The Importance of a Healthy Company Culture: Part 1

Strategy is usually at the forefront of a company’s focus. Strategy is not the only thing which makes a company successful. Culture also plays a vital role. The culture of your company impacts your branding, your marketing success, and daily operations, all of which have an effect on how the world sees your organization. The logos of brands like Apple, Google, and Starbucks are identifiable not only because they seem to be everywhere, but also these businesses have strong cultures that shine through their employees, storefronts, and logos. These positive, strong cultures all begin inside the walls of their offices.

Why Culture is so Important

If people work in a place where they feel ownership, pride, and empowerment they will put their hearts into the work they do. They will take more risks and be more willing to think outside of the box. A healthy culture builds creativity and innovative thinking. When individuals feel like they are being stifled by their work or they have no control over their jobs, they will do the work assigned to them with no additional effort. This can not only lead to a sad individual but a sad atmosphere where every task put toward your brand is given the minimum level of effort. Instead, you want a energetic and alive environment so your brand sticks out from the rest. Nurturing a healthy culture is the responsibility of everyone in the company, from the CEO to HR to the receptionist.

If you are not yet convinced, here are a few of the obvious benefits of cultivating a healthy culture.

• Focus – Keeping employees dedicated to the same goal helps a company run with efficiency. Getting people to care about the goal comes with having a healthy focus. If your employees feel like they are a significant part of accomplishing that goal they'll be more likely to push themselves. When people feel like they have no impact on the main goal, they loose focus, and can become cynical.

• Cohesion – The basis of cohesion is strong communication between associates, whether they are facing successes or roadblocks. Strong communication strengthens teamwork and makes operations run more smoothly. In a workplace with an unhealthy culture, people could be nervous to provide feedback about issues that arise or might not care enough to act quickly when issues do arise.

• Motivation – A inspired workforce gets things done. That might seem apparent, but companies that don't pay attention to the health of their culture could be suffering with regards to efficiency. Being motivated to work hard is a trait that ought to be present in every individual in the company if the culture is healthy.

Measuring the Cultural Health of Your Company

Cultural health should be evaluated regularly. So how do you evaluate the cultural health of a company? First, look at how people are supervised, are they just given a job with no input or do they have some control over their jobs? Are repetitive tasks distributed so everyone has the opportunity to be challenged? While a few people may never be happy, if you find the overwhelming consensus to be negative it may be time for you to look at making a few adjustments to how the business is run to improve the culture and the overall health of the company. Visit again soon to learn some helpful tips on creating a positive work environment.