Let's start at the beginning. What the heck is company culture anyway? Culture is the behaviors and beliefs that make up the character of a company. It's what makes your company unique and defines how your employees interact with each other, customers, and clients. A strong company culture can help you attract and retain top talent, improve customer satisfaction, and boost employee engagement and productivity. You may not realize it, but it's the foundation of everything you do and should be the foundation of your all-hands, too.
You can't build or maintain a positive work environment without first understanding your company culture. What values define your organization? What do your employees care about? How do they like to work? Answering these questions is the first step to knowing your culture. Getting your team involved in this exercise is highly recommended to keep your team aligned and build a thriving culture. Take a few hours or do a 1-day retreat to brainstorm and define your culture, or hire a professional "Culture Consultant" to help you understand and define your unique culture traits. Only good things will come from this!
Now that you know your culture and you have culture creation buy-in from your team, it will be easy to set the tone for your All-Hands. When you're working virtually, it's important to set the tone for your meetings and make sure it aligns to the company culture. You can do this by being honest and transparent in your communication, and by hosting regular all-hands meetings. During these meetings, you should be open to answering questions from your team members, and also encourage them to ask questions of you. This will help create a positive work environment where everyone feels like they have access to leadership and a clear picture of the company goals.
Positive work environments are better cultures. They lead to more productivity, less conflict, and better relationships. As your team continues to grow and your organization matures, take time at regular intervals to sit down with each other—even if you have virtual offices—and meet face-to-face. Schedule an all-hands meeting every week, month or quarter. This will keep team members feeling connected and ensure that everyone is on board with company goals. You’ll also be able to build up trust among employees as they learn what their colleagues do, how they do it, and how their role fits into the big picture of things. Positive meetings create positive work environments that can be difficult to achieve in a distributed team setting but still important nonetheless.
An important part of building and maintaining an office culture is fostering ongoing communication with your team. These conversations should be less about meeting deadlines and more about discussing issues that affect their professional well-being and day-to-day lives. For both remote team and in-person teams, consider scheduling regular weekly meetings and other informal gatherings that promote ongoing dialogue and provide valuable insight into your employees’ perceptions of your company culture. Keep communication frequent beyond the All-Hands, and you'll see productivity soar.
Interested in bringing your culture alive in your all-hands? Let’s chat and take your team meeting to the next level!
