How to Build a Positive Company Culture for Small Businesses

Company cultures greatly influence our experiences at work day-to-day. By focusing on building a positive culture, businesses benefit from higher productivity levels, better collaboration, and increased employee retention. There is no downside to having a positive culture, but it is still often overlooked during a business’ planning phase. Don’t worry, though! You can still start to build a positive culture for your company, and this article will help you learn just how.

What is a Positive Company Culture?

Before delving deeper into the how’s of building culture, let us first define it. Although there is no one definition for organizational culture, BuiltIn offers a comprehensive description:

“Company culture can be defined as a set of shared values, goals, attitudes, and practices that characterize an organization.” Source: BuiltIn

Culture is the way your company works. It is the values and objectives that you share in the workplace. It is how you communicate, what you incentivize, and what you sanction. Even if you have not defined it yet, it is already existing in your company. 

To better illustrate what positive culture is, here is a real-life example from Twitter employees:

Twitter is known for its awesome culture. Aside from rooftop meetings, friendly coworkers, and a team-oriented environment, Twitter employees enjoy free meals, yoga classes, and unlimited vacations for some. 

Despite all these perks, what employees appreciate is working with fellow smart people. They view their work as something that matters in the world. These, in turn, motivate them to be productive and get work done. Source: Entrepreneur

Now that we have identified what is culture and how it affects work, let us move to how you can build a positive one for your small business.

How to Build a Positive Company Culture

Listen, Listen, Listen

Since your company already has a culture, even if you have not defined it yet, what you can do is learn about it. Put it into words and evaluate if it is the kind of culture you want for the business moving forward.

Before doing so on your own, listen to your team first. What aspects of the company do they like and dislike? What are the things that they enjoy about their work? 

Listening to your employees will bring out insights that you, as a business owner, could overlook. It also involves your employees in the process of building culture, making it easier for you to implement changes in the future if needed.

Begin with the End in Mind

After gathering insights from your employees, it is now the perfect time to start defining what your business aims to achieve. What is your vision for the company? 

Having a long term goal helps keep you in track. This will serve as a guideline for future decision making as well. If an option does not lead the company towards achieving its vision, then it may not be the best option.

Make sure to aim long and high when setting your vision. Remember that with the right goal and an effective leader, businesses can impact the world.

Work Backwards

After setting goals, work backward to create concrete steps to achieve it. These are your mission and objectives. For example, your vision is to provide access to technology everywhere in the country. Your first objective might be to provide it to everyone within your community.

Set Non-Negotiable Values

Since small businesses are largely influenced by their owners, take this time to identify the values that you personally treasure. Do you prefer perfection over agility? Integrity over profit? Make a list of non-negotiable values and define how these will help your company in achieving your set vision.

Setting values is a great way to identify hiring candidates who match your culture. Those whose values align with the company are more likely to thrive and make a big impact when hired.

Rally Your Employees

After defining the aspects of the positive culture you want to have, it is time to get your employees on board. Change is never easy, but implementing a new culture for a small business is definitely less demanding than for a multinational. 

When discussing your vision for the company, make sure to properly explain it to your employees. Let them know how their work helps the company move closer to its goals. After all, being part of something greater than ourselves not only inspires hearts but also motivates action.

After learning about positive company culture and how to build one that greatly impacts your organization, it’s time to apply the steps above. Here’s our trusted productivity hack to get you working on culture in no time.

Speaking of vision and objectives, MPM’s goal is to provide accessible Accounting and Payroll solutions to more small businesses in the country.

Support our mission by learning about our solutions and how we help Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) manage their Payroll and Accounting processes.