5 Ways to Change Company Culture

If you are at c-suite level, a HR manager or are part of the company’s recruitment team, company culture in the workplace, as you know is not a new concept. As technology continues to advance and startups come up in recent years, there has been a growing demand for the millennial to join the workforce. The increase in this generation in the workplace continues to create a buzz around the “company culture” terminology. But, what is the company culture? It has to do with how people are expected to behave in the workplace. This culture is rooted in the shared values and beliefs of employees. Given the growing demand for organisations to develop this culture, here are five ways to change it:

1. Revamp communication

One of the things that can damage company culture is the lack of clear communication channels. When the communication is bad, there is a lack of trust, transparency, and morale among employees. How then can you improve communication to change your company’s culture? First, you need to let your staff know that they are valued and that their opinions matter. This approach involves allowing them to share their views during meetings and other forums.

Additionally, you can also encourage content sharing among your staff where they share documents through the available communication platforms. It is recommended that they use document compressing tools that convert word to pdf for example, or work on live documents through services such as google docs/sheets. Through knowledge sharing, you will create a closely-knit team that improves the company culture.

For more tips on communication techniques while employees are working from home see:

2. Have proponents from the top

For change to be well accepted by employees, it must be visible from the top. A culture change will only stick when it is the priority of the board of directors and the chief executive officer. Therefore, your role as a human resource officer is to develop a framework that shows the board of directors the importance of company culture in your organisation. Senior executives are always looking to support something that has a positive impact on the company’s performance. Therefore, your role is to come up with a plan that shows the contribution of company culture to the organisation’s output. Once your pitch is accepted by the board, the rest of the employees will follow in the same manner.

3. Develop a rewarding culture

One of the ways to make your staff feel appreciated is through your company’s reward culture. This approach is an old strategy and has been proven every time. Reward in the workplace can be a congratulatory email or e-card to an employee that excelled in their duties or monetary reward in the form of gift vouchers and bonuses if budgets allow. A rewarding system will build a culture of trust among your employees as they nominate one another for the reward. This system should be transparent so that your employees feel motivated to take part in it. Over time, you will contribute to changing your company’s culture for the better!

4. Invest in your employees

When you are overseeing operations in a small organisation, it is difficult to perform major investments the way the likes of Silicon Valley companies do. However, that does not mean that you should not transform your employee’s working space. Investment involves simple things such as changing your staff’s office design and training them. These two changes are linked to improved productivity and change in the company’s culture.

5. Have a feedback system

Developing a feedback system also changes your workplace culture significantly. But, what does a feedback system entail? This system allows employees to give views about various things in your organisation. The advantage of this system is that it highlights the areas that need improvement in the company. When the suggested issues are sorted out, employees tend to develop a positive culture that takes the company forward. You will be surprised to find out that employees also give positive feedback. Doing so enables them to appreciate the good things that are happening in your organisation that makes them develop a culture of gratitude. Tools such as Peakon and SurveyMonkey allow anonymous responses to be fed back to the senior leadership team securely, to be considered and implemented if relevant.

Summary

Changing a company’s culture is not a one-day affair. When you implement the above tips, you will need to exercise some patience for positive changes to be realised over time. It’s important not to follow trends just because competitors are doing so.