CULTURE IS AN interesting thing. A great culture will attract and keep rockstar talent, a toxic culture will cause the same people to leave and no culture at all will often leave leadership wondering why staff isn’t engaged or more invested in their roles.
Creating a great culture is one of the most challenging parts of building a strong business, but the challenge comes with massive rewards — it’s hard to understate how powerful a strong culture can be.
The Role Culture Plays in Work Environment
Culture is often the difference between your team waking up thinking, “I have to go to work” and “I get to go to work.” Changing a single word means a world of difference when it comes to buy-in.
The same is true for practice owners and managers. Being excited to go to work is a gift that many people spend their entire professional lives trying to find.
Making Your Practice a Great Place to Work
There are many aspects of company culture you can focus on. Today, let’s discuss how you can leverage culture to make your practice a great place to work.
The goal here is to help earn engagement from your staff and turn them from employees into advocates for your brand.
Five Ways to Build and Strengthen Your Culture
1. Host monthly staff meetings. This may feel like something from “Business 101,” but it’s important that it is included and part of your team’s schedules. Staff meetings should be about more than how the company is doing; they are a time to recognize the accomplishments of the team, the business, and the community.
Keep it on-task and focused, for sure, but don’t forget to bring a bit of fun and personalization to it as well.
2. Have regular one-on-ones with your team. One of the best ways to stay in sync with your team is to connect with them regularly. Biweekly or monthly one-on-ones will do more than help you keep a pulse on them; they will also help your team feel important and valued.
During these one-on-ones, talk about their wins, misses, and ideas for the company. Also, ensure that a significant portion of it is about the employee, their future goals, and how you can support them in achieving these.
One-on-ones are a great place to identify coaching and growth opportunities, and nothing earns buy-in faster than your team feeling your investment in them.
3. Get out of the office. Meetings and one-on-ones are even better when held outside the office. Find a place where your team can meet, chat and connect that’s better suited to conversation and engagement. Sometimes, an optical dispensary just isn’t the right place.
4. Find a cause to rally behind. Creating a sense of community is powerful, and having a communal cause to strive toward and support is a great way to introduce altruism and ownership into your culture.
Have your team submit ideas, and at your next staff meeting, vote on which one you focus on over the next month, quarter or year. Watch them come together and work to do some good (and it will feel great, too).
5. Recognize your team’s accomplishments and curate an environment of support. The above items all work toward this goal. Recognizing the good people have done in your practice, and doing so publicly, helps supercharge a culture of camaraderie and mutual support.
After all, we’re all in this together — let’s help each other through it.