Imagine walking into the office on a Monday morning, only to be met with a series of awkwardness and people trying to avoid eye contact. Conversations come to an abrupt halt the moment you walk into the break room. Your top talent just walked out the door–the third one to leave this month. That’s what struggling with toxic company culture looks like.
But here’s the good news: your company’s culture can be fixed, and you won’t need to break the bank to pull it off. Sometimes, all it takes is a nudge in the right direction to set things straight. Let’s get down to exactly how to improve company culture.
Why Company Culture Actually Matters
Per Harvard Business Review, companies with a strong culture tend to leave their competitors in the dust, outperforming them by as much as 200%. Yes, you read that right: two hundred percent. That’s no typo.
Employee retention is also way higher when things are done right – high turnover suddenly drops by 40% in most cases. Employee satisfaction and engagement are through the roof. And of course, your bottom line will be massive whenever business success comes knocking.
But put the numbers aside for a minute. Think back to that job where you go to work on Monday with a knot in your stomach. Where you felt completely invisible. Where it seemed like senior management were in a completely different world. That’s toxic culture at its finest – and it’s probably costing you your best work right now.
You’re probably spending more waking hours at work than anywhere else. When positive culture is on the rise, your team members bring their A-game – creativity, passion, and lots of loyalty. But when it’s toxic, they start looking outside, seeking job that will get them out of your company as soon as possible, even to your competitors.
Practical Tips on How to Improve Company Culture
Listen Before You Speak
Seriously, when was the last time you actually asked your staff what they need! We’re not talking about those generic year-end surveys that go straight into the abyss. We mean real conversations. Create an open forum where individuals are free to candid and say their mind. Start employee surveys each quarter–brief, targeted ones. And then–this is crucial–act on the employee feedback. Share results with the entire organization. Create action plans. Follow through. Nothing destroys trust more than asking for input and then ghosting everyone.
Make Employee Recognition a Daily Habit
Your people are absolutely stellar every single day, but when’s the last time anyone got appreciated? Employee recognition need not wait until the end of an annual review or a flashy awards ceremony. A recognition-rich culture ensures staff are lauded for their good works often and genuinely. Announce wins in team meetings. Build a hall of fame on your digital platforms where co-workers shout out one another. Celebrate outstanding individuals and teams, and even the new hire who has been coming up with fresh ideas. When people see their hard work is noticed and feel valued through proper recognition programs, it goes a long way in improving employee experience as well as employee performance.
Respect People’s Personal Lives
Your team members have lives outside work. Kids, hobbies, friends and even set aside time away once in a while for some quality “me time” or personal happy hour. Healthy work-life balance is very essential. So, offer flexible hours where possible. Actually encourage vacation time. Provide needed resources for proper physical health and mental health support – not just posters. When you respect personal lives, you get people who come in fully present–not empty shells counting down the minutes till Friday.
Be Transparent–Really Transparent
Open dialogue means good, bad and uncomfortable. Your people aren’t fragile. They can handle reality. In fact, they need reality in order to trust you. Hold town halls with leaders giving candid updates. Keep your open-door policy genuine, not just for show. Justify hard decisions. Own mistakes in public and show how you’re fixing them. When senior management role-models transparency, it creates safety. And in that security, people deliver their best work.
Recruit For Culture Add, Not Culture Fit
Most companies employ people who are ‘just like us.’ And then they wonder why they’re mired in groupthink. Hire people who align with your company’s core values, but have a different point of view and background and new ideas. In interviews, probe into how candidates’ personal values align with your company’s cultural values. Find people who’ll respectfully challenge assumptions. Support new hires to absorb positive company culture, but encourage their own voice. Your leadership team must model this too–if leaders all look and think the same, your toxic workplace culture worsens.
Signs Your Company Culture Changes Are Actually Working
So you’ve started to make some changes, but how can you tell for sure if they’re actually working?
Team meetings will start to feel like they have some real spark to them – people are actually participating and contributing. Staff from different teams or departments are no longer just tolerating each other, they now grab coffee together. You’ll also notice that employee surveys are showing up with more regular feedback filled with lots of positivity. Meanwhile your top talents aren’t feeling the need to polish up their LinkedIn profiles – they’re happy employees and have job satisfaction. When you bring on new staff, they start to stick around longer and get settled in faster. Before long people are coming to you with good ideas on their own.
Also, listen to the way people talk about their work. Are they still saying “they” or are they starting to say “we”? Are they sharing company successes like they would their own personal achievements? Actually telling their friends about the open positions we have? That’s when you know your corporate culture is starting to grow some roots.
Keep an eye on your staff engagement levels every quarter. Keep a close eye on staff turnover rates – especially when it comes to your high-performing employees. See if people are participating in social events and team collaboration projects. Make a point to check in with staff regularly – and pay attention to how their answers to your questions are evolving.
Common Mistakes That Kill Culture Progress
Now, let’s get into what not to do, because we’ve all witnessed companies attempt to culture hack and somehow make it worse.
- All talk, no action
- Crafting a gorgeous mission statement and company values poster–and then go back to the old ways of doing things? Your people aren’t stupid. They see through it instantly.
- One-size-fits-all solutions
- What works for Google may not work for your accounting firm. Your culture should match your organizational culture, not some trendy pattern.
- Ignoring toxic people
- One toxic manager can ruin the culture you’re trying to grow. If they keep breaking your company’s values, they have to go – regardless of how important they may be.
- Thinking of culture as a project
- Culture is not a fix-it-then-forget item. It’s an open loop that demands your leadership team’s ongoing attention.
- Forgetting remote employees
- If your culture efforts only work for people in physical workspace, you’re leaving a big chunk of your organization behind.
Final
Boosting strong company culture isn’t a mission impossible. It all comes down to treating people like actual human beings, not just some asset to be used and abandoned. Although your company culture won’t change overnight, making persistent, small changes in how you lead, in transparent communications, and in showing care, can transform indifferent workers into passionate team members.
And the best part is–when you know how to improve company culture and get it right, everything else just kind of fall into place. Your employees love coming to work, your business starts to thrive, innovation becomes second nature, and you’re well on your road to long term-success. Not because you’re forcing it, but because you’ve created a positive work environment where good people can do great work.