It’s said that real change comes from within—this is just as true for businesses. Learn how to positively change company culture with the right internal messaging.
Your company culture plays a massive role in the success of your business. The best businesses embrace a company culture that allows their employees to flourish, and that motivates employees to go the extra mile for their employers.
Though not every organization has the company culture they desire, internal communicators can use their unique position to influence positive changes in company culture. An effective internal communications campaign can fill knowledge gaps and excite employees about new changes.
Using ContactMonkey, you can monitor the success of your company culture changes. Employee feedback and email analytics can give you insights into how your employees are adapting to your plans. Book a free demo with one of our internal communications experts to see ContactMonkey in action.
Examine Your Existing Company Culture
Company culture influences so much in your business, including how your employees feel about their work and each other. If you’re looking for ways how to change company culture, you need to understand what you’re trying to change.
What is company culture?
Your company culture is the way employees experience your business. It encompasses everything from your mission statement, company policies, and organizational goals to how your managers engage their teams and what opportunities you provide employees.
You can’t change your company culture overnight. How long it takes to create a positive and strong company culture will depend on many factors including the size of your company, the nature of your work, and your employees’ willingness to embrace such changes. Consider these factors when looking at your current company culture.
Don’t be afraid to ask your employees what they think should change—this feedback can guide your culture goals. Using ContactMonkey you can gather anonymous employee feedback through Outlook and Gmail.
Be Transparent About What You Want to Change
When you’re transparent in your internal communications, it gives employees all the information they need to feel at ease about change, understand the situation, and do their jobs effectively.
So how can your company be transparent in internal communications? Go back to the basics and follow the 3 Cs of communication—be clear, concise, and consistent in your internal communications campaign to change company culture.
- Clear: Avoid ambiguous phrasing and jargon that could be misunderstood.
- Concise: Get straight to the point. During uncertain times like the pandemic in 2020, positivity for the sake of positivity will not help you gain your employees’ trust. Treat employees as intelligent adults by telling them what they need to know—there’s beauty in brevity. Most importantly, trust your employees to handle the news with grace.
- Consistent: If you want employees to have confidence in leadership, consider sending more effective leadership communications. Eventually, employees will know when to expect communications from the company.
Many businesses use internal communications tools like ContactMonkey to enhance their email features and gain valuable insight into employee behavior and engagement. When there’s a written record of communications, anyone can refer to it later if in doubt.
Encourage Leadership to Communicate New Values
Once you know what you want to change, you need to get employees on the same page about the values you want to adopt. Internal communications play a significant role in securing this buy-in.
How can you determine if your employees are aligned with your company’s new values? Just ask. Frequently survey your employees on workplace culture issues—schedule regular surveys using a communications calendar. ContactMonkey surveys give employees the option of remaining anonymous, making it more likely to get honest responses.
Take Bottom-Up Communication Seriously and Revise Policies
Always keep in mind that workplace culture and communication are closely linked. Encourage bottom-up communication within your company to hear from employees about how to change and strengthen company culture.
Exemplis uses ContactMonkey to gather feedback from employees and check in with them regularly.
When sending employee surveys, consider asking these company culture questions:
- Do you feel connected to your company’s culture?
- Do you agree with the company’s vision?
- Which of our company’s values do you most closely identify with?
Analyze survey responses and, based on your findings, take action to revise company policies accordingly—this reinforces trust in your employees.
Gauge the Effect of the Changes in Company Culture
To effect change in your company culture, improve your internal communications to share these shifts with your employees. From there, gauge how employees feel about the changes and their overall perception of the company’s culture.
Measuring employee input is an internal communications best practice, and can help leadership decide whether the business’s values need more refinement. ContactMonkey is an all-in-one internal communications tool that can support you in your initiatives.
Learn how to use internal communications software to monitor engagement and gather employee feedback to improve your company culture. Schedule a free demo and see how ContactMonkey can do this easily.
