Of all the aspects that play a part in your business’ success, its company culture can often be overlooked as nothing more than a perk… something nice to offer the team, but ultimately unimportant. This is very much a misconception.
Let’s discuss how valuable a positive company culture is, and how to develop one in your business. Don’t worry, we’ll get into the technology of it all, too.
What Does a Positive Company Culture Do for Businesses?
We won’t get into much detail here, because the benefits run wide and deep. In short, the foundation that a good company culture creates will help elevate every other aspect of your business.
From productivity to employee engagement, to customer loyalty, employment opportunities, and beyond, effectively every element of your business that involves a “soft” skill—things like collaboration, leadership, critical thinking, adaptability, work ethic, and far too many more to list here—can see a measurable boost.
A healthy company culture that supports the well-being of the team and each individual member is a true asset to any kind of business, of any size.
As such, business leaders around Pennsylvania should be taking their company culture very seriously, actively working to promote it and to fully embrace the concept.
Now, I Can Already Hear You Asking…
“Isn’t Lantek an IT company? Why are they talking about company culture?”
There are two reasons:
- A good company culture requires everyone to buy-in to some degree, including your vendors and third-party service providers.
- Your information technology should play a role in both promoting and sustaining the kind of culture we’re talking about.
So, How Can You Enable a Better Company Culture with IT?
There are a few things you can do:
Use Your Collaboration Tools for Multiple Purposes
Emails, instant messaging, video conferencing, and business telephony are all extremely valuable tools to promote your business functions. However, who said that has to be all you use them for?
All of the above tools can easily be used to acknowledge employee accomplishments, milestones, and accolades… both related to the workplace and in their personal lives. It is just as easy to celebrate either Wanda’s seventh year with the company or her new personal record with her bowling team. Don’t be afraid to celebrate Ryan, whether it’s because he upsold a big project to a client or he just turned 37.
Use Today’s Technology to Free Up More Time
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” isn’t confined to Jack alone. Your team members may find themselves falling into a rut if you don’t take action to break up the monotony. Having a party or treating the team to lunch does more than just make you seem like the “cool boss,” it actively helps relieve stress and build relationships between the members and departments of your company.
That said, the more time you spend like this, the less work that is done, right?
Not necessarily! With the capabilities that technology can provide, a lot of the time that your team would have spent on the rote tasks that would be classified as necessary, but unproductive can be freed up through automation. With these tasks off their plates, your team can spend more of their time on more engaging and beneficial business activities, accomplishing more in the same time… making those team-building activities more sustainable, too.
Encourage Your Team Members to Grow
Most people, believe it or not, do want to feel some pride in their work. They are spending the majority of their waking hours at work, after all, so it only makes sense that most people would feel some kind of investment in it. Many will want to grow in their capabilities and be able to do more… certainly to take home a bigger paycheck, but that doesn’t mean they don’t also take pride in their work.
Today’s technology has made the opportunity for anyone to expand their skills more accessible than it has ever been. Training courses are everywhere, so don’t be afraid to invest in your employees’ capabilities. Not only will they be able to do more for your business, the company culture you’ve cultivated will help keep them around.
We Can Equip You With the Tools and Support to Accomplish This
We’re all about optimizing productivity through today’s technology, however that productivity may take shape. Give us a call today for our assistance, whether that’s ensuring your team has the tools to support them or your infrastructure can be depended on to play its part.
Or, of course, both! Give us a call at (610) 683-6883 to find out more about what we can help you accomplish.