips for Enhancing Company Culture

1. Internal Culture and External Branding Must be Consistent

Make sure that your messaging is consistent. It can be tremendously damaging to tell clients one thing and employees another. A brand that projects positivity and proactiveness should be a reflection of internal culture and vice versa. A company with a brand that is committed to delivering on promises should be delivered to employees. Company culture is all about consistency – if their brand and culture do not march in lockstep distrust is inevitable and customer satisfaction will suffer. Alignment between brand and culture is essential.

2. Listen Carefully to Employees

A sense of belonging gives employees comfort. It is essential that employees feel that they are part of a unit (also known as company culture). Effective leadership and active listening is essential. There are three tactics to ensure that this happens. The first is to brand the employee experience in the same way as the company brands itself externally. Secondly, motivate employees at group level and thirdly motivate them on a personal level.

3. Feedback is Essential

A company culture that values employee happiness is more productive and simply a better place to work. The key to this is to listen to what employees are saying. It is easy to decide that we know best – but a more effective approach is to solicit input from employees about what makes them happy. Employee feedback allows both management and staff to find common ground – but that process must be ongoing.

4. Focus on the Individual Strengths of each Employee

Beware of focusing exclusively on employee happiness – doing so can lead to implementations that do not make a long-term impact. There has been extensive research indicating that when management focuses on employee strengths individuals are much more satisfied with their contributions. Identifying what motivates the individual leads to a more positive customer experience.

5. Align Culture with Company Vision

Culture can be unique to each organization – and it must be aligned to the company vision. Affiliations are extremely important to human beings – and by encouraging that affiliation the organization can attract and retain staff who will actively assist in making the company vision a reality.

6. Provide a Journey of Empowerment

There are definite similarities between the customer journey and the employee journey. That journey is less about top-down control, but rather a journey of empowerment and positivity. Empowering employees to explore development and providing them with a sense of purpose (aligned to the company vision), as well as providing clarity on their goals and tasks will allow the company to thrive. Trust, commitment, and peer accountability are essential to achieving a vision.

7. Education and Transparency are Essential

The idea that continued education and transparency are key to the achievement of a strategic vision has been proven by study after study. Both employees and business owners need to understand the importance of engagement, as well as the strategic imperative of productivity and management commitment to the happiness of each employee. Once those three components are integrated then customer satisfaction is all but ensured.

Strengths and Areas of Improvement Examples

Managers and team members have the opportunity to comment on the team member’s strengths and Areas of Improvement Examples in the annual performance review. This feedback is an important link between the performance review and development plan, helping team members identify steps they can take to increase their strengths and improve their performance. Development plans consist of action steps associated with development objectives and are intended to be updated throughout the year.