The culture you have at your company is extremely important to your future success. Your business has a culture whether you recognize it or not and it greatly affects the way your business gets operated and whether it is productive or not. Those business owners and entrepreneurs that know what kind of culture they want, and promote it, are the ones that are the most successful. Some companies are engulfed and drowned by the company culture that has reared itself while others pay special attention to it and feed it over time to create an environment of excellence and productivity.
- The first thing you need to decide on is what type of culture you wish to foment at your company. All businesses are different. Once you have a handle on that you need to go about hiring the right people who will reflect the culture you want to see and who will thrive in it.
- After you have a plan to try and assemble the right fit and the right people, encourage your workforce to communicate and get to know one another better. Let them know one another as people and for what they do at the company as part of the overall company mission and success. Encourage them and set up situations which will allow them to mingle and get to know one another on a more intimate level.
- Take the time to set up some perks for them and a program for rewarding their exceptional efforts. It is all about establishing a shared vision and a sense of belonging to create something together. If an employee has done a great job, or continues to go above and beyond, reward them. Cash is always nice but so are gift certificates and a day off with pay. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or costly. What really matters, what is really seen and felt by them, is the pat on the back and the recognition. People like to feel appreciated.
- The final thing you need to focus on is being on the proverbial lookout for signs of burnout. Many of the larger companies don’t care about this because they figure they have a warehouse full of resumes. For the small business, however, employee burnout can have a disastrous affect on the business. There are many strategies to consider with regard to burnout but one of the most effective is trying to create a culture where they won’t feel overwhelmed trying to balance their professional and personal lives.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
