How to build a strong company culture is crucial for any business looking to thrive. A positive company culture can help you attract and retain top talent, boost employee engagement, and drive better results.
In this article, we’ll explore the key elements of how to build a strong company culture and provide actionable tips to help you get started.
Mastering how to build a strong company culture is like laying the foundation for a skyscraper. You’ve got to get it right from the start, or the whole thing could come tumbling down later.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin, fear not – I’m here to guide you every step of the way. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll dive deep into the key strategies of how to build a strong company culture and tactics for creating a thriving organizational culture that sets your business up for long-term success.
Table Of Contents:
- How to Build a Strong Company Culture from the Ground Up
- Encouraging Open Communication and Transparency
- Aligning Employee Experience with Company Mission
- Measuring and Improving Company Culture
- Case Study: Adobe’s Culture Transformation
- Key Takeaway
- Conclusion
How to Build a Strong Company Culture from the Ground Up
A healthy company culture is the secret sauce that makes employees excited to come to work every day. It’s what attracts top talent and keeps them sticking around for the long haul. But creating a strong organizational culture doesn’t happen by accident.
It takes intentional effort and a clear vision from leadership.
So where do you start? The first step is to get crystal clear on your company’s mission statement, vision, and values. These are the guiding principles that will shape every aspect of your company culture, from hiring and onboarding to performance management and employee recognition.
Your mission statement should articulate the purpose of your organization – why you exist and the impact you aim to have on the world. Your vision is the long-term aspiration of what you want to achieve. Your values are the core beliefs and behaviours that define your work culture and how you interact with each other.
These foundational elements must be more than just words on a page. They need to be lived and breathed by everyone in the organization, starting with the leadership team.
That means consistently communicating and reinforcing them, and making decisions that align with your stated company values even when it’s hard.
Photo by Brooke Cagle
Defining Your Company’s Core Values
At the heart of any great company culture are a set of core values that guide everything from hiring decisions to how team members interact with each other. These values aren’t just pretty words on a poster in the break room – they’re the north star that keeps everyone aligned and moving in the same direction.
When defining your company’s core values, it’s crucial to involve your team in the process. Ask for input on what matters most to them and what they believe should be the guiding principles of the organization. This collaborative approach not only leads to better buy-in, but also ensures your values are authentic and resonate with the people who will be living them every day.
Some examples of core values that many successful companies embrace include:
- Customer obsession.
- Innovation.
- Bias for action.
- Ownership.
- Learn and be curious.
- Hire and develop the best.
- Think big.
- Earn trust.
- Dive deep.
- Have backbone; disagree and commit.
- Deliver results.
The specific values you choose will depend on your unique context and goals, but the key is to select a small set of principles (usually 3-5) that truly capture what your organization stands for and what you value above all else.
Once you’ve defined your values, the next step is to integrate them into every aspect of your employee lifecycle, from hiring and onboarding to performance evaluations and promotions.
For example, many companies use values-based interview questions to assess cultural fit or include a section on living the values in their employee reviews.
Other ways to reinforce your values and bring them to life include:
- Telling stories that highlight examples of the values in action.
- Publicly recognizing and rewarding employees who exemplify the values.
- Encouraging leaders to model the values through their own behavior.
- Making tough decisions based on the values, even when it’s not the easy path.
- Continuously revisiting and reflecting on how well you’re living up to your stated values.
The Role of Leadership in Cultivating Culture
Photo by Mathias Jensen
By weaving your core values into the fabric of everything you do, you’ll create a stronger, more cohesive company culture where everyone is rowing in the same direction.
As a leader, your actions and words carry a lot of weight when it comes to shaping company culture. You set the tone for what’s acceptable behavior and what’s not. The way you show up every day – how you communicate, make decisions, and treat others – sends a powerful message about what really matters in your organization.“The culture of a company is the behavior of its leaders. Leaders get the behavior they exhibit and tolerate. You change the culture of the company by changing the behavior of its leaders.” – Larry Bossidy, former CEO of Honeywell Click To Tweet
One way leaders can have a big impact on company culture is by publicly recognizing and rewarding behaviors that align with the company values. By celebrating the right behaviors, you reinforce what’s important and encourage others to follow suit.
This could take many forms, such as:
- Giving shout-outs in company meetings or newsletters.
- Offering spot bonuses or other incentives for values-aligned actions.
- Featuring employee stories that embody the values on your website or social media.
- Promoting those who consistently live the values into leadership roles.
On the flip side, it’s equally important for leaders to address behaviors that don’t align with the desired company culture. This can be uncomfortable, but ignoring or tolerating misaligned actions sends the message that your values are just lip service.
The key is to approach these conversations with empathy and a growth mindset. Assume positive intent and focus on the behavior, not the person. Use it as an opportunity for coaching and development, rather than punishment.
Ultimately, building a strong company culture requires ongoing effort and commitment from leaders at all levels. It’s not a one-and-done initiative, but a daily practice of living your values, communicating consistently, and empowering your team to do the same.
Aligning Structure with Values
It’s not enough to just talk about your values – you need to ensure your company’s structure and processes support them. If one of your core values is collaboration but your office layout has everyone working in isolated cubicles, there’s a disconnect.
Take a hard look at your:
- Performance review process.
- Compensation structure.
- Communication channels.
Ensure they align with your cultural values. You may need to make changes to create a structure that truly supports the work culture you’re trying to build, such as:
- Implementing a transparent compensation model.
- Creating cross-functional teams.
- Offering flexible work arrangements to support work-life balance.
The key is to be intentional about designing a structure that reinforces your values. For example, if innovation is a core value, consider how you can create space and time for creative thinking and experimentation. That might mean offering dedicated innovation days, organizing hackathons, or providing resources for professional development.
If customer obsession is a top priority, think about how you can embed the voice of the customer into your decision-making processes. That might involve inviting customers to speak at company meetings, giving employees opportunities to shadow customer service calls, or tying bonus structures to customer satisfaction metrics.
The goal is to create a workplace culture that supports your values and helps your employees thrive. Aligning your company’s structure with your values is an essential aspect of how to build a strong company culture.
Encouraging Open Communication and Transparency
Photo by Gerd Altmann
Remember, how to build a strong company culture requires ongoing effort and adaptation as your business grows and evolves. It’s not a set-it-and-forget-it proposition, but a continuous process of aligning your structures, processes, and behaviors with your stated values and goals.
Open communication and transparency are key to creating a positive work culture. When employees feel like they’re kept in the dark, it breeds mistrust and resentment. But when there’s a culture of openness and honesty, team members feel valued and invested in the success of the company.
Transparency doesn’t mean sharing every little detail, but it does mean being upfront about the company’s goals, challenges, and decision-making processes. It means creating channels for employees to share their ideas, feedback, and concerns without fear of retribution.
Some ways to foster open communication and transparency include:
- Holding regular all-hands meetings to share updates and answer questions.
- Conducting anonymous employee surveys to gather honest feedback.
- Encouraging managers to have frequent 1:1 check-ins with their direct reports.
- Creating employee resource groups to provide support and amplify underrepresented voices.
- Sharing financial information and key metrics with the team (within reason).
- Admitting mistakes and failures openly, and framing them as learning opportunities.
Of course, building a culture of transparency requires a foundation of trust. Leaders need to model vulnerability and openness themselves, and create a safe space for others to do the same. That means listening actively, responding thoughtfully, and following through on commitments.
It also means setting clear expectations around what information is appropriate to share widely, and what needs to remain confidential. Be transparent about your transparency guidelines to avoid confusion or accidental over-sharing.
A transparent and open work culture is essential for building trust and fostering employee engagement.
Implementing an Open-Door Policy
Fostering open communication and transparency is a key component of how to build a strong company culture.
When done well, open communication and transparency can be powerful tools for building employee engagement, fostering innovation, and creating a shared sense of ownership and accountability.
One way to encourage open communication is by implementing an open-door policy. This means making it clear to employees that they can come to their manager or leadership with questions, ideas, or issues at any time.
Some tips for making an open-door policy effective:
- Make sure employees know it’s okay to share both positive and negative feedback.
- Schedule regular one-on-ones to proactively solicit input.
- Follow up on suggestions or concerns promptly.
- Create multiple channels for feedback, such as suggestion boxes or online forums.
- Train managers on active listening and effective feedback techniques.
An open-door policy doesn’t just mean leaving your physical office door open (although that can help!). It’s about creating an atmosphere of psychological safety where employees feel comfortable speaking up and sharing their thoughts.
To make this work, leaders need to be approachable and available. That means being mindful of body language, tone of voice, and other nonverbal cues that might unintentionally signal closedness or disinterest.
It also means being proactive about seeking out feedback and ideas, rather than waiting for employees to come to you. Schedule regular check-ins, hold office hours, or host town hall-style meetings to create dedicated space for dialogue.
Finally, it’s crucial to act on the feedback you receive. Nothing erodes trust faster than asking for input and then ignoring it. Even if you can’t implement every suggestion, be transparent about your decision-making process and explain the rationale behind your choices.
By creating a company culture of open communication and transparency, you’ll build trust, employee engagement, and a shared sense of ownership that drives long-term success.
Aligning Employee Experience with Company Mission
Another critical aspect of building a strong company culture is ensuring that the employee experience aligns with your company mission and values. From the moment a candidate first interacts with your brand to their last day on the job, every touchpoint should reinforce what your company stands for and why their work matters. Consistently reinforcing your company mission and values throughout the employee lifecycle is a crucial aspect of how to build a strong company culture.
This starts with your employer branding and recruitment marketing efforts. Are you highlighting your company culture and values in job descriptions, career site content, and social media posts? Are you seeking out candidates who not only have the right skills but also share your core beliefs?
Once hired, the onboarding process is a prime opportunity to immerse new employees in your company culture. Beyond the usual paperwork and logistics, consider how you can use this time to:
- Share your origin story and company mission.
- Explain how their role contributes to the bigger picture.
- Connect them with mentors and peers who embody the values.
- Give them a taste of the positive work culture through welcome events and swag.
As employees settle into their roles, it’s important to continue nurturing their connection to the company culture. Some ideas:
- Provide ongoing training and development opportunities aligned with your values.
- Encourage cross-functional collaboration and relationship-building.
- Celebrate milestones and successes together.
- Offer generous benefits and perks that support their well-being and work-life balance.
- Regularly seek out and act on their feedback and ideas.
Ensuring that the employee experience aligns with your company mission is another critical factor in how to build a strong company culture.
Measuring and Improving Company Culture
By being intentional about every stage of the employee journey, you’ll create a stronger sense of belonging, purpose, and engagement that leads to better retention and performance.
Like any business initiative, building a strong company culture requires ongoing measurement and iteration. You can’t just set it and forget it – you need to regularly assess how well your stated values and norms are being lived out in practice.
Some ways to measure the health of your company culture include:
- Employee engagement surveys.
- Retention and turnover rates.
- Employee net promoter scores (eNPS).
- Glassdoor and other third-party reviews.
- Exit interviews.
- Focus groups and roundtable discussions.
- Culture audits and assessments.
The key is to gather both quantitative and qualitative data from a variety of sources, and to look for patterns and trends over time. If you notice red flags like declining engagement scores or high turnover in certain departments, dig deeper to understand the root causes.
Based on your findings, develop an action plan to address any gaps and improve company culture. This might include:
- Clarifying or updating your values and norms.
- Providing additional training for leaders and managers.
- Revising policies or processes that are out of alignment.
- Increasing transparency and communication efforts.
- Investing in new programs or initiatives to support employee well-being.
- Celebrating and doubling down on what’s working well.
Regularly assessing and iterating on your company culture is an ongoing part of how to build a strong company culture.
Case Study: Adobe’s Culture Transformation
Remember, cultural change doesn’t happen overnight. It requires patience, persistence, and a willingness to learn and adapt. But by regularly measuring and iterating on your company culture, you’ll create a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement that benefits everyone.
One powerful example of how to build a strong company culture comes from Adobe, the software giant behind products like Photoshop and Acrobat. In 2012, Adobe’s leadership recognized that their corporate culture had become too hierarchical, siloed, and risk-averse. They set out to transform their work environment into one that was more agile, innovative, and customer-centric.
The journey began with a renewed focus on Adobe’s core purpose and values. Leadership worked with employees to articulate a shared mission statement: “Changing the world through digital experiences.” They also streamlined their values down to four simple pillars:
- Genuine.
- Exceptional.
- Innovative.
- Involved.
To bring these values to life, Adobe made significant changes to their structure and processes. They flattened the organization, broke down silos, and gave employees more autonomy. They also revamped their performance management system to emphasize ongoing feedback and growth rather than annual reviews.
Adobe also invested heavily in employee development programs aligned with their values, such as a “Career and Life” program that helps employees navigate work-life integration. They launched new recognition programs like the “Founders’ Award” to celebrate those who embody the values. And they regularly measure and report on employee engagement, holding leaders accountable for creating a positive work environment.
The results of Adobe’s culture transformation have been impressive. Employee engagement scores have soared, while voluntary turnover has dropped.
The company has become a magnet for top talent, regularly ranking as one of the best places to work.
And the business has thrived, with record revenue growth and a stock price that has more than tripled. Of course, culture change is an ongoing process, and Adobe continues to iterate and improve. But their story offers valuable lessons on how to build a strong company culture through clear values, aligned structures, and a focus on the employee experience.
Key Takeaway
Building a strong company culture starts with clear core values and is driven by leadership’s behavior. Involve your team in defining values, model those values daily, and align everything from office layout to communication channels to support them. Open doors and open lines of communication seal the deal.
The payoff of mastering how to build a strong company culture is worth the effort. When you create a work culture that aligns with your values, supports your company mission, and empowers your employees, you’ll see the benefits in every aspect of your business – from attracting top talent to driving innovation to delighting customers.
It’s not always easy, but it’s some of the most important work you’ll do as a leader. By being intentional, consistent, and committed to the ongoing process of strengthening your organizational culture, you’ll create an organization that people are proud to be a part of and that stands the test of time.
Conclusion
Building a strong company culture is a complex and multifaceted process, but it all starts with a clear understanding of your core values and a commitment to living them every day. By involving your team in defining your values, modeling them through your own behaviour, and aligning your structures and processes to support them, you’ll create a solid foundation for your desired workplace culture.
Encouraging open communication, implementing an open-door policy, and actively seeking out and acting on employee feedback will further reinforce your cultural norms and create a shared sense of trust and transparency.
Aligning the employee experience with your company mission and regularly measuring and improving your company culture will help you create a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement.
How to build a strong company culture is an ongoing journey that requires intentional effort, adaptability, and resilience. There will be challenges and setbacks along the way, but by staying true to your values and continually investing in your people, you’ll cultivate an environment where everyone can thrive.
The benefits of a strong organizational culture are well worth the effort – from higher employee engagement and retention to increased innovation and customer satisfaction to better overall business performance. By making culture a top priority, you’ll not only create a great place to work, but also set your company up for long-term success.
With over 25 years of diverse experience spanning technology, consulting, and entrepreneurship, I’m passionate about helping small business owners like you unlock your full potential and achieve sustainable growth.
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