Firstly, it’s important to define what we mean by company culture. This should be defined as how you treat your employees, the values you promote internally and the impact you have to make your team’s work-life better. 

Heading into 2020, there has been a focus on how businesses treat their staff, the values they promote as an organisation and so on. It may seem like a no-brainer, as having a happy and motivated team ultimately leads to improved productivity. However, you can have much more of an impact than that. 

By focusing on a strong company culture that is aligned by values, your positive-impact can extend to your employee’s family and friends, to other businesses trying to find their way and ultimately on your own life. 

Below are some examples of how you could work on the culture within your company.

1. Celebrate every achievement, big or small. 

This may seem tedious or unproductive, but the effect you can have on your employees by celebrating or commending them on initiatives important to them could mean the world. Recognition is something that we see fall in many companies, not out of lack of care, but lack of understanding. Take the time to understand every discipline and what they want to achieve. Once they reach their goals, you’ll have a better understanding of the impact it has and be able to genuinely celebrate alongside your team.

2. Spend time with your team in the environment they want 

Taking your team to an environment you like defeats the purpose of going at all. Ask around and find out your team’s likes and dislikes, places they hang out and activities they like to do. No doubt, you will find a correlation somewhere that you can use to schedule an activity everyone will enjoy. They will appreciate the time and effort you put into understanding them and their personal lives. By having activities external to work, this assists in building stronger bonds internally which ultimately improves team cohesion.

3. Define your values and ensure you understand your team’s values 

It’s easy to sit there and say “We as a business stand for X, Y, Z” but have you ever taken the time to see if your team agrees or aligns with this? Talk to your colleagues in a group setting and have them workshop what they see as the vision going forward. You will be able to find trends and correlations between different visions and ultimately articulate one that everyone agrees with and is happy to work towards. When everyone is working towards the same objective, you’ll be surprised at how much more productive and passionate people will become.

Aside from business values, everyone has their own personal values. For example, some find tardiness rude, others appreciate no interruptions and some just enjoy a bit of mingling in the morning. Understanding these different internal values for each of your team members will allow you to build stronger relationships where they trust you and your opinions. This will ultimately benefit you, your team and your business. 

There are so many ways to focus and build team culture. Heading into 2020, what will you be focusing on to help your team?