Developing a Healthy Culture

For an organizational culture to grow and thrive within your corporate environment, you need to set the example. Maintaining the organizational culture that you desire takes work. It requires teaching, living, and doing at all levels of the organization at all times.
In addition to teaching, you should also be doing. Get involved at all levels and champion cultural change. This will help you pave the way for change to happen. Designing a way for people to monitor their own behavior is important.
If you want people to be accountable, then they need to know how they're doing. Encourage customers to provide online feedback via a message center. This also lets customers know that your company cares about its business.
Teaching and doing are two important steps in helping your culture thrive. The third step is living the culture—making it a natural part of your interactions. As everyone lives the culture, the change will become widespread. It can energize longtime employees and transform people who are new to the company.
The following are strategies for living the culture:

• Rearrange your offices so that people at all levels work side by side. It's easier for the managers to know what's going on, and will also help them to develop rapport with the staff.
• It's not enough just to tell employees the new culture is good for them—you need to show them.
• Make people responsible for budgets, and also give them freedom to make decisions just as they do at home.
• If you're going to live the culture, you need to deal with problems proactively. Get together once a week and talk about where you are and where you want to be. Identify potential problems and work on strategies for managing them proactively.

It's time to start teaching, doing, and living the values you want to define your organizational culture.