5 Steps to Create Great Organizational Culture

3 min readOct 6, 2022

As you build your company from the ground up, many seemingly trivial factors will have a cumulative impact on its success or untimely demise. One of the primary but often neglected aspects is organizational culture. Sluggish growth and sometimes zero growth can result from weak corporate culture.
What is organizational culture?
While there is no specified textbook definition, the way an organization operates and its core values and behavior towards the collaborators make up an integral part of organizational culture. The stronger the culture is, the greater the employee satisfaction it offers. Let’s look at the 5 steps we can take in creating organizational culture.

1. Getting the basics right

From a company’s inception, it adheres to a set of visions and missions. These values lay the groundwork for the basic cultural structure of the company. It establishes the company’s priorities for the existing and potential employees. So, ensuring they align with everyone’s best interests is crucial.
Observing the team’s engagement level, how the teammates treat each other or how they expect to be treated can be good indicators of whether the foundational principles are fruitful. Gradually calibrating the company’s greater purpose to line up with its current situation can help if the fundamental philosophy seems dated.

2. Surround yourself with the right company

Your company is not just a cluster of its core values but also an extension of the employees. It is the people who carry and implement these values. A company can only grow as much or as little as its workforce. So, it is essential to recruit and retain individuals whose priorities align with the company.
To attract the right crowd, it is also significant to remove any bias on the employer’s part. Being inclusive and acknowledging any difference while recognizing the unique skills each person brings to the table is the right step toward creating a healthy corporate culture.

3. Encourage the well-being of employees

Happy employees make a happy workplace. So, taking care of the building blocks of your organization is necessary. Maintaining a positive environment can boost employee morale, keeping them in high spirits. Feeling trusted and valued can help reduce stress significantly, ensuring job satisfaction.
Interaction among the workers promotes great bonding, which brings positive results in collaborative projects. Another excellent way to achieve this is by recognizing your teammates’ efforts and rewarding them for excellence. Remembering and celebrating milestones of their personal life can also lead to improved emotional well-being.

4. Lend an ear

Listening is an underrated trait that can often make or break organizational culture. Its importance cannot be stressed enough. And it is also one of the most straightforward formulas to strengthen the culture. It ensures your employees do not feel like their opinions are inconsequential. Furthermore, it also leads to faster conflict resolution and better bonding.
A part of your communication strategy can be asking your teammates to participate in employee satisfaction surveys. Conducting meetings at regular intervals for any grievances or discussions regarding projects also allows everyone to voice their opinions. But listening alone cannot solve all the issues; taking action based on the expressed views is as important.

5. Lead by example

A healthy company culture follows several guidelines to enhance employee satisfaction, and the employer must check if the policies are as effective in practice. The leaders lead by example. So, all the values, missions, and visions should not be mere words printed in the official brochure. Instead, it should be the code of conduct for the leaders.
If your company lists honesty and communication as its fundamental beliefs, you can always show how these values are instilled in you as a leader. If it encourages work-life balance, it helps to balance the same in your life as the captain of the ship.

A strong organizational culture can often be the significant difference between you and your competitor that carves the path for driving remarkable and consistent growth. When everyone works together towards the same goal, it helps overcome the hurdles quicker and ensures a smoother sail.
And it is also essential to monitor the health of the culture regularly. As a company grows, the working style is bound to evolve. Keeping an eye out to spot and rectify any practice that can negatively affect the corporate culture can make all the difference.

For more such guidance on the finance world, listen to my podcast here.