Creating A Winning Culture

If you’re starting a new business venture, or even if you have an established business but need to find and retain quality people in your organization, there are a few strategies to keep in mind. 

As the time-worn adage goes, “people don’t quit jobs. They quit bosses.” 

How do you create an atmosphere that attracts quality people, rewards them for their hard work, loyalty, and dedication, and retains those you already have? 

Creating a winning culture in your organization stresses every input’s value and emphasizes the culture of “we” rather than “me.” 

You need to take a series of steps to achieve this winning culture and one that you’re willing to maintain for it to be effective. 

Create A Winning Culture

The first step in creating a culture that is empowering within your organization is establishing a core set of principles that emphasize individual achievement as part of the overall team function. In other words, the more successful the team is, the more each member shares in that success.

Too often, the traditional structure doesn’t share in the accolades when something is won or earned. A person becomes recognized rather than the entire group, leading to some hostility within your organization. Next, foster individual commitment by making the people in your organization invested in its process and outcomes. Instead of employees, you have “team members,” each with a defined role and function. Think about the best ways you can set up your team and individual team members for success and assign those tasks in the order that suits each member’s abilities, training, and skills. Having an open door of communication will create an atmosphere of trust. 

Set an achievable goal and double down to raise the bar. One of the primary motivators in behavioral science is to develop momentum toward behavioral change by focusing on incremental gains and achievements. Known as Kaizens, this method builds small foundations that promote further achievements. Focus on results no matter how small or insignificant that they may appear. Again the idea here is to have success build upon itself while also creating an environment where the individual want to achieve more. 

How To Recruit And Find Talent For Your Organization

Now that you’ve worked on your organization’s skeleton finding and retaining quality people is your next objective. 

The steps to recruiting and finding quality team members are:

• Focus On Referrals: Ask your sphere of influence for people’s recommendations that may fit your organization, and ask for a referral to them and for your business
   
• Post Jobs Everywhere: From LinkedIn to Indeed and Monster and college job boards, use these services to get your job openings as much exposure as possible. This is the wide-net approach and is the first step in your process toward any of these applicants.
   
• Offer Trial-Basis Employment: If you’re concerned about committing to an individual, offer a limited-time employment opportunity. Another suggestion is to provide a freelance position to assign some less-than-critical tasks and see how applicants perform.

Types Of Employee Benefits And Incentives

Obviously, creating a culture that people want to work in isn’t going to attract the best and brightest just on its own. You also need to offer competitive pay and other incentives that your team members receive that someone in a similar position doesn’t get at a competitor. Your incentives and benefits could be among the following: 

• Profit-Sharing: This is a program where employees are compensated for the business performance. 
   
• Medical and Dental: Most employers offer a form of medical and dental for full-time employment; in fact, it’s the law in most states. You can up the ante and include a more comprehensive medical plan than others. 
• 401(K) Plans: While a lot of employers offer 401(K) plans, you can choose one that allows for matching amounts from your company and the individual 401(k). 
   
• Life Insurance: Another little perk you can offer that other organizations may not is life insurance. You can research how to buy life insurance online or access some other agency to assist you. 
   
• Paid Time Off (including sick days): Teachers, Doctors, and others get a certain number of paid personal days, including sick days, that are paid days off. Consider the same for your team members. Check out this article from SINC on how you can formulate a paid time off policy for your business.

Developing a culture that attracts great people is a process that takes focus, time, and commitment. It is not a passive enterprise but takes time to build and just as much time to maintain.