We recently sat down with a small group of agency owners who are all doing great work in building their businesses and teams. They understand the value of a strong company culture and they strive to maintain those positive cultures in their organizations each and every day. As we discussed their challenges, as well as the wins within their organizations, a really thoughtful question was posed, What are the top 3 things we should be doing to maintain our company culture?
We thought this would be a great question to address on our blog because we know companies struggle to maintain and/or build the culture they want in their organizations. First off, you need to have core values in your organization before you can even think about how to maintain your company culture. If you need more direction on how to define your core values, check out our post, Core Values: What They Are and Why You Need Them. Once you have core values set, these are the most important things you can do inside your company/team to maintain your company culture:
Be Intentional
As a business owner or manager of a team, when you are intentional with your employees, you are able to connect with one another on a more personal level. When you show you care about your employees at a personal level, as well as at a professional level, you create teams that want to work for you and with you. You build loyal employees and teams that have a foundation of trust.
Live It Out
This is really like the saying goes, practice what you preach. Don’t just say we are a company that believes these specific core values. Don’t just say I’m a manager that does this or that. Demonstrate it. Live it out. It should be a part of what you do each and every day. It should come naturally. It shouldn’t be difficult. You can’t expect your employees to live it out if you don’t.
Remove Toxic Employees
Toxic employees tear apart teams and companies. They can make those that once liked their jobs, not want to go to work every day. They can make it difficult for teams to work well together and perform at their best. Toxic employees may be individual contributors on the team but they can also be managers. No matter what their position or title, when left unchecked, they can ruin the culture of any organization, big and small. And, they can force top talent to leave.
Maintaining your company culture starts from the top down. A manager can only do so much if leadership is not helping to build and maintain the company culture. If you need help building or maintaining your company culture, we can help! Email us today at contact@talentidgroup.com.