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Introduction

Developing a vision for your company culture can be a challenging endeavor. A positive company culture values it’s staff and creates a healthy work environment. However, if your brand is struggling with a company culture that is negative or isolative, you may have a hard time breaking through current habits. 

So why work on your company culture? Studies have shown that brands with healthy company cultures have higher staff retention rates, more productive teams, and happier employees. This means it’s not only personally responsible of you as a leader to make sure your team has a healthy culture, but it’s also a financially responsible move on your part. Hiring and training is a decent expense for any brand, so eliminating the need for that is a great help for your budget. Positive cultures are also known for saving time that would be spent in conflict or procrastination because of poor culture and relationships can make a world of difference in productivity.

Create a Vision Board

Creating some sort of a vision board can help you and your company aim for a better company culture. Vision boards can be a physical board like a whiteboard or a bulletin board that you write and pin things on to keep goals in mind, or you can use an app or program to create a vision board that people can contribute to and view easily. 

“Vision boards are great because they can be a collaborative project, and it helps everyone stay on the same page,” says Drew Sherman, VP of Marketing at RPM Freight Systems. “It’s helpful if the board is in a visible place or is frequently shared with your staff, so the culture is in the forefront of everyone’s mind. Culture is something that takes time and consistency to build so reminding everyone about the goals for the company can be helpful.” 

“The actual creation of the vision board is a great way to bring your company together and set goals as a team,” says Dan Potter, Head of Digital at CRAFTD London. “Make sure you set the goal-setting session up in a way that will be beneficial to the company’s culture growth so nobody feels as if they’re being singled out as a toxic person or that they’re the reason for certain rules being created. Approach the vision board creation process as a team and have everyone individually share how they’re going to work to achieve the goals being discussed.”

Talk to Your Staff

As mentioned in the previous section, company culture is something that everyone should be a part of creating. Talking with your staff before setting out to make any changes could open your eyes to the cultural issues that exist outside of your radar. They may see or hear things that you don’t, and in order to learn these things, you’ll have to have some sort of trust.

“Company culture is a process,” says Lina Miranda, VP Marketing of AdQuick. “If the people within your company are stuck in an unhealthy culture mindset, there may need to be a few phases of culture building. You’re not going to be able to make changes to the company culture unless you’re modeling good culture while also looking to mend or build bridges with current staff. Once they see that you’re genuinely trying to make these changes for the good of the entire company, they’ll be more likely to share ideas, suggestions, and comments.”

“Your staff is the most important part of developing a new vision for a positive company culture,” says Melissa Rhodes, CEO of Psychics1on1. “If your team doesn’t understand why you need to develop a company vision or they’re unwilling to make changes, you may have a bit more work to do before a vision can be drafted. Often, we get stuck in a certain way of doing things, and if your brand is large or has a very diverse staff, getting everyone on the same page can be a challenge.”

Reevaluate Hiring Protocol

A great way to create a good company culture moving forward is to make sure you’re hiring people who are motivated to uphold a healthy company culture. Ask them about what their idea of a good company culture would look like or what their experience with company cultures has been. This will help maintain the company culture moving forward and also let your staff know from the get-go that company culture is an integral part of your brand. 

“Develop a way of starting that conversation about company culture early in the interview process,” says Karim Hachem, VP of eCommerce at La Blanca. “Start having those conversations with new hires and make sure the teams they’re being placed with are going to live out the vision that you’re explaining to them. New hires can actually be a key component in replacing some of the toxic company culture that has existed.” 

“Unfortunately, major changes often precede the loss of some staff who don’t like the new directions,” says Jae Pak, Founder of Jae Pak MD Medical. “It’s important to be ready for this potential issue and to stick to your goals and vision. Remember that the company culture should be beneficial to everyone, but if someone is stuck in a toxic mindset about how things should be run, then you may not be able to make them happy with the changes. The new staff can help fill gaps and promote the new company culture as you integrate them into the brand.”

Evaluate Current Work-Life Balance 

A good company culture doesn’t expect staff to use personal time to continue working on projects or value work over all other things in life. Remind yourself and your staff that their wellbeing and personal time is a priority for you as well. If your company currently struggles with work-life balance, evaluate some ways you could encourage staff to navigate their way to a healthier balance.

“Work-life balance has been something that people in the workforce have struggled with forever,” says Brianna Bitton, Co-Founder of O POSITIV. “However, the degree of that struggle has magnified with the evolution of technology. It’s so easy to check your emails or answer that call when you should be spending time with family or resting for your own wellbeing. We need to encourage our staff to unplug from the office when they’re not physically present.” 

“The transition back and forth from working from home over the past couple years has blurred the lines for a lot of people,” says Josh Weiss, Founder and CEO of Reggie. “It is easy to slip back into the habit of working from home after you get home from the office simply because you can. However, it’s important to have that healthy balance so you’re not burning the candle at both ends. We, as the company leaders, need to model this for our staff and encourage them to do the same. If they see that we’re constantly responding to emails or checking our messages after hours, they’ll believe they’re expected to do the same.”

Communicate Effectively and Consistently

Once you’ve started developing the vision for your company culture and implementing changes, you should maintain consistent and effective communication with your staff. It can be easy to slip into old habits so maintaining good communication is a really big part of developing and living out that company culture.

“Remember that a vision can change,” says Nabeel Abdullah, CEO of Sapphire. “If you find something isn’t working for your brand, explore other ways you could go about changing the company culture for the good without giving up on an idea completely. Be open to suggestions from your staff and make company culture a regular discussion among teams.”

“The more people are reminded of the company culture vision, the easier it will be for them to remember to make key changes,” says Ann McFerran, CEO of Glamnetic. “Company culture is never ‘finished’ being developed or improved. In fact, it changes constantly. Any time someone leaves or a new individual is hired, there is a shift in the company culture. Create a vision that can be applied even as your staff turns over or teams restructure.”

Conclusion

Company culture is an integral part of creating a solid brand and a healthy workplace. Having a good company culture can make your company a place where people want to work because their work-life balance is healthy and they’re not being burnt out by the demands of the job and their team.

A lot of company culture change comes down to honest and open conversations. However, you’ll have to have a pretty solid foundation of trust from your team if you want them to participate. The road to a good company culture may take a while and it’s never truly over, so take your time and do it well by building trust and relationships with your staff and living out the vision that you’re proposing for the company culture.

Hiring new people can be an excellent way to improve company culture as well. Regardless of how positive the changes are, change in a workplace often leaves some people feeling disgruntled and may cause them to leave. If this happens, try and incorporate conversations about company culture into the interview process, so your new hires are on the same page the moment they set foot in the office. 

Finally, don’t be afraid to change your approach to your vision or even the vision itself. Maybe you’re a bit too ambitious, or the goals you’ve set are too easily reached. A vision can be modified as you learn and grow, and you should encourage your staff to share future ideas by facilitating an open and honest conversation about where the company is heading. 

Sheridan, J. E., et al. (2017, November 30). Organizational culture and employee retention. Academy of Management Journal. Retrieved September 1, 2022, from https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/256539 

Zulfan, G., Muey Hung King, D., & Lee, S. Y. (n.d.). The Influence of Organizational Culture on Employee Retention: A Case of Google. Retrieved September 1, 2022, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338772669_The_Influence_of_Organizational_Culture_on_Employee_Retention_A_Case_of_Google