If your company had a personality, how would you describe it?

If you can answer this question, you probably have a good grasp of the culture of your organization. 

If not, you may want to take an in-depth look at how your employees would describe it. 

Ensuring your company has a positive culture is not only crucial to hiring and retaining talent but crucial for the overall growth of the organization.

The challenges of engaging a remote workforce have placed more importance than ever on culture and engaging your team. This will be no different in 2022. 

Defining the organizational culture is the first step. You may think this means pizza parties and happy hours and it certainly can. But culture goes way beyond being a social thing. The culture of a company includes values, behaviors, and the attitudes of all involved.

You likely have an overall mission statement for your organization. This should extend to employees and company culture as well in the form of a Core Value Statement. If you don’t have a Core Value Statement in place currently, creating one should be on your 2022 goals. If possible, let your employees help in developing it. Allowing them to be part of the process will increase their buy-in to the vision and values you outline. 

Some things to consider when determining your desired culture:

Recognize the Value of Your Employees.

Pledge to invest in their personal development will show your employees that their talents are appreciated. Demonstrate that there is room for growth within the organization and promote from within whenever possible. 

Commit to Productive Communication.

Make sure that anyone who needs to know the information being communicated is part of the conversation. Schedule meetings that create the most value for time and stick to agendas. Always allow for 360-degree communication within the company. 

Allow Mutual and Respectful Feedback.

Welcoming an open dialogue in which employees can voice their opinions safely will show that they are valued by leadership. 

Avoid Silo Mentality.

This is especially important in a remote workforce. Employees need to feel connected and know what’s going on inside the company. It’s easy for workers to fall into a pattern of working within their team, only. 

Finally, just as you would survey your clients to gauge their satisfaction, periodic surveys of your employees can speak volumes as to what you are doing right with culture and where you need to make improvements.  

The Important thing to remember is that taking action is best done sooner, rather than later. Having a culture plan in place will only contribute to the long-term growth of your organization.