Companies don’t succeed by chance. They thrive when people are aligned, supported, and working toward a shared purpose. At the heart of that success is company culture.
But what exactly is company culture? It’s more than a mission statement or a set of values. It’s the daily experience shaped by how people communicate, collaborate, and lead.
Learning how to improve company culture is essential for any business that wants to retain talent, boost morale, and achieve long-term success. Whether you’re part of the team or in a leadership role, there are clear ways to enhance company culture and build a workplace people are proud of. This article outlines what a positive company culture looks like and shares practical steps anyone can take to help improve it.
What Is Company Culture?
Before learning how to change company culture, it’s important to understand what it means. In simple terms, company culture refers to a collection of shared beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviors that shape how individuals work together in an organization.
If a company’s culture is positive, it will promote innovation, collaboration. and retention. A toxic culture does the opposite, often breeding disengagement, causing high turnover rates and diminishing productivity.
Many thought leaders in the space agree that company culture is the backbone of a successful organization. It demonstrates how employees support one another, how leadership guides and how people interact. Expert insights suggest that when the company culture is strong, employees feel connected to a purpose beyond their job descriptions. This means they are more likely to help others succeed, stay within the company and do meaningful work.
Attributes of a positive company culture include clear career paths, inclusivity, open communication, recognition and respect. Companies like Zappos and Adobe are often cited for their strong, values-driven company cultures. Their leadership is known to support and value their employees. This, in turn, allows them to contribute positively to the workplace environment.
Simple Ways Employees Can Enhance Company Culture
Employees can focus on a few simple individual actions to foster a more positive company culture. So, if you’re asking: ‘How do you improve company culture?’ consider the strategies below.
Understand Company Values and Goals
We can’t improve what we don’t understand. That’s why it’s important for employees to take the time needed to learn about the mission, values and expectations of the organizations they work for. Understanding your company values and goals is the first step in working towards a better workplace culture.
Employees can ask questions like: “What does success look like here? What do my company and team value?” When you can answer these questions, you’ll be looking beyond your role and considering what the company needs to grow. This will give you a better grasp of what the company needs, which will in turn help you contribute to a better company culture. By ensuring attitudes and behaviors align with the business’s goals and needs, employees can help foster s positive work environment.
It’s also important to discover what values and attributes shape the workplace. For example, identifying whether collaboration or innovation is encouraged or if speed is valued over perfection can be beneficial. Understanding he company’s priorities can help equip employees to support its culture.
Build Strong Workplace Relationships & Help Team Members
Creating company culture doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Something as simple as building strong workplace relationships can make a workplace stronger. It can contribute to a more inclusive, collaborative and respectful culture.
Often, you don’t even need to go out of your way to build long-lasting relationships; a strong, positive culture is often created in the small moments.
For example, how you greet others, offer your assistance and respond to stressful situations makes a difference. If you take the time to form meaningful relationships with your co-workers, you’ll create a sense of support and connection. Ask about their day, offer to help with a project and celebrate the team wins together. Consider mentoring a new team member or helping co-workers when they encounter technical challenges or other issues. These actions go a long way toward building trust, and trust helps build a positive culture.
Engage in Open Communication and Feedback
Open communication has numerous benefits. It can be one of the foundational steps toward improving company culture. Employees can contribute by doing things such as asking questions, ensuring they understand expectations and communicating openly and honestly.
It’s also important for employees to speak up and provide feedback to company leaders. The most successful company cultures are built on transparency. Employees who speak up respectfully can help surface new ideas and flag problems early. This can also empower other team members to do the same.
Don’t underestimate the power of honest conversations. If you find that something isn’t working, address it constructively. Likewise, if something is working, don’t be afraid to say so. By speaking up, employees can help contribute to an environment of psychological safety. It can also impact how people interact and communicate, which helps to shape a company’s culture over time.
How Leadership Can Improve Company Culture
Culture is everyone’s responsibility, but leadership plays an important role in setting the tone and modeling behavior. To enhance company culture, there are a few key things that leadership can do. Following these tips can help create a positive and lasting company culture that benefits everyone.
Recognize and Reward Employee Contributions
Praise and recognition can be powerful motivators and go a long way in creating a positive workplace environment. Leaders who acknowledge and commend strong work performance help reinforce the values and behaviors that shape a company’s culture. A culture of recognition can also lead to greater loyalty and engagement among employees.
This can also be simple to implement. Leadership can offer things like bonuses, public recognition, shout-outs in team meetings, incentives or promotions. This can help create a ripple effect of inspiration and help employees feel valued.
Align Policies and Values with Company Goals
Aligning policies and values with company goals is incredibly important. Leadership must ensure that company policies reflect and support the culture a business is trying to promote.
For example, does your company value flexibility? If so, are your work-from-home policies truly flexible? Or do you promote innovations? If so, do your employees have the space to test new ideas without fearing failure?
These are the kinds of questions managers and leaders may need to consider when evaluating whether policies align with company goals and employee benefits. Leaders should aim to ensure that systems, policies and decisions align with the company’s values and goals. This can help create an environment where employees know what to expect and have trust in leadership. Clarity surrounding company policies, values and goals can also help to make sure the company and employees have the right fit.
Provide Career Development and Growth Opportunities
A culture of learning and growth can lead to long-term engagement and better employee retention. It’s important to consider, therefore, how leadership can provide this in the workplace to help foster a positive, growth-oriented company culture.
The specifics will depend on the business structure and funding, but there are many ways leadership can promote learning and growth. For example, consider offering training programs and mentorships. Managers and leaders can encourage innovation, set aside time and space for learning opportunities and make learning resources available for employees. Leaders can also model by example by engaging in continuous learning themselves. These practices help people feel they are valued.
How to Change Company Culture When It’s Not Working
There may be times when company culture just isn’t working. If this happens, employees and leaders can take actionable steps to work on changing a toxic or unproductive workplace culture. Here are a few ways to tackle these challenging situations:
- Provide training on inclusivity and collaboration. As we said above, employees and managers benefit from learning how to work better together. So, offering inclusivity and collaboration training can help create awareness and promote healthier habits.
- Join or create employee-led initiatives. Employee-led initiatives offer many benefits. Consider starting a wellness group, hosting a monthly team lunch or leading a book club on leadership. Cultural shifts happen during these events when people lead by example.
- Establish clear core values and reinforce them. Company core values should be visible, repeatable and reflected in decisions, from hiring to performance reviews and even firing. Employees should understand them to be able to follow them and improve the company culture.
- Improve transparency and communication. Be honest about company goals, progress and setbacks so there is no breeding ground for toxicity.
- Address toxic behaviors immediately. Don’t let harmful behavior fester. Leaders should act decisively, and employees should feel empowered to speak up.
Building a Strong Company Culture Together
Changing company culture is a team effort. It’s not the job of one person alone. Employees shape culture every day through their actions, communication, and how they treat others. Leaders influence culture by setting the example, aligning actions with company values, and supporting growth.
Improving company culture begins with intention and follows through with consistent action. No matter your role—whether entry-level or CEO—you have an impact. Start today with one small step toward the workplace you and your team deserve.
Photo from Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com
