If you're not intentional about what company culture means to you, it will happen on its own—and probably not the way you want. It's important to define your purpose and figure out what makes your organisation unique so you can build a culture from the top down and from the inside out. That way, everyone understands who they work for, what they're working on, and why they're doing it.
Shared vision and mission statements help bring everyone together in their shared purpose. You can also create a sense of unity by embracing your history, celebrating milestones with traditions or rituals, and creating opportunities for team-building activities. Work hard to promote a positive environment by encouraging open communication, supporting all employees' development needs, and managing conflict effectively when it happens.
Defining company culture
Company culture can also be defined as the sum of your formal and informal systems and behaviours and values. To take a closer look at it, let's break down some examples:
Formal systems are things like your employee handbook or business plan. They're set in stone (or at least on paper). They tell people what they need to do and how they need to do it.
Other formal systems are things like the dress code or official titles. They're usually written down somewhere and enforced more by tradition than intentionality. They're not flexible, but they are expected to be followed by everyone who works for you.
Informal systems are a little more fluid, but no less important than their formal counterparts. A lot of these come out of your company's culture: if you're an open-door policy kind of place, then talking about serious issues with your boss should be something that happens often enough that it becomes part of the culture.
