5 Habits that Can Defuse Company Culture

By Marianne Chrisos - Last Updated on April 12, 2018
Top 5 Bad Habits that Can Defuse Company Culture

These habits can cause company culture to fail – fast.

Make sure you don’t destroy your company culture with these 5 bad habits.

Culture is king – having the right kind of culture at your business place is one of the most important things to keeping employee turnover low and employee satisfaction high. A company culture that’s perceived as positive can also lead to lower employee stress and fewer health issues, which can help your business’s bottom line in regards to healthcare costs.

Additionally, a good company culture is one of the best ways to attract and retain the best talent – the kind of hires that will help you create the best products, work hard to meet deadlines, and push creative thinking. If you’re positive your business already has a solid culture, here are some of the best ways to make sure you maintain your reputation and continue your good status.

Stagnation

If you already know that your employees are engaged and you work in a high-energy atmosphere with an elevated morale, don’t take it for granted. Just because you have people coming in for interviews where they tell you they’ve heard great things about your company, know that just one disgruntled employee can change all of that. Take your employee’s feedback seriously, encourage them to talk to their managers when they have a problem, and consider sending out surveys occasionally to gauge where you’re at. Based on employee feedback, don’t be afraid to implement a few suggestions or at least keep up with what they tell you is working.

Limited Communication

Not every business has full transparency with their employees, and that’s to be expected based on the nature of some businesses – not everything can be fully announced to every employee. But it’s also important that employees hear from the leadership occasionally. Having occasional all employee meetings with the CEO or other executives so that employees can get a sense of growth, sales, new projects, and other company information is important so that employees don’t feel like they’re in the dark. Instead, it allows everyone to feel like they’re on the same page, working towards the same things.

Micromanagement

Goals are good, but standing over employee’s shoulders to make sure they’re doing things exactly the way you want is one of the number one killers of creativity and productivity. Micromanaging isn’t a way to ensure anything gets done – it can do the opposite. So, when you hire employees, make sure they’re a good fit for your company, communicate your goals, meet with them regularly to make sure everything is on track, but avoid micromanaging if you don’t want to kill a good culture.

Neglecting Design

Believe it or not, the way your office is set up has some effect on your company culture. Dark, drab, generic, or closed-off spaces can lead to lower employee satisfaction and an overall less desirable corporate culture. If your space allows, try to offer a mix of spaces, like offices, open meeting areas, private conference areas, and more. This can encourage a sense of community, collaboration, and culture.

Copying from Other Brands

If you’re currently struggling to build or maintain a good culture, it can be tempting to just copy a style or company culture from another brand that you know has a good reputation. This tends to backfire. You need to focus on what works for your company and understand what your employees want. What kind of reputation do you want to have? What kind of culture are you trying to create? Having a truly concrete understanding of this is a much better way to keep or grow a culture than just implementing something that you heard worked somewhere else.

Marianne Chrisos | Born in Salem, Massachusetts, growing up outside of Chicago, Illinois, and currently living near Dallas, Texas, Marianne is a content writer at a company near Dallas and contributing writer around the internet. She earned her master's degree in Writing and Publishing from DePaul University in Chicago and has worked in publishing, advertising, digital marketing, and content strategy.

Marianne Chrisos | Born in Salem, Massachusetts, growing up outside of Chicago, Illinois, and currently living near Dallas, Texas, Marianne is a content writer at a c...

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