A company’s culture is always changing to incorporate the need of the hour. The only constant is that there is no constant here. Yes, you read that right. It cannot be a hard and fast rule or a one- size fits all environment. A lot of factors are at play that eventually decide what kind of values and practices are adopted in an organization.
With that being said, there are some simple habits that can be fostered in the short and long run to harbour a positive and motivating culture for employees to work in and customers to observe. Let’s take a look at 5 key components that define the cultural DNA of a company:
1) Make Transparency Your Motto
Complete transparency is important for engaging employees. Openness and willingness to share information builds trust among the shareholders, employees and customers. It builds the foundation of an organization through collaboration and communication.
Adopting and embracing transparency starts at the very top and is all about a shift in mentality.
Instead of asking “is there a point in sharing this?”, ask yourself this – “is there actually any need to conceal this?”
2) Recognise and Reward Good Work
The hierarchy of professional needs ranks ‘recognition’ very highly, and rightly so. Peer recognition and public praise can make you feel seen and respected at the workplace. Moreover, it is important that valuable contributions are recognised by everyone from leaders and managers to peers and others. It can do wonders for the morale of an employee and keep him/her motivated and willing to acquire more skills.
An added bonus is that it organically enhances the rapport and professional relationships between colleagues.
3) Cultivate Long-Lasting Professional Bonds
Cultivation of solid professional bonds takes more than team-building activities and seminars. It can never be forced.
It takes time, patience and effort to do so. Trust, transparency and peer-to-peer is a big part of it as well.
Furthermore, it increases productivity and employees are more than willing to help each other when they have a great rapport in the workplace.
4) Inspire and Implement Employee Autonomy
Being micromanaged is something that nobody likes. It creates frustration, inefficiency and mistrust towards the company.
Giving autonomy to employees makes them more accountable. With the freedom to make decisions and create their own working style, employees will show initiative and take ownership of their tasks. Even if it seems hard to follow sometimes, it reaps big rewards later on.
5) Purpose with Passion
Passion promotes hard work and purpose gives you a reason to put in the hours.
They’re all intertwined and positively correlated. Everyone is looking for a sense of purpose in what they do and meaningful work is the best way to find that all-important attribute.
Communicating passion to the employees is a leader’s job. It builds the bridge between an employee’s purpose and the company’s passion towards its core mission, values and goals.
When purpose and passion meet, the only result is achieving excellence. That’s what dreams are made of.
Written by Gagan Dhawan
