How To Build A Strong Office Culture

A growing body of research confirms that office culture has a direct impact on employers, employees and the bottom line. Alexander Den Heijer once said that “When a flower doesn't bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.”?Human ability and competence is akin to a flower which takes the right work environment to bloom and translates into better performance, greater client satisfaction and higher profits. Building a strong office culture isn’t about sky-high salaries, fancy office spaces and flashy cabins and furniture. It takes real human intervention to kick start and retain the positive work environment which makes employees want to put in their best efforts. A strong office culture positively impacts an organization on multiple levels right from attracting the best talent to higher employee loyalty, job satisfaction and innovativeness. Here are a few things we recommend to build a strong office culture.?

Start at the Top

Unlike many other initiatives, kick starting an office culture starts at the topmost level and seeps down permeating the entire organization. In any hierarchy, the constituents tend to intuitively follow the individual on the top. A leadership team which defines and practices a value system and adheres to it will create a parallel system across the organization. The vision and mission statement should inculcate a sense of shared identity among employees and imbibe those values into it. A word of caution: Preaching values without actually practicing it won’t bear any fruit as employees tend to emulate the actions and not words of the leadership team.

Get Inputs

A strong office culture is one which has high engagement levels. Employees need to be engaged to encourage initiative and bring in ideas to the table. A strong office culture places importance on seeking inputs of relevant stakeholders in order to foster a feeling of shared responsibility. Apart from a positive working environment, seeking inputs can help improve the processes by utilizing the know - how of those at operational levels. A work culture which lays importance to seeking inputs from employees and listening to their concerns will conjure positive emotions and improve loyalty to the organisation.

Psychological safety

A strong office culture is the one that provides psychological safety to employees in case of any mistakes. One of the most powerful indicators that you have stifled initiative and destroyed proactivity is silence. When deprived of psychological safety, each employee will choose silence over risk-taking and merely get by with mediocrity rather than put in efforts to be the best. Everyone makes mistakes and the real test of a strong office culture is how it reacts to mistakes or concerns expressed by employees. A culture of tolerating mistakes and encouraging risk-taking will foster innovation while an office culture devoid of psychological safety will settle at mediocrity. Mistakes are true vehicles for learning and a culture which enables teams to learn and improve will outperform those which don’t. Additionally, a psychologically safe work environment will reduce employee turnover and costs.

Reward Mechanism

An office culture isn't developed on the basis of what the management says or the HR policies. It's the actions of the top management which matters and not mere words. More than promotions, employees closely follow which behavior and qualities are being rewarded within the organization. Rewarding an individual perceived as incompetent or based on favoritism will lower employee morale. Rewarding a deserving candidate will promote a feeling of goodwill and a healthy competition within the organization. A strong office culture indicates it’s preference by rewarding individuals and encouraging others to follow suit.

Maintaining Continuity?

A strong office culture is built on a series of consistent and predictable behaviors which takes the form of organizational culture. After a point, it becomes ingrained in every employee and becomes? the norm. Building a strong office culture is about maintaining continuity of value systems even when there is change of guard on leadership level. An office culture dependent on individuals won’t last long but a culture based on shared values, systems and practices will continue its existence. However, efforts need to be maintained by the leadership team to maintain continuity by keenly observing the environment. Companies are never static and work cultures evolve over a period of time as new management teams and leaders take over. However, the organization should continue the momentum towards a positive direction and look out for signs of missteps.????