Boost Employee Retention and Engagement: How to Build a Positive Workplace Culture

Over the past several years I've worked with several organizations on improving their workplace culture. Regrettable turnover, interpersonal conflicts that never fully get resolved, the growing pains of moving from a handful of employees to double-digits, and many other ocurrances can expose how healthy, or not, your workplace culture is. The challenge comes when trying to strengthen or rebuild it to ensure your employees can thrive at work.

Workplace culture, especially a positive one, doesn’t just happen. It requires clarity about what you want to build, intentionality in nurturing it, and diligence in addressing aspects of your culture that don’t align with your intentions. So, where do you start to ensure your workplace culture gets or remains healthy and allows your employees to thrive in 2025 and beyond?

?

Define Your Culture Building Blocks

• What does your company do? For whom??
• What impact do you envision having on the world and those you serve??
• Most importantly, what is your company’s "why"?

These questions are grounded in your mission and vision. Clarity on these basics is foundational for shaping the culture you want to build. Take a moment to reflect:

Does your current culture align with your mission and values?

Without clearly defining these, your employees will feel—and often know—that something is off. For instance:

Your nonprofit focuses on justice and equity, but you don’t pay your employees equitably, or your largest funder actively defunds their own internal DEI initiatives. What happens? There’s inevitably going to be a culture problem.

Why? Because your mission, vision, and values aren’t just ideals—they’re principles that must be lived out daily. They should inform your policies, practices, and decisions. When you overlook misalignments or act contrary to what you stand for, you unintentionally establish counterproductive beliefs and behaviors that can erode workplace dynamics.

Audit Your Culture

Even if you haven’t been intentional about building your workplace culture, there’s no doubt that one exists. But to understand the health of your culture it is important to do a culture audit, at least annually. A culture audit, which examines employee sentiment and lived experience with the culture, along with culture specifc elements in your workplace, can help expose what is working well, what is not, and areas where more focus and energy may be needed.

?

Your audit can consist of anonymous employee surveys that evaluate both your ideals around culture and how the culture is actually lived out and experienced in the organization. I also find it is helpful to invite individuals into conversations to discuss specific aspects more in-depth. Often as an unbiased 3rd party, my team and I can go deeper with employees than internal leaders can, discussing how they experience and promote the culture. This usually results in more raw and unfiltered accounts than if they had these same conversations with members of their companies.

?

Prioritize Areas of Focus

Once you've completed your culture audit, you’ll likely have a clearer picture of what’s working and what’s not. The next step is to prioritize. Workplace culture is broad and multi-faceted, and trying to fix everything at once can lead to overwhelm or burnout—for you and your team. Instead, focus on one or two key areas that will make the biggest impact.

For example, if your audit reveals that employees feel unsupported in their professional growth, you might prioritize investments in learning and development programs or establish clear pathways for advancement. If communication is a sore spot, then focusing on creating systems and practices that foster transparency and connection should take precedence.

Engaging employees in this prioritization process can also be incredibly powerful. When people feel heard and involved, they’re more likely to buy into the changes you’re working toward. You don’t have to implement every suggestion, but showing employees that their voices influence the direction of the company strengthens trust and demonstrates your commitment to a collaborative culture.

Model the Culture Your Building

Leadership sets the tone for workplace culture. If your leadership team isn’t living out the values you want your culture to embody, it’s going to be hard to get the rest of the organization on board.

Consider this: if your company values inclusivity but meetings are dominated by a few voices while others are sidelined, your employees will notice. If collaboration is touted as a core value but teams work in silos with little to no cross-departmental engagement, the inconsistency becomes obvious.

Leaders need to actively model the behaviors, attitudes, and values they want to see throughout the organization. This might mean:

• Prioritizing transparent communication, even in tough situations.
• Demonstrating a willingness to own your mistakes and tease out the lessons learned from them.
• Encouraging and participating in collaborative initiatives.

Remember, employees look to their leaders as a reflection of what’s truly important in the workplace. Walk the walk, and the culture you envision will take root much more naturally.

Celebrate Your Wins

Workplace culture isn’t built solely through solving problems or addressing gaps. Celebrating the positives is just as critical. Recognition—whether of individual contributions, team achievements, or company milestones—reinforces what’s going well and motivates continued effort.

Celebrations don’t have to be grand or expensive to be effective. A simple shout-out in a team meeting, a thank-you note, or a small token of appreciation can go a long way in building a culture where people feel valued.

Be intentional about tying your celebrations to your organizational values. For example, if innovation is a core value, celebrate employees who come up with creative solutions or new ideas. If teamwork is essential, acknowledge and reward collaborative efforts.

When employees see their actions aligned with company values being recognized, it strengthens their connection to the culture you’re working to nurture.

?

Own Your Missteps

No workplace is perfect, and culture-building is a messy, iterative process. There will be times when decisions don’t pan out the way you hoped, or when actions inadvertently contradict your values. That’s okay. But it is important to own up to them and address these moments head-on.

Owning missteps isn’t just about damage control; it’s an opportunity to reinforce your values and demonstrate accountability. Whether it’s an apology for an oversight, a commitment to correcting a misalignment, or even revisiting policies that no longer serve your culture, transparency goes a long way in maintaining trust.

Employees respect leaders who can admit when they’ve fallen short and take steps to make things right. It humanizes leadership and reinforces the idea that everyone is collectively responsible for upholding the culture.

Commit to Continuous Growth

Workplace culture isn’t a one-and-done project; it’s an ongoing journey. A thriving culture requires regular attention, consistent effort, and the flexibility to adapt as your company grows and evolves.

Here are a few ways to stay committed to growth:

1. Regular Check-Ins: Schedule periodic culture reviews to assess progress and adjust as needed.
2. Employee Feedback Loops: Keep communication open by creating avenues for employees to share their thoughts, ideas, and concerns.
3. Celebrate Milestones: Recognize cultural growth moments, just like you would business achievements.

This commitment isn’t just about maintaining a thriving culture in 2025—it’s about ensuring your organization is prepared to face challenges and seize opportunities for years to come.

?

The Payoff: A Thriving Workplace

When you intentionally cultivate and nurture your workplace culture, the benefits are undeniable. Thriving workplaces are marked by:

• Higher employee satisfaction and engagement.
• Increased retention of top talent.
• A stronger, more cohesive team dynamic.
• Enhanced reputation as an employer of choice.

A positive workplace culture isn’t just nice to have—it’s a strategic advantage. In a world where attracting and retaining talent is increasingly competitive, your culture can be the thing that sets you apart.

So, as you step into 2025, remember this: every decision you make, every action you take, is shaping your workplace culture. Be intentional. Be consistent. And most importantly, be willing to grow.

Here’s to building a workplace where everyone can thrive.

???? Ready to work on your workplace culture this year? Let’s make 2025 the year your organization thrives! Schedule a free discovery call with me to discuss how we can align your culture with your vision and values, creating a workplace where everyone can thrive. Click here to get started! ??

?