Organizations of the 21st century are leaning more towards building well-balanced, employee-centric work environments. This not only has a positive effect on the employees, but also attracts a long line of future leaders to your company.
Great leaders positively influence the way people work, think, act, and perform in an organization. Top executives who strive to hone a culture that promotes empowerment, learning, innovation, and fun is essential to the success of the company. Company leaders must also have the vision to develop a robust culture to effectively encourage employees to perform to the best of their abilities, instill ownership of work, and make them feel the significance of their role to the success of the business.
A healthy corporate culture starts with visionary top-level executives. Below is an illustration that tells us the different ways company leaders can elevate company culture and uplift team members to create a more dynamic work environment.
Signs of a Positive Company Culture
Imagine a company where employees look forward to working each day, surrounded by their colleagues (or friends). This is what a healthy work environment with a positive company culture looks like. A strong culture elevates employees’ productivity, efficiency, and overall performance—resulting in happy employees, satisfied customers, and increased revenue.
1. Low employee turnover
When current employees stick around for years and display no intentions of resigning from the organization anytime soon, you know that it’s a good place to work. An attractive paycheck may motivate employees to show up, but a positive work culture inspires them to stick around. Some companies provide average compensation but still manages to keep employees around for longer. Less stress, more recognition, and work-life balance are powerful motivations for employees.
2. A sense of employee engagement
Collaboration is an indicator of a healthy work culture. If your employees work together to accomplish tasks or find solutions to problematic processes in the organization, then you’re on the right track to creating a winning culture. Employee engagement can also go beyond work-related activities.
For instance, when the company sponsors charity events on rest days and almost everyone shows up to assist and support. This indicates that the employees echo the company’s initiatives willingly. When employees have a strong bond with their team and the company, they stick around for long.
3. Open communication
No gossiping, no internalized grudges, and no hidden agenda can be felt across the company. Having a work environment that observes complete transparency from the top to the bottom rung of the ladder cultivates a sense of trust and security among employees. Companies supporting this philosophy makes each member of the organization feel “in the loop,” leaving no one behind. When employees know where they stand and see where the company is headed, they feel more secure and confident in their role.
4. Clear mission and values
Organizations with strong and healthy cultures effectively communicate their mission and values across the board. Company leaders live up to these values and demonstrate them in practices. In effect, employees emulate their leader’s actions and take the company values to heart. Additionally, leaders ensure that the company’s mission and values are manifested into their internal and external affairs.
5. The absence of office politics
There’s nothing healthier than a workplace that is utterly devoid of negativity office politics bring. This is one of the powerful indicators that a company thrives in shaping a healthy culture for everyone. When top executives solicit recommendations, acknowledge all wins—big or small, and hears out every employee, they leave little to no room for gossip and backbiting.
6. Happy employees
Company leaders know the value and importance of their employees’ well-being and happiness. After all, happy employees perform really well, resulting in an increase in business revenue. Invested employees who are driven to deliver quality work even beyond their responsibilities signifies a strong organizational culture.
Leadership Characteristics for Successful Culture Change
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Defined behavior
Leaders demonstrate specific behaviors, such as empathy, adaptability, active listening, and more that have a significant influence on their employees. These leadership behaviors are displayed in meetings and day-to-day interactions with employees. Seeing top executives exhibit such demeanor inspires employees to emulate the same principles and strive for their common goal.
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Strong principles and values
Good company culture is built on a strong foundation of core values. Top leaders take the time to establish the company’s core values, like transparency, accountability, integrity, and collaboration, among others, so the employees also know what particular values to uphold. C-suite executives ingrain what company principles the organization stands for, what shapes a positive company culture, and what encourages people to stay.
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Accountable
Top executives don’t take full credit for department wins or worse, take full credit for other people’s accomplishments. Instead, they share the success with their team. Leaders are answerable to any outcomes of a project—even when it’s negative. They are ready to take full responsibility, accept consequences, and won’t pass the blame to other employees. After all, success is sweeter when it’s a collective effort fueled by a common goal.
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Always visible
Who do employees look up to or reach out to when things don’t go as planned? Top leaders know that visibility is vital in all aspects of the business. Employees should know that there’s a captain aboard the ship and they’re commanding the crew in the right direction. This fosters trust and empowers the people in the organization.
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Holistic attitude
A surefire way to become an effective cultural activist and promote real change is to go deep into each stage of the employee life cycle. A fun and energetic startup culture won’t prosper in a micro-managed and over-engineered environment. Great leaders take into consideration the mental and social aspects of the work to support and foster the right culture.
It’s All About the Culture
At its core, company culture is more than just health benefits, all-you-can-eat snack bars, free gym memberships, or sleeping pods. It’s the lingering inspiration, motivation, and collective purpose evoked by the people at the top of the hierarchy.
Find C-suite executives who have a genuine desire to ingrain a positive cultural change in the company. You can get help from your recruitment agency to find the top talents you need to cultivate a healthy work environment where employees are happy and productive, resulting in business growth.
