10 Tips for Creating Healthy Corporate Culture

Corporate ethics defines all of the company’s actions and captures the essence of the brand. Budding entrepreneurs should first think about what they want to see in their business and pay special attention to the formation of a healthy corporate culture. This process should start as early as possible. It cannot be neglected because over time it becomes harder and harder to introduce any innovations and changes. These 10 tips will help create a positive corporate ethics that contributes to effective business development:

Successful companies shape their corporate culture like they develop a product or build a brand - carefully thinking through the overall concept and details. At the same time, management’s negligent attitude to the phenomenon of corporate culture can make any business uncompetitive. Thus, everyone has the right to choose the appearance of their company and the nature of the industrial relations in it when the place of corporate culture in the building a company is defined.

The owners and founders of companies should inspire and encourage employees but it is better to entrust the management to a formal or an informal leader of the team, giving him or her full freedom of action. Often, employees feel embarrassed when dealing with a top manager or executive and can't give a sincere comment or openly express an opinion. So the head of the company may not receive some important information about the real situation in the team. And this kind of situation is fraught with unforeseen internal problems.

Corporate culture cannot be implemented from "the top". Let your staff and co-founders participate in the formation of the final internal image of the company. They will help understand which model of corporate culture is the most effective one as a part of your business model.

You should not be stopped by the fact that the company has already established a culture of relationships. Constantly continue to think about how to improve its business model. You can get inspiration from companies that do this job well — for example, Zappos, Facebook or Google.

A team is formed and brought together via common traditions and rituals. They are 1000 times more effective than any PowerPoint presentation. A striking example is the song of the staff at the American retailer Wal-Mart. Adapting this experience to your company, you can create a tradition of meetings outside of work. At any stage of business development reinforce the company’s unity with staff training and corporate events.

Try to hire the candidates with personal characteristics and attitude that match your vision of corporate relations. These parameters are as important when hiring a new employee as are his or her skills. Make a decision in favor of applicants who are willing to share and support the spiritual values of the company, and without hesitation say goodbye to those who do not fit into your corporate culture.

The main carriers of corporate culture are its executive managers. Therefore, leaders need to appoint people who are close to the image of the ideal employee. Their actions should match the corporate culture you seek to create.

It manifests itself not only in industrial relations but in everything connected with your business: the structure of the company, design of the offices and stores, even in the technique of distribution of promotional materials. Try to be extremely careful on all levels of the business.

Corporate culture is the frame of your business model. All employees of the company and other people, involved in the working process, must be carriers of the values of the company: with the help of the HR department bring this idea to the whole team and engage the marketing Department in preparing materials for education and training. Internal marketing is no less important than external (as well as the promotion of corporate values within the organization). Don't forget to encourage those team members who help strengthen the organizational culture, and train others on special training.

Develop key performance indicator (KPI) and monitor the dynamics of the transformation of the corporate culture. I would recommend doing it using 360-degree feedback or one-on-one conversations with experts of all levels.

"The current situation" in the business environment is changing rapidly, so the corporate values need to adapt to different periods in the company’s life. For example, in the early stages of business development, informal method of internal communication is more effective, but in terms of further company development, stricter and more regimented approach is better.