How to Use Leaders to Shape Your Company Culture

With the influx of Millennials in the workplace, we’re seeing a shift in the way that leaders are being perceived in an organization. Instead of having designated leaders based on traditional hierarchy, modern-day leaders are identified as those that are focused on increasing drive and performance for the organization. Today’s leaders have the power to impact and know how to connect with a mission. Therefore, leaders are playing a critical role in shaping your company culture.

Here are five simple ways that your leadership team can play a role in shaping company culture forward and improving overall performance:

1. Lead by example.

If your leadership team drinks the company culture Kool-Aid and practices what it preaches, your employees will follow suit.

High-performing companies with a strong corporate culture embody the following 10 qualities: collaboration, innovation, agility, communication, support, wellness, work environment, responsibility, performance focus, mission, and value alignment. Are your leaders modeling these characteristics?

2. Show appreciation and recognize team members for accomplishments.

Research shows that 43 percent of employees leave jobs because they don’t feel valued. Leaders can easily create a culture within the organization that shows they care. Some ways to accomplish this include writing hand-written thank you notes, celebrating employee anniversaries, circulating employee accomplishments among leadership, and giving feedback on a job well done.

3. Listen to employees.

Leaders need to do more than solicit feedback on an annual basis. They need to make a point to consistently check-in with employees for feedback. This will provide ample time to make adjustments if an employee is not satisfied, which will ultimately help with employee retention.

4. Follow-up on feedback.

When an employee shares feedback, leaders need to demonstrate that they heard them loud and clear by following-up with them on their feedback. Set goals, establish a timeline for accomplishing goals, and stay accountable to meeting goals. Make it known that the company is taking employee feedback to heart by openly communicating the plan of action to improve upon feedback in team meetings.

5. Hire someone to own company culture.

Depending on your resources, designating an existing leader within your organization to own company culture is ideal. This leader should be responsible for engaging employees, instilling company values, identifying areas for career development, and strengthening overall culture.

Leaders play a critical role in instilling your corporate culture, and the success of your company depends on how these leaders impact employee engagement, productivity, and retention.

Our team at Equal Parts is committed to helping your company establish a culture that will lead to success and sustained growth. We understand that every company is different, which is why there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Schedule a consultation with us to learn how you can best use leaders to shape your company culture and maximize the effectiveness of your business operations.