Creating a good office culture is one thing, but maintaining it is a whole other story. As your business scales into a mid to large size company, holding on to that close-knit family-like atmosphere that a small business has can be very difficult.
Office culture is extremely important to the success of any business (you can read why office culture is so important and how to create a SUPER office culture here). In this article, we explain how to preserve that awesome office culture as your business grows into something bigger!
How to continue a positive office culture as your business grows
Follow Comprehensive Hiring Practices
In order to maintain the company culture you have worked so hard to achieve, you need to ensure the people you hire understand and respect your company values.
- Do they share your beliefs and standards?
- Are they appropriate for the long-term vision of your company?
- Do they fit your existing team?
If you answered ‘no’ to any of these questions, that particular candidate might not make the cut.
While you can train someone to give them the right skills and experience for a role, you can’t change a person’s personality or attitude. Discuss company values throughout the hiring process and include interview questions to grasp their ideal office culture, values and beliefs.
Having said that, it is important to embrace the individual within a workplace. Having similar values doesn’t mean everyone should have the same personality, likes and dislikes – employees aren’t robots! Just be sure they are working towards the same goals for the business.
Always Lead By Example
Good leaders set the standards of how their staff should behave. Everyone looks up to their superiors to set the pace within the workplace, so if you arrive to the office late everyday, you can expect a fruitless pattern to follow suit.
Try to maintain the intimacy of a small business by keeping things personal, not just executives socialising with executives. Bring yourself out of your private office cubical to ‘mingle’ with your employees and encourage different teams and tiers of the business to interact inside and outside of the office.
Although it may prove difficult to uphold close relationships with everyone in a large firm, it is important to be approachable and maintain that open-door policy (remembering your staff members’ first names is a good start!). The time and effort you spend valuing each employee will be noted and respected, and will keep your staff feeling motivated.
Continuously Reiterate Company Values
There’s no good in identifying your company values only to file them away in a drawer along with old muesli bars. To withstand that enviable company culture you so desire, company values should be echoed through your every day practises.
No matter how large your business grows, develop and maintain company traditions that carry your core values. You should recognise and praise employees who embrace the good culture of your business regularly to encourage others to adopt those same practises.
Don’t be afraid to change
And finally, don’t be disheartened when practises within your business no longer work. As companies expand, office culture is expected to adapt too. This is not necessarily a bad thing – it means you’re growing and flourishing! So don’t be resistant to change.
Always keep the line of communication open with your employees and encourage them to be open about developments and even improvement suggestions in and around the office.
Let’s see what the Walker Hill team have to say about our office culture …
Alex
We have a good culture and not only with the staff. My partner is a good friend of a lot of the girls in the office, which to me is important. The staff have a great mentality too. It’s a work hard, play hard mentality, and that work culture is a shown in our work.
Hannah
Walker Hill is a fun place to work. We’ve all a bit of a mixed bag of nuts, and I think that quirkiness and craziness makes for a really energetic and fun culture. We also have awesome rewards which motivate the whole office to do well. There’s a big sense of achievement at the end of each month when kick our goals, which is great for keeping moral high.
Joe
We all work together, and the coffee machine usually works. Plus, there’s a pub down the road.
Micky B
Team environment. Everyone that works here is great. You know what is expected of you and everyone is working towards the same goal. It’s really a great team environment.
Jess
Free donuts, Tangalooma trips and 3pm knock offs. Atmosphere.
