Successful organizations rely upon having effective company cultures in place. This culture sets the tone for interactions at every level and impacts the morale of leadership and employee alike. Sometimes culture gradually changes over time. In other cases, it is intentionally shaped in order to achieve a desired outcome.

A negative or toxic company culture cannot be corrected by your human resources manager alone. The act of positively shaping a company’s culture undergoes several important stages:

• Research: recognize where you are and where the company needs to go.
• Explain: convince leadership that change is possible and necessary.
• Teach: empower stakeholders with the skills to improve the culture.
• Adopt: choose to embrace this new culture and continue to cultivate the intentionally chosen values of your workplace.

All of these elements can prevent your company from becoming a revolving door of new employees. Each individual in your company needs to understand what they uniquely bring to it and how they fit in the workplace. No one wants to feel like a replaceable drone.  

In order to help shape your company into a worthwhile career destination, you’ll need the help of each decision maker and every employee. Work cultures that do not uplift, support, and include employees aren’t be sustainable.

Rampant negativity in the workplace is a direct reflection of management in any given company. Only 33 percent of American workers are engaged at work, and the most frequently cited reason for departure is to, “get away from their manager to improve their overall life.”

When company culture really does change, it impacts the way work is done as well as how your workers make decisions. It really is, or should be, a culture-first mentality. Employee engagement and happiness are the natural results of a well-balanced culture where mutual trust and strong work relationships thrive.

You cannot do great work if you don’t have a great company and environment to work in that engages stakeholders at all levels. According to Anne Catambay at Clarizen, the four pillars of employee engagement include:

• Collaborative relationships: success thrives where work friendships abound.
• Supportive workplace: success is a team effort and responsibility
• Relevant feedback: actionable guidance that contains critique and praise.
• Recognition: a job well-done is noticed and rewarded.

Each of these pillars can help employees feel more satisfied in their careers and be more engaged in the work they do. That’s ultimately what everyone wants at work: to feel valued and know we’re making a difference. All four steps can improve communication and overall satisfaction in your organization. It can be a difficult process, but shaping a great culture is the responsibility of every member of your team.

Improving culture is a collaborative process whereby human resources managers and senior leadership make educated decisions about the direction that best empowers and encourages employees to bring their best selves to work every day. Cultivating these culture-first leadership qualities will empower employees and managers alike to be empathetic and motivated in the workplace.

Culture shift happens many times in the lifecycle of a company, and it can be a positive and transformative experience. Choose to take hold of the process and guide your company into a collaborative, productive, and happy future. It’s a big responsibility but also a privilege to create a great company culture.