6 Easy Ways You Can Build a Strong Company Culture

Do you find yourself constantly cycling through employees?  Sure, you’ve hired some duds, but you’ve also brought on some people who you thought would be good contributors and help your team. But within a year, these people are leaving!

When you feel like you have a solid contributor, and he/she leaves your business – that’s a bitter pill to swallow.  So, why is it happening?  It’s a question many struggle to answer…  Here’s a likely answer: You need to evaluate the culture you have in your business!

Multiple surveys have been conducted asking people what they find most valuable about their workplace.  Their answers might shock you… It’s not money…  It’s not benefits.  Sure, those are important, but what people value most is being valued, working for a company they believe in, and being with a company that’s willing to invest in them!  They want a strong company culture!

What is a company culture?  A lot of businesses use their mission statements as a company culture, but a statement is only words on a piece of paper. The culture must be practiced and perfected every day, from the first person your customer sees to the person closing the sale.  A culture can be felt as soon as you walk into a company’s office and talk with the employees.  It’s a warm fuzzy feeling.

If you ask your employees if they know and understand your company culture, and they look at you strangely… that may be your issue.

Here are several things you can do to fix the issue:

• Invest in training – not just technical, but communication
• Have monthly meetings where you share what’s going on with the company and how it’s performing
• Create a profit-sharing program – the better the company does, the more money everyone gets at the end of the year.
• Meet with each employee about his/her career goals.  See how you can help him/her achieve those goals.
• Hold quarterly team activities, such as bowling, picnics, barbecues… anything to get everyone interacting.  Make it a family event.
• Make your team help you develop your company mission statement, rather than you developing it.

There are so many things that can be done to create a company culture.  Start working on developing your today… You’ll find that you won’t be losing your top people anymore!