Building a solid culture and a solid team isn’t easy. It is worth the time however, and it is worth the investment … every time. Here are some proven ideas to consider, they have worked for others and many of them can be done quite easily and inexpensively.
THINGS YOU CAN DO TODAY …
Buy Lunch for your associates as a surprise after achieving a difficult target. Pizza, sandwich platters, etc. are affordable and usually well received. Make sure you don’t forget something to drink.
Give your associates their birthdays off with pay or an in lieu of a day off. If not a day off, then perhaps give a gift certificate for use at a local business.
Post a daily inspirational quote. Find a person-centered quotation for someone that might need a boost without identifying the intended person. You will be surprised at how many people will appreciate the effort and think that they were the person the quote was intended for.
Allow the associates to create staff music play lists. Many organizations have music playing in the background, consider allowing associates to make playlists and let them choose the music. As long as the music is appropriate, you could have “Country day”, “Jazz day”, “80’s rock day”, as a way to make the work environment just that much more personal and enjoyable for everyone.
Celebrate staff anniversaries. Simple acknowledgements of your associate’s contribution to your organization should be fundamental in every workplace. For 5, 10, 15, etc. perhaps a more significant recognition is appropriate:
- A few person-centered words of thanks from the owner or board of directors;
- Some coffee and donuts for all associates;
- Sincere appreciation for the associate’s contribution to the success of the organization.
Have a party for departing associates.For most associates, leaving a job means leaving their social circle; having a staff get together is a nice send off and can be done as formally or informally.
“Ideas and beers”. Your associates may have many great ideas that die in people’s minds because there is no mechanism to encourage or develop them. Often, we’re too busy with day-to-day tasks to explore all the new ideas we have, a good idea may be to have a regular dedicated time to discuss them over a few “pops”.
Have tennis balls by the door. Have a stack of tennis balls by the exit and each day ask your associates to throw the ball into one of two buckets. One bucket is for “I’ve had a good day today”; the other is for “I’ve had a bad day today”. By asking your associates to anonymously reflect daily helps them appreciate the good days and passively vent about the bad.
Send “1Ups”. Have a white board in the lunchroom and encourage associates to write a “thank you” message to colleagues who have helped them recently.
“Dress up” Days. Instead of the typical dress down Fridays, why not throw in a dress up day once a month and encourage people to wear suits or dresses.
Pay a living wage to your associates; your people need to be able to afford to live in your community. Living wages are different in each region, but you will build a loyal and hardworking group of associates, if they are not always living from pay cheque to pay cheque.
Have a method of paid-sick days. If there is an over-arching lesson from the pandemic, this might be the most important. The long-term cost to your organization is far greater if you do not have this available for your associates.
Use full-time associates. Part-time or contract associates may save the organization money in the short-term; however, building our organization around people with good full-time jobs with benefits will reduce turnover, costly recruiting and training expenses, and contribute to the growth of the community.
THINGS YOU CAN DO NEXT MONTH …
Run a staff contest at least once per month. Contests can be work-related, or person centred. The key is to get as many people to participate as possible. Teams of three or four people work the best and pair new people with your veterans.
Once a month or once a quarter have a staff outing after hours:
- Some organizations enter teams in a local trivia night contest;
- Others might have a staff bowling night or softball game;
- Staff “potluck” supper nights are a great way to bring people together outside of the work environment.
- Taking the “potluck” idea one-step further to plan a “cookie crawl”, where each associate brings in two dozen cookies and then the cookies are divided amongst all of the associates who joined in.
- Try to involve the spouses and partners of your associates. Too often, most organizations forget how important it is to make them feel part of your team as well.
Create a library of self-help books. Many people will take advantage of such a library and great books are available for very little cost. Many second-hand bookstores have excellent books available.
Help local charities and community organizations that are important to your associates:
- Incorporate suggestions into your company events, for example, at your Christmas party ask those attending to bring a non-perishable food item for donation to the food bank or to make a $10 contribution to a local charity.
- Consider having providing a “paid day” for your associates to volunteer at a community meal program and/or to deliver meals.
- Asking for $20 donation to support a local “toy drive” at Christmas.
- Associates who have children that are fund-raising for sports or schools should be encouraged to solicit the staff or to have a small display for customers or staff to contribute.
THINGS YOU CAN DO OVER 1-6 MONTHS
Sponsor local events and/or and sporting teams that your associates are participating in:
- These groups are usually underfunded and their volunteers are overworked and your even small contributions are very welcome.
- If your associates volunteer to these groups, modify your schedules to allow them to leave early if necessary, even 5 or 10 minutes can make difference.
- Posting your support on social media will help publicize your associate’s event help your customers know that community involvement is very important to your company.
- Many companies post pictures of the children’s teams they support to build awareness of how important contributing to the local community is for the organization and for the associates.
Have special Day celebrations that are fun for your associates:
- Finding ways to celebrate the seasons and special days like Easter, Halloween, Ground Hog Day, the first day of spring, the first day of baseball or hockey season, the first day of school and decorating the stores.
- There are many unique ways of doing this from having a “sports jersey” day to handing out “tree seedlings” for earth day to having a draw for a “box of wine” for mothers on first day back to school.
Create a Rewards program for your associates:
- Recognize associates for having perfect attendance for the year,
- For achievements at work or in the community that may or may not be seen by everyone
- The reward doesn’t have to be huge, even small gift certificates are appreciated.
Encourage Healthy Lifestyles.
Offering fitness trackers like Fitbit is a fun way to encourage health and wellness. To encourage company-wide adoption, hold a competition on who could walk the most steps in a week.
Offer assistance and encouragement for associates who want to quit smoking.
Embed the “right of first conversation” for employees thinking about leaving.
- A healthy associate relationship is an open one.
- Encourage everyone to speak to their manager if they are thinking of interviewing elsewhere.
- If the reason has to do with the company there may be something that could resolve the issue.
- A job isn’t a life sentence, if someone wants to leave, we understand, it happens and it is okay; and having a reference from your current employer always helps.
Performance Conversations at least once per quarter. Reviews should not be a once-a-year exercise. Performance Conversations are interactive, and they should also “open the door” to have associates evaluate their manager’s performance and that of the company.
Do walk and talks. Have discussions away from offices to remove stigma, so instead of having one-to-ones in your office, go for a walk and talk instead. You’ll find the fresh air, movement and relaxed nature makes people open up more easily.
Lunch and learns.Invite speakers into the office to teach life skills, inspire people and educate. This doesn’t have to cost much, why not ask your associates to talk about something they’re passionate about.
Introduce a ‘dare to try’ award.
- Creating a culture where failure is acceptable, allowing experimentation is critical to letting people and ideas grow.
- Having an award to celebrate an idea that didn’t work out is a great way to let people know that new ideas are encouraged.
- Failure is never the goal of a company, but failing and learning is better than not trying in the first place.
Create an internal mentoring program.
- Mentoring has huge benefits for retention, training and development.
- Not only will your team learn from the best, your high performer experts will get even better.
- Your organization holds so much knowledge; you should always want to make the most of it.
- Many associates find role-playing awkward and difficult; however, fostering collaboration between just two associates will be more impactful.
Building a solid culture and a solid team isn’t easy; however, it is worth the time and it is worth the investment … every time.
Good luck,