A healthy culture is essential for the long-term success of any business. How can you achieve a healthy culture within your business? First, let’s look at a couple of examples of an unhealthy corporate culture.

Unfortunately, you don’t need to look too far back. In 2015, it came to light that engineers at Volkswagen had been tasked with ensuring the vehicles they designed could deceive their way through the emissions testing process. More recently, an account fraud scandal was revealed in which Wells Fargo staff created millions of phony accounts on behalf of current customers. In both cases, there were not just a few individuals at the top or bottom of the business involved – these scandals encompassed hundreds, if not thousands, of people in each organization.

Here are five key elements for organizations to adopt in order to avoid mistakes of the past and to create a positive, healthy corporate culture:

  1. People. You need to have people on your team who can share your corporate vision and values. This can be addressed in the recruitment policy – hire the right people at the very beginning.
  2. Place. The placement of your office impacts the culture of your company. Just as finance firms are attracted to London and tech companies are attracted to Silicon Valley, where you choose to be based can heighten or detract from your company culture. There are particular cities or regions which will have a specific culture that aligns with that of particular organization. Also, consider the physical workspace – an open plan office may be better suited for industries in which collaboration is important.
  3. Practices. Companies need to have practices that uphold their company values. The old saying “practice what you preach” is paramount. If you proclaim that you value people and that your team is your most important asset, then you need to have solid business practices that support the professional development of your people.
  4. Vision. In order for a company to have a great culture, the individuals within the business need to understand the vision or mission of the company. The purpose of the organization, as outlined in the mission statement, helps to guide employees as well as attract customers, suppliers, and partners alike. A corporate mission statement doesn’t need to be complex – it is just a simple statement that tells the world what your company stands for.
  5. Values. Not to be confused with a company vision, the values of a business deliver a set of guidelines or mindsets that are required in order to achieve the vision. They can talk about how you look after clients, how you expect peers to treat one another, and how your company upholds their personal standards.

Please consider these five key things when looking to create a healthy corporate culture within your organization. If you would like to learn how to include your employees in this process, read my article Creating Company Culture: How to Involve Employees. If you have any questions, please contact me today!