Is Your Company Culture Built to Last?

I’m excited to announce a new series of articles where I’ll dive into the unique cultures that organizations cultivate and how these environments shape employee experiences and business outcomes. Writing from my 20 years of professional experience, I’ll share real stories about what leadership intended, the results I observed, and maybe we could discuss on alternative routes we could have taken.

Follow along, join the conversation, and let’s rethink workplace culture together!

What is a positive culture?

Leadership Strategies for Lasting Impact

You might have heard sayings such as “Employees don't quit companies; they quit organizational culture” or “Workers stay for a pay check but leave for respect”. All of this points to concerns when an organization does not have a positive culture.

A positive culture is a working environment that treats everyone with respect, provides ample space to grow and provides recognition when it’s due. Building a such company culture isn’t a one time thing. It requires ongoing commitment from leaders and workers at every level.

Now let’s look into few important factors:

Lead by Example

A positive culture starts with leaders. Leaders should be the custodians of it’s culture. As leaders you cannot behave in one way and expect the rest to do something else. Bad trends and behaviour patters will leak through layers and eventually the entire organization is going to turn sour.

Transparent communication, empathy, and consistency are essential. When leaders embody the values they want to see in others, it sets the standard across teams.

We need to ensure that everyone feels safe to provide feedback. This sounds simple but in my experience is one of the most important factors. The moment your staff stops providing feedback; that is the day you loose your organization or team.

Focus on Continuous Development

Organization cultures have to be maintained and fostered continuously. Investing in the growth of your team shows that you value their future. Opportunities for skill development, career coaching, or mentorship build loyalty and help individuals see a long term future within the organization. This could be used as means of a reward or even prize for reaching a goal.

Create a Culture of Recognition

Now this is a very important point, and I often feel not done by many or not done correctly. Recognition goes beyond salary; it’s about acknowledging contributions, whether small or large. When you take any team you will have your front runners, slow runners and the rest.

You should NEVER set standards based on the output of your front runners. Everyone does the best they could, and each contribution should be recognized. Specially if you want your team to grow. A slow runner’s contributions might look insignificant at the beginning. However, if motivated they could move out of that position. But a leader should be there to keep them motivated to do so.

Again, everyone’s contributions are important. Everyone likes to be recognized. Leaders should learn to do it in such way that they don’t leave some of them out. I will be talking a lot about this point in the future in more detail. With some examples!

Foster Ownership and Autonomy

Empowering employees to take ownership of their work nurtures responsibility and innovation. Let’s face it, micro management does not work in the long run. You will just burnout your staff and soon you will end up with more turnovers. More turnovers means more cost on hiring / training and eventually you will start eating up into your profits.

Align Culture with Purpose

When employees understand the bigger picture how their roles contribute to the organization's mission, they’re more engaged. Be transparent to your staff / team. If there are challenges, it’s good that they know it so they might come up with creative solutions to tackle them. Being a leader means you learn to trust your team enough so that you will face the challenges as a team. You win as a team or lose as a team. Either way you create a long lasting strong bond that will eventually be a strength to the organization.

In summary, building a positive culture is an investment that benefits both the team and the organization. Leaders who prioritize transparency, development, recognition, and purpose create environments where people want to stay, grow, and thrive.

A positive culture is not just about retaining talent. It’s about creating a workplace where everyone feels empowered to succeed and they all grow from where they were.

As I mentioned early, this is from my experience and it’s open to discussion.