In today’s digitally connected age, company culture has been thrust into the spotlight as a real benefit for potential talent and a vital component of a successful business. With large corporations revamping their company culture or adding to their existing office environment, how can small companies compete?
After a flurry of new hires at Dittoe PR, the leadership team decided to dedicate time and effort to strengthening our culture and benefitting team members. This culminated in a collaborative “How We Roll” document with key phrases that allude to overarching mantras we practice that encourage teamwork, communication, and success. For example, one of our core values is, “Businesses don’t grow, people do.” This speaks to our commitment to mentor and develop our team members to harbor growth both personally and professionally.
By implementing strong and straight forward principles that define who we are and how we work with others, it creates an overall understanding between Dittoe PR team members (and our clients) and allows us to feel confident as a growing business. With buy-in from all levels, employees can feel comfortable discussing the office culture and have a better understanding of how to best represent the company inside and outside the office. We’ve seen multiple benefits from strengthening our culture and would recommend the process to any companies looking to further unify their business.
Here are three tips to consider when analyzing your workplace environment and launching new company culture ideas:
Commit
One of the first steps in establishing or revamping your company culture is to have complete commitment from all team members. It’s important that everyone feels they are on the same page regarding why the company would like a stronger culture. This means everyone from the top down will be open to change, feedback and constructive criticism. Our company culture refresh started as an idea from top leadership, solidifying their desire to participate and more importantly, to listen. At the end of the day, all team members should have the same, positive goal of building a company culture that accurately reflects its people and environment.
Analyze
Some companies will prefer to bring in a neutral, third party professional to help analyze the current culture and provide recommendations about how to move forward. Others may follow step-by-step guides or online programs designed to walk companies through the process of changing their culture. Overall, it’s important to analyze what’s been working at your company in order to keep the positive aspects and stay true to core values. All team members should keep an open mind when prioritizing cultural aspects they deem most important and those they would like to change. At Dittoe we worked individually, in small groups and as a cohesive team to talk through changes and priorities.
Follow through
Truly strengthening your culture requires follow through from all parties, ensuring they are dedicated to living newly established values each day at the office. This also means that conversation avenues should already be in place for employees that may not be practicing the new culture or are struggling to adjust. When we first implemented our new culture we consistently communicated about behaviors that would and would not be tolerated. While some team members may only hone in on the culture for the first few weeks, it’s up to management to lead by example and exemplify the culture they hope to achieve. Our team did this by designing “How We Roll” prints to be hung around the office. Your team should be proud of the enhanced culture it created.
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