Great cultures don’t spring out of nothing. They’re built, piece by piece, by companies that know exactly what elements make an organization’s culture exceptional. When recognition is a daily occurrence, employees express themselves freely, and all team members feel that they belong, your company can tell that its culture is a major strength. Find out how to create this potent cultural mix at your company by prioritizing these five elements of a great organizational culture.

Recognition

Recognition is the single largest contributor to a winning company culture — and the biggest driver of employee engagement to boot. Even in the most difficult times, like those organizations across the world faced while adapting to the new normal, recognition makes team members feel supported and part of a greater whole. Every employee wants to know that their efforts are appreciated. When they do, key performance indicators like employee engagement, productivity, and retention rise.

While some organizations treat recognition as something that is only required for special occasions like anniversary celebrations, this approach fails to make an impact with employees. Instead, work to instill a culture of frequent monetary and social recognition from the top down and the bottom up. Recognizing specific behaviors that align with the culture you want to see is another great tactic. Adopt an employee recognition platform that allows all team members to interact with each others’ recognitions and award redeemable reward points, and your company will be on track to establishing a winning employee recognition program.

Values

You should strive to make your company values a core part of your organizational culture. Start by clearly laying out the values that make your company what it is. Use straightforward language that all employees will easily understand. Then encourage team members to live those values every day. Simply stating this will have little effect, of course, so ensure that you start with training leaders and managers on how to exhibit your company values in their actions consistently. Other team members will soon follow suit.

Employee voice

In organizations with great cultures, employees feel comfortable expressing their true thoughts. Their employers can then analyze this feedback and apply the resulting insights to continually improve business outcomes and the employee experience. Ensure managers know how to encourage and accept feedback from employees while also providing confidential channels for anonymous feedback like pulse surveys and always-on HR chatbots. Then use your employee engagement platform to collate the data, see where opportunities for improvement lie, and guide managers to act on the results collaboratively with their teams.

Leadership

As your leaders go, so goes your business. If your employees believe in their managers and your company’s leadership, you’re set up for success. But if there’s a disconnect, watch out: managers account for 70% of the variance in employee engagement. There’s truth to the saying that employees don’t leave companies, they leave managers. Ensure your leaders act as examples in all areas of your company, from recognition to wellness, and emphasize the need to maintain two-way communication with all team members.

Belonging

A sense of belonging is the foundation of any great culture, but developing one requires a multi-prong approach. Organizations prioritize the five pillars of belonging by making employees feel welcomed, known, included, supported, and connected:

Welcoming employees requires an amazing onboarding process coupled with aligning new employees with your culture from the get go.
Team members feel known when a company takes the time to solicit honest feedback and then incorporate it into their organizational DNA.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) should be a priority in any organization. Creating employee resource groups (ERGs) is an important part of supporting DEI.
When employees are empowered to do their best work, recognized for it, and coached rather than micromanaged, they can’t help but feel supported.
Genuine connections between team members can’t be forced, but a diverse workforce, an accepting and psychologically safe work environment, and team building activities are all great ways to set the stage for strong relationships.

Make culture a priority at your company

Cultural change isn’t an overnight process, but with continuous effort, your organization can make its culture a major strength that attracts great talent and drives business success. Look for solutions like the Achievers Employee Experience Platform that focus on the pillars successful cultures are built on.

It includes Achievers Recognize, a mobile-first employee recognition solution that makes social and monetary recognition easy and engaging for all team members. It also includes access to the Achievers Rewards Marketplace, where employees can redeem reward points for items, experiences, and more from over 2500 brands. And it doesn’t neglect employee voice either thanks to Achievers Listen, a state of the art employee engagement platform scientifically designed to guide your managers from insight to action.

Start building the elements of a great organizational culture today with a free demo of Achievers.