Company culture: how to implement it successfully at team level

Corporate culture is a set of internal principles of a company, its values and its official communication to the outside world. It also includes the company's rituals, customs and communication processes. Each company should define for itself what makes it unique and what kind of corporate culture it wants to promote among its employees. However, corporate culture is usually defined at the top management level and is not always fully in line with the day-to-day happenings in individual teams. How can you, as a manager, successfully implement corporate culture in your team?

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Clearly explain your expectations and the company's priorities

As the Harvard Business Review states, first and foremost, you need to communicate clearly the basic principles of a defined company culture to your subordinates. You cannot expect the company culture to implement itself in the team without your sitting down with subordinates and explaining to them what the company's expectations are and what is actually required of employees. Talk to team members about the priorities of the company culture and try to translate the often broadly defined priorities and values of the company into a common and concrete language.

Always lead by example

As a manager, you should always lead by example and this also applies to compliance with the values of the company culture. If you think you will just pass on to your subordinates what company management expects of them and, for you, that will be the end of it, you are in for a disappointment. The successful implementation of a company culture in your team is only possible if you, as their manager, always adhere to the rules and values of the company culture.

Align the priorities of the company culture with the specific processes of your team

Company culture and company values are often deliberately defined in rather general and vague terms. This is because they need to be valid across the whole company, and usually individual teams are expected partially to adapt them to their own specific requirements and processes. Therefore, you need to match the values of the company culture with the day-to-day practices of your team and agree with your subordinates on very specific procedures to follow.

Express public appreciation to those who follow the rules of corporate culture

Last but not least, you must always and at all costs acknowledge those who truly honour the values of the company culture. This is the only way to keep the idea of company values alive. In team meetings, always mention examples where employees have behaved as they should and where they have lived up to the values that the company defines within its corporate culture.


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Article source Harvard Business Review - flagship magazine of Harvard Business School
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