Let’s face it: the workplace can be a challenging place. New employees are learning about your company, and existing employees may be settling into their new roles. Everyone is trying to navigate relationships with co-workers, figure out how to do their jobs well, and grow professionally. Your role as a manager or leader is to help everyone feel supported—and it starts with building a strong culture.

Positive Workplace Culture Checklist.

Work toward a strong mission, vision, and values.

Mission, vision, and values are the foundation of a strong workplace culture. Your mission statement is what you stand for as an organization. It answers "why" you do what you do, whether that's designing spaceships or providing services to those in need. A good mission statement should be clear enough that it can be explained in five words or fewer—you want it to be memorable and easily understood by everyone who works at your company. A "vision statement" outlines how an organization intends to achieve its goals over time. It describes where an organization wants to go in terms of its products, services, or technology—and why those things matter most right now.

Get leadership involved.

Having leadership involved in a company’s culture is crucial to its success. Leadership should set the vision, values, and goals of your company. They should be involved in hiring decisions and training new employees on how to embody those values. They should also be involved in defining what “culture” means at your organization—what makes it unique?

Build teams that work well together.

At the end of the day, building a great workplace culture is about creating a team that works well together and has each other's backs. You want to avoid "the office politics" that can emerge from having too many people who are all on the same page. Recruiting a diverse team of personalities, ages, skillsets, genders, and ethnicities will help ensure your company feels welcoming to everyone.

Involve your employees in decision-making and goal setting.

An employee engagement survey can help you find out how well your employees feel they are included in decision-making and goal setting within your organization. After reviewing the results, create a plan with specific steps to improve your company's workplace culture by involving employees. For example:

• Make sure employees know how their job contributes to the success of the company.
• Anonymous virtual submission boxes.
• An open forum at meetings to discuss new ideas.
• Email each employee individually rather than in a mass email chain.
• Create a committee with representatives from each department to discuss a specific topic.

Step in when values are violated.

The most important step in building a strong workplace culture is to step in when values are violated. When you see people behaving unethically or when you hear of unethical behavior from others, it’s critical to take action. There are many ways a negative workplace culture can happen:

• You overhear someone making a joke about sexual assault.
• Someone makes a racist comment during a meeting.
• A coworker steals credit for another person's work (or takes credit for work they did not do).

Embrace diversity.

When it comes to people, the more diverse the workforce, the better. Diversity is a huge strength to help find new ideas, solve problems, and attract talent to build a more inclusive workplace. In fact, companies that embrace diversity see higher employee engagement because employees feel valued and supported by their company’s beliefs. If your company doesn’t have many women in leadership positions or people of color in management roles, then this is an area where you should focus on improving first. Other ways to build culture include networking events and team building exercises.

Recognize accomplishments.

Recognition is important because it shows your team that you acknowledge their hard work. It also gives them an opportunity to feel good about themselves and lets them know that you care about their success and growth. Recognition doesn't have to be complicated, nor should it be limited to only the people who are getting promoted—everyone's accomplishments should be acknowledged.

For example, if one of your employees lands a new client, celebrate by sending flowers or giving them the choice of working from home. If there isn't a budget for flowers or other rewards like gift cards, consider bringing in lunch from local restaurants instead. The point here is to make sure everyone feels appreciated—not just those who've reached impressive milestones within the company!

Offer perks and incentives that are meaningful to people.

Incentives are just as important for team building as they are for getting things done. They should be something that employees can use, enjoy, and share with their friends and families. When it comes to perks, think about what you want your employees to take home with them each day. Is it a sense of accomplishment? A sense of purpose?

Whatever the case may be, aim to provide rewards that make an impact. If you're running a startup or small business where everyone's strapped for time, consider hosting a happy hour or other social events that bring people together outside the office—not only will this foster stronger relationships between coworkers but also help bond them closer together through shared experiences such as laughter over drinks or even some good old-fashioned gossiping about co-workers' lives outside work! For any occasion, RPG Card Services can help your team feel accomplished and appreciated.

And that's all for now.

Everyone wants to feel like they’re a part of something bigger than themselves. Ensure your employees feel connected to each other and as a whole by establishing these strong values and promoting collaboration, trust, and respect. And this isn’t just good for morale—it also makes them more productive, happier, and more likely to stay with your company long-term.