Organisational Culture is very much the current buzz-phrase.For clarity, Organisational Culture is defined as 'the way in which members of an organisation relate to each other, their work and the outside world in comparison to other organisations, or more simply put, the way things work around here.'As a leading corporate noted in a recent survey, “Organisations are recognising the need to focus on culture and dramatically improve employee engagement, as they face a looming crisis in engagement and retention."87% of organisations cite culture and engagement as one of their top challenges, and 50% call the problem “very important.”Culture could be your competitive advantage or your Achilles’ heel.So what are you doing about it?

We spend a considerable amount of time at Peak Dynamics carrying out Cultural Assessments and Effectiveness of Organisations, we thought we would give you 12 tips to improve your culture in your organisation.

  1. Show concern for the needs of others – continuing the growth, development and personal well-being of staff will be beneficial not only to those involved, but to the organisation as a whole.
  2. Cooperate and deal with others in a friendly and pleasant way – this will create a ‘nice’ place to work with relationships that are friendly and stress levels that are low.
  3. Make decisions that involve and maximise the influence of all levels of management – by eliciting their ideas and opinions, will be both encouraging and lead to a high level of staff engagement.
  4. Management by wandering around – don’t just email your staff or call them. Go and see them.
  5. Encourage an open and friendly work environment. Staff should feel they can give their opinion. In our experience, the quiet ones generally have the solution.
  6. Job performance is evaluated in a very fair manner. Ensure that the appraisal/performance system is both fair and meaningful from both sides.
  7. Work to achieve self-set goals. Encourage your staff to set goals for their careers as well as in their day-to-day roles. Do not set unachievable goals as that will impact the individual.
  8. Help staff plan their work – but also improve their work.
  9. Maintain high standards – expect staff to give their best effort but back these up with a high level of support and personal attention.
  10. Commend your staff - ensure praise for good performance is prevalent.
  11. Quality v’s Quantity - emphasise quality over quantity with the work produced by staff.
  12. Enjoy work - encourage staff to enjoy their work, develop themselves and take on new and interesting activities.