How to Create Your Startup’s Company Culture and Maintain it as You Grow

When businesses are in the startup stage, many things must be accomplished. While most people think of business growth and ensuring profits, one of the most crucial elements of success involves creating and maintaining a culture of innovation and progress. While it can be a struggle to initially create a company’s culture, many business owners find it’s actually harder to maintain one as it experiences growth. However, while this can be a difficult task, it’s not one that’s impossible to overcome. If you find yourself wanting to build a winning culture within your business but are unsure what steps to take, here are some tips you may find helpful.

First In and Last Out

As most successful business owners know, leading by example often sets the tone for future success. According to many business growth consultants, company executives who are the first to arrive on the job and the last to leave each day demonstrate the best way to build a winning culture. After all, there is no substitute for hard work, and when employees see the boss working hard to achieve success, chances are they will join in as well. This also demonstrates the culture that one’s title in the company doesn’t dictate the the notion of putting in some extra time to get the job done and therefore creates a “no ego” zone, copacetic vibe.

Building Trust and Transparency

If you want to build a long-lasting culture of success in your business, ensure that trust and transparency are evident throughout the organization. Some of the best ways to accomplish this include using employee surveys to gather input on important topics, as well as having regular staff meetings where employees are allowed to express their thoughts and feelings on issues affecting them, their team, and their customers. By having an open-door policy and staying true to your word, employees will quickly embrace the culture you establish.

Recognize High Achievers

When you have employees who are working hard to help the company grow bigger and better than ever, make sure they are recognized for their efforts. This is often done at staff meetings where their work can be highlighted and appreciated by others. By letting your high achieving team members know their long hours and smarts are appreciated, you’ll help them want to achieve even more, which builds a culture of current and future success.

Keep ‘Em Laughing

In today’s most innovative digital marketing agencies, tech startups, and SEO companies, corporate executives have learned that keeping things light from time to time is a great way to motivate employees. Whether it’s pulling a harmless prank on April Fool’s Day or simply sending out a joke by email at the start of the workday, it’s clear that by keeping your employees laughing and smiling you’ll set the stage for long-term success. Whether you manage a law firm or a retail store, another great way to get people to smile and laugh is to have a themed Friday. This can be every Friday or every other week (even once a month) where people celebrate “crazy tie day” or “superhero day”. One of the most popular used in offices across the globe is “crazy hat day”. Not only will you allow people some room to creatively express themselves, but you will emphasize a culture that likes to have fun.

Hire the Right People

This may sound obvious, but it’s actually harder than many managers and business owners realize. Too often, a manager may get so caught up in a person’s skills and abilities that they fail to realize the person’s attitude does not fit into the company’s culture of teamwork and success. Unfortunately, by the time you might realize this, the damage to your culture has already been done. Therefore, look not only at a potential employee’s abilities, but also their attitude. This can be recognized through group interviews where you play games or assign tasks. By doing so, your company’s core values and mission won’t be compromised.

Keep the Job Interesting

As technology continues to develop at a pace that’s faster than ever, digital marketing agencies as well as SEO companies know how important it is to keep their employees interested in the task at hand. Rather than letting people get stuck in a daily routine that gets increasingly boring, innovative companies have a knack for always giving employees projects that are stimulating and productive. You can encourage employee creativity by assigning cross-departmental teams to solve problems; this way you are deleting the consistency that m,any view stale. By keeping the job interesting, you’ll have employees who are eager to arrive and work and get started on their tasks.

Create Loyal Employees

As business growth consultants know all too well, companies that have the so-called “revolving door” when it comes to hiring employees almost always fail to have consistency and a culture that spells success. Always in a state of chaos, these companies rarely make this strategy work to their advantage. Therefore, it’s best if you can create a culture that fosters employee loyalty. To do so, plan activities that not only let employees get to know one another, but do so away from the job. For example, if you’ve had a particularly hard month of work and need a break, get the group together for a company picnic or attend a ballgame. By demonstrating you care about them as people and not just employees, they will be loyal for many years to come.
Whether you incorporate one or all of these tips into your business, chances are you will lay the groundwork for a culture that breeds success and loyalty from your employees. By leading the way with your hard work, dedication, and compassion, it will be easier than ever to maintain your company’s culture as you grow.