If your business is trying to grow and gain a competitive edge in the market, there's no better way than cultivating an environment of strong company culture. Company culture can bring out the best from all staff members and unlock hidden potentials, presenting you with new opportunities for growth. As a company or project leader, you know that it takes both hard work and smart strategies to make sure that businesses are successful- but don't underestimate just how important company culture can be! This blog post will cover tips you need to know about understanding why and how your organisation should prioritise developing their workplace culture as a big ally to your growth plan.
Last year was our first year after Covid-19, so we needed to enhance team member collaboration and relationships inside the company. We did this by focusing on building a strong company culture. Along with building and focusing on the company culture, we were able to grow our accounts and be creative to find more solutions and ways to grow the business. We believe that all app companies should focus on similar things and have listed what we did below.
How we enhanced collaborations and relationships at Yoke
Our first order of business was to get everyone on the same page, literally. We did this by sitting down as a team and creating a document that listed our company values. This document became our "Yoke Network Values Deck" - it guided everything we did as individuals and as a team. Once we had our Values Deck, we were able to start thinking about how we could operationalise it in our day-to-day work lives.
Our checklist for business culture success
- Creating weekly check-ins where team members could share how they were feeling both personally and professionally
- Creating an end of the week meeting game where team members could unlock content creativity with a very light and fun video contest
- Changing our onboarding process for new team members to include an in-depth look at our company culture document as well as ice-breaker questions and activities
- Adding "culture updates" as a standing item on every department's agenda for their weekly team meeting
- Encouraging employees to take advantage of our vacation policy by proactively communicating and covering when they would be out of the office
With so many of us working remotely, it was essential to find ways to keep everyone connected and working in sync. Interestingly, as we focused on building a positive company culture, we also noticed an uptick in our accounts and growth. This forced us to be more creative in finding solutions and ways to grow our business. It also made us more aware of the direct impact that company culture can have on productivity and overall success.
How Company Culture Helped Us Grow Our Accounts & Be More Creative
Focusing on building a strong company culture also had a positive impact on growing our accounts and being more creative. When employees feel like they are part of something larger than themselves, they are more likely to go above and beyond to achieve company goals.
In terms of thinking outside the box, company culture can act as a catalyst for creativity by providing employees with the psychological safety they need to take risks without fear of retribution. A study conducted by ScienceDirect found that teams who scored high on psychological safety were more likely to take risks, which led to them being more innovative and creative.
If you're an app-based business or startup, we recommend focusing on company culture early on. It may seem like a time-consuming endeavour with no immediate payoff, but trust us, it's worth it in the long run. Not only will it help you attract and retain top talent, but it will also lead to increased creativity and productivity across your entire organisation.
And who doesn't want that?
