Improve Your Company Culture and Watch Productivity Soar
Amanda Parker
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowAt Collective Alternative, our company culture stems from the adoption of six core values — characteristics we strive to uphold that create a more rewarding experience both for our clients and the team internally.
Our core values are:
Integrity
Transparency
Initiative
Accountability
Relationships
Partnership
For us, these values lend themselves to creating a company culture that keeps employees engaged and invested while taking pride in their work and the overall success of the organization.
There’s no doubt that company culture is strongly linked to productivity — its influence touches every individual’s mindset and plays a key role in their level of engagement.
In addition to increased productivity, a positive culture will make for overall happier and healthier employees. Conversely, a toxic and unpleasant company culture can lead to high-stress situations for tightly wound workers whose well-being can suffer before they realize they’re better off elsewhere.
So, how can you help create a productive culture in your building? Try these tips:
Invest in your environment
Make your office a place employees actually enjoy being and are comfortably set up to work efficiently. Small, incremental upgrades to things like lighting and furniture may not seem like much more than line items on your budget, but they help foster a feeling among your employees that they’re valued and cared for while they work.
Acknowledge employees’ accomplishments and celebrate successes
A poor company culture can lead to employees feeling as though their contributions don’t matter. And if they don’t feel their efforts are appreciated, it’s only natural they’ll begin slacking and become less productive. Morale-boosting praise and recognition are some of the easiest and most effective motivational techniques.
Keeping open and transparent communication channels, setting goals, recognizing accomplishments and providing consistent feedback will improve the relationships among your team in addition to their engagement and productivity levels.
Offer opportunities for career development and advancement
Increased responsibilities promoting individual growth and a mindset of taking on new, bigger challenges will give employees goals to strive for and strengthen trust across your team.
Employee motivation studies have shown increased opportunities and career development efforts are among the biggest incentives that would spark better engagement, productivity and performance in your workers.
Just acknowledging that your office’s productivity is tied to your company culture isn’t enough to improve either, but it’s at least a step in the right direction. Try making real, actionable improvements to the culture your employees experience every day and boosts to the office’s productivity are sure to follow.
The most important thing to remember is your company culture and values will dictate your employees’ engagement — and a transparent, collaborative atmosphere is far more likely to produce positive and productive results than a competitive and cut-throat environment.
Has your company’s leadership team established a concrete set of core values for your organization? Getting those values down in writing — and out in front of your employees, customers and prospects — can become a valuable step toward building a thriving company culture that promotes a positive and productive environment.
Amanda Parker is the owner and president of Collective Alternative.