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8 Core Tenets of Strong Company Culture

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Company culture encompasses the principles, values, norms, and beliefs shared by employees of an organization. Company culture helps lend a sense of personality to a business. It is strengthened or weakened by the habits and behaviors that workers practice on a day-to-day basis—in front of their clients, suppliers, and other work circles.

But how do you build a robust and genuine company culture? Here are eight key factors for building a vibrant company culture in any business.

1. Respect and Recognition 

A company's employees are critical to its success. For them, it’s valuable and significant to feel recognized and respected as active members of the organization. Working in an environment that values diversity in all senses—race, religion, gender, sex, and life experience, among others—and in which employees feel heard, increases productivity and serves as a source of creative energy.

Support and empathy from corporate leadership and the opportunity for employees to pursue professional and personal growth is key for creating strong company culture. When employees feel that their contribution is valued, they’re more likely to work harder, fostering a productive work environment.

2. Clear Communication 

Communication is one of the core elements within a business, and it’s a key part of what makes up a healthy company culture. Clear communication encompasses formal, informal, public, and private employee communication. Leaders must consistently model the tone and style preferred by the organization.

3. Sense of Community 

A robust and productive company culture has roots in commitment, interaction, and collaboration. If none of these characteristics are present, then it’s unlikely that the company will have a functional and cohesive corporate culture. If employees feel connected to one another and are familiar with each other's strengths and weaknesses, it is good for morale (and productivity).

Business conferences and regular meetings (but not too many!) can help create a sense of community and motivate team members to interact and get to know each other better.

4. Unified Purpose 

Sometimes, different departments in a company simply work on their own tasks and projects, isolated from other teams. Creating an environment in which employees work together with a unified purpose is one of the most important conditions for a company’s success. That’s because through teamwork, employees are more likely to achieve business objectives.

Unlike creating a sense of community, which requires employees to learn to recognize and value their differences, fostering a unified sense of purpose requires highlighting what team members have in common. Having a clearly articulated and value-driven mission statement will help attract applicants who are a good fit and who find motivation and purpose in what the company does.

5. Strong Leadership 

Leadership is a learned skill, and it goes far beyond having authority over others. Being a strong leader means fostering a strong sense of culture and community. It means knowing when to listen and knowing when to act. It means taking responsibility for failures and giving credit to others for their successes.

6. Confidence and Trust 

A leader must be able to assign work to their employees with the full confidence that they will carry it out to a high standard with minimal interference or prompting. However, employees and work teams need to be given the freedom and the autonomy to complete these tasks as they see fit while fulfilling their other professional responsibilities.

This type of environment fosters not only autonomous workflow, it also builds trust between leaders and employees. As a result, everyone is able to accomplish their goals and tasks.

7. Training 

Personnel churn is inevitable in the business world. Therefore, education and training must be a fundamental pillar used to promote business culture. If team members are up-to-date on their training, then you’re more prepared for any situations that may arise.

Proper training enhances teams' ability to successfully navigate adversity and other issues that arise in the workplace. It also helps create a strong and knowledgeable company culture.

8. Adaptivity to Trends 

Organizations are constantly changing. Whenever new personnel is onboarded or the company grows, it can affect the company’s culture, changing how teams work together.

For example, many traditional offices have seen the need to be open-minded about advances in technology and innovation as well as remote and hybrid workplaces. Maintaining a successful business requires constant research and analysis. What is new in the industry? Is it good or bad for the company? How effective is it? Should we incorporate this into our process?

Build a Strong Company Culture Today 

Building a strong company culture isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible either. When you do have a healthy company culture, organizations are better able to support their employees, keep morale up, and remain profitable.