4 ways to improve your company’s culture
Driving an intentional
culture year-round
One thing most Top Workplaces
have in common is a
clear commitment to supporting
and sustaining workplace
culture year-round. These companies
don’t just check off the
engagement box once a year.
They make continuous culture
improvement a daily priority.
Leaders at these successful
organizations work to know
what drives their culture, listen
to what their employees are
telling them, take action to improve,
promote their strengths
— and then they start again.
Four phases of
continuous culture
improvement
Building an intentional
culture requires more than
an annual survey snapshot.
To truly move the needle on
culture, we suggest these four
steps:
1. Measure and
benchmark your culture
To get an accurate picture
of your current culture, survey
the people who know your
organization best — your employees.
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With so many survey
providers claiming they have
the right measurement tools,
how do you fi nd one that’s accurate,
research-proven, and
actionable?
Here’s what to look for:
• Start to fi nish, the process
is quick, and the statements
are scientifi cally sound.
• Employee responses remain
anonymous to encourage
open, honest feedback.
• Data visualization clearly
and accurately identify your
culture strengths and focus
areas.
• Comparative analytics
that goes beyond simple industry
benchmarks.
2. Use feedback to
listen and connect with
employees
A survey is a great start,
but it’s taking action that matters.
Once you know what
drives your culture, you’re
ready to dive deeper to understand
the root issues. First,
listen to your employees — explore
their responses and offer
opportunities to expand
on their feedback. Second, use
your strategy to connect while
ensuring alignment.
The right strategy will involve:
• Thanking employees and
creating a custom follow-up
for more input.
• Making sure every manager
and team lead gets results
for their team.
• Sharing local results with
every employee to inspire further
insight.
• C onnecting successful
teams and managers to people
who can learn from them.
• Using survey results to
help consider culture in every
leadership conversation.
3. Take action to engage
and grow
You have your data and you
know the thought that went
into it. Now, it’s time to act — or
even more effectively — let employees
act. It’s their feedback
that started this journey, so empower
them to move everyone
forward.
This is the fun part, really.
Employees get to solve their
own problems, stretch their
skills, and unleash their potential.
They’ll be glad for the
opportunity to improve the organization.
You’ll see better results
— and more engaged employees!
To improve your culture and
performance, make sure to:
• Start all action at the front
line, only escalating topics that
can’t be handled at that level.
• Seek and empower passionate
employees, no matter th• eir
role.
• Make it easy to visibly track
action and celebrate success.
• Keep doing what works,
but make a plan to re-evaluate
later.
• Enforce win-win solutions
across the company; anything
that isn’t working for one group
soon won’t work for others.
4. Celebrate the good
and showcase your
culture strengths
Once you know where your
culture stands, you’ve identifi
ed focus areas, and you’ve
acted using this intelligence,
it’s time to celebrate the good
and showcase what makes
your organization unique.
Why do this? It will help differentiate
your organization. As
a result, you’ll stand out from
the competition and attract the
right talent.
To highlight your culture
strengths:
• Compete for recognition as
a Top Workplace or employer
of choice.
• Celebrate culture “wins”
with your employees to build
pride and motivation for even
better connection.
• Highlight specifi c culture
strengths identifi ed by your
survey and verifi ed by a third
party.
To sum things up, building
an intentional culture requires
more than an annual survey. It
necessitates organizations to
commit to discovering their
full culture potential. But most
importantly, they sustain, support,
and celebrate that culture
every single day.
Nominate your company
as a New York City Top Workplace
at amny.com/nominate.
Laura Brinton is content marketing
director at Energage, a
Philadelphia-based research
and consulting fi rm that surveyed
more than 2 million employees
at more than 7,500 organizations
in 2019. Energage
is the research partner for Top
Workplaces.
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