Making Your Culture Visable
by Jonathan Jones
When building a positive culture, consider getting your employees involved in helping make your culture visible. Use their ideas. Here are a few suggestions to prime the pump.
Posting a mission statement where all employees can see it is a great way to drive home a company’s core values. Display photographs and biographies of employees and important clients on a rotating basis in high-traffic areas like the break room or main walkways to drive home their value to the company. Steer clear from displaying giant, “manufactured” motivational posters depicting smiling, applauding fake workers. Instead, strategically position well-sized, beautifully written affirmations of your declared corporate values in areas of the office where employees prefer to congregate or spend time. Use the brand colors of your company to ensure that any chart, poster, graph, or other graphic will subconsciously be associated with your organization.
You can also post charts and graphs to foster a performance-based environment to show employees how they are meeting targets. These graphs should be strategically posted across the workplace so everyone can view and discuss them. If there is a lot of transparency, workers can understand what is expected of them and how their work relates to the metrics that matter.
Wearing a uniform or other branded clothing can help instill the characteristics of your desired culture. Include additional graphics in your visuals if you want people to remember a specific subject or theme. For instance, tools and buildings could be depicted for construction companies, while books and pencils might be good for educational organizations.
People comprehend and remember images more quickly than words. The right images can be more effective than any inspiring speech or presentation to help you reach your company’s vision and goals.
Jonathan Jones (Jonathan.jones@vistagechair.com or 314-608-0783) is a CEO peer group chair/coach for Vistage International.