11 Ways to Improve Your Workplace Culture
I often get asked what a company should focus on if they want to shift their culture. Where could they best put their time and energy to get the biggest return?
Depending on your particular circumstances, this answer might vary from organization to organization. But for my money, looking at all the culture shifts I’ve researched around the world, here are some of the key areas you need to focus on if you are serious about making changes to your workplace culture.
1. Get Your Hiring Right! You simply can’t build a great company if you’re not attracting and hiring great people who are a fit for your culture. And I’m not just talking about culture fit here, but something even more critical – culture growth. Hire employees that are going to help you grow your culture in the direction you want to take it. For dozens of creative ideas on what innovative companies worldwide are doing to hire for culture, check out my latest book, Hire, Inspire and Fuel Their Fire: How to Recruit, Onboard, and Train New Employees to Live Your Culture Out Loud.
2. Invest in Training. Great organizations invest in their employees because we know from a mountain of research that training your employees pays off in substantial ways. So, when was the last time you offered training around your culture and values? If you want to shift the needle on your culture, you need an all-hands-on-deck approach with as many of your employees as possible understanding what your desired culture is and how they play a role in getting you there! If you need more convincing that training matters (a LOT), read 16 Reasons Your Company Needs to Invest in Employee Training and Development.
3. Get Your Meetings Right! Meetings are a key cultural touch point. Meetings are a key place to help build and nurture your culture, and they should reflect your desired culture. So make sure your meetings are effective, fun, and relentlessly focused on engaging employees in meaningful conversations. Open meetings with a ‘culture moment’ to reinforce key messages around your workplace culture.
4. Practice Daily Team Huddles. Daily team huddles are a simple way to make an immediate difference in your culture. Every one of my clients that holds daily team huddles raves about the impact they have when it comes to employees feeling more connected. Keep them short and sweet (5-12 minutes); same time; same place; no chairs (or they turn into a meeting); and same agenda.
5. Recognize the Importance of Employee Recognition. I have not come across a single example of a company that shifted their culture in a meaningful way without making employee appreciation and recognition a key component of their culture transformation.
6. Have Monthly Culture Themes. Have all your employees focused on a different workplace or culture theme each month. Here’s just a few suggestions for monthly themes to get your juices flowing: Monthly Culture Themes.
7. Issue a 3-in-3 Culture Challenge. Challenge all teams and/or individual employees to do just 3 things in the course of the next 3 months that will make a positive shift to your culture.
8. Do a ‘Values Blitz.’ AFA JCDecaux transformed their culture in only 6 months by doing a dirt simple exercise. Each week they challenged all their employees to live one of their four new core values out loud in outrageously visible ways. Week two, value two. Week three, value three. Week four, value four, then they cycled back to value one. The ‘values blitz’ brought their values to life and demonstrated to everyone what was possible, so that their values became ingrained in their day to day behaviors.
9. Create Culture Rituals and Traditions. Every inspiring workplace I’ve researched is a huge believer in the power of traditions and rituals as a way to strengthen their culture and embed 
key behaviors and attitudes in their workplace. So look for opportunities to build your culture through rituals. For some ideas check out Rituals and Traditions for Your Workplace.
10. Practice Feedback Fridays. A simple way to engage employees in a conversation around your culture is to start a tradition of ‘Feedback Fridays’ by posing one survey question per week related to your workplace or culture. Here’s the key though – don’t ask your employees for feedback unless you’re willing to hear some uncomfortable truths, get back to them, and most importantly, DO something with the feedback!
11. Put Humor to Work for Less Stress and More Success. Work is hard enough as it is without making it any harder, so enjoy the journey as you build your culture! Look for opportunities to celebrate small milestones and inject some fun and levity into your workplace on a regular basis for the simple reason that we know it works! For hundreds of ideas on how to leverage your humor resources, from companies all over the world: The Humor Advantage: Why Some Businesses Are Laughing All the Way to the Bank!
If you are serious about investing in your workplace culture and serious about developing the leaders in your organization, then I’d invite you to have a look at our new Culture Leadership Academy online course/membership site. This is the most comprehensive culture leadership training program that we’ve seen anywhere. 12 Modules, over 11 hours of content, e-books, articles and more, all designed to help you shift your culture to get the results you want and the results you, your employees, and your customers deserve.
For details, pop on over to The Culture Leadership Academy.
Thanks for reading.
Please, let know what you’re doing to make an impact in your workplace culture? I’d love to hear your comments, ideas and burning questions!
Michael Kerr, 2020.
Michael Kerr is a Canadian Hall of Fame Speaker, highly in-demand international keynote speaker, and the creator of the Culture Leadership Online Academy. Michael is also the author of 8 books, including: The Humor Advantage: Why Some Businesses Are Laughing All the Way to the Bank; Hire, Inspire, and Fuel Their Fire; and The Jerk-Free Workplace: How You Can Take the Lead to Create a Happier, More Inspiring Workplace. www.MikeKerr.com
