When your employees understand and connect with your corporate culture, they continue to be engaged in ways that benefit their performance and your bottom line. These are some practical ways to ensure that your employees relate to your culture.

Revisit Your Mission

Employees can quickly become disinterested and unproductive if they perform their tasks every day without understanding your company’s greater purpose in the business and social community. It is necessary to find ways to reiterate your company mission, help your employees understand it, and look for ways to promote it every day.

Lead By Example

You can’t expect your employees to buy into your culture if your words and actions don’t reflect it. Holding a leadership position in your company means that you serve as a role model for upholding its values, standards as you perform your job and interact with others. 

Request Feedback

Requesting and implementing feedback from your employees allows them to think about what works or doesn’t work and leads to better engagement. Employees who feel that they have a contributing voice in their companies are more likely to reflect the corporate culture or suggest ways to improve it. Listening to your team can improve employee retention and reduce the high costs of frequent turnover.

Promote Teamwork

Employees who see themselves as a crucial part of a larger team have a strong sense of accountability and are more likely to understand how their performance relates to a companies overall mission. Team members who trust and respect each other are excited to work toward a shared goal, ultimately upholding your company’s mission and purpose.

Encourage Autonomy

Employees who feel that you trust them to perform up to your company’s standards without constant oversight are more likely to buy into its culture. Micromanaging your team members will promote uncertainty about their ability to meet your company’s goals.

Be Approachable

Your business’s success depends upon your employees reflecting your company’s culture, but they are less likely to do this if they don’t see you doing it yourself.  Managers and business owners who keep their staff at arm’s length miss an opportunity to demonstrate transparency or that they are also part of the team. Face time with your employees will prevent them from misinterpreting your culture.

Your corporate culture relies upon your team’s ability and desire to promote it, and as a leader, it is up to you to offer guidance by living your culture every day.