On our Public Relations Resource page, we provide an understanding of why “Workplace Culture Matters to your Public Relations.” At LŪM Studio, we have firsthand experience of how positive workplace culture impacts our public relations and ultimately business development and revenue. Our team regularly creates brand awareness through conversations within and outside of their network, provides leads for business development meetings, and helps secure client and project opportunities. I have no doubt that they’re willing to do this because of a positive workplace culture. Below are a few ways to ensure you have a positive workplace culture.
Set Clear Values and Vision
Have a set of guiding values or principles that your team can understand and get behind. You can find Our Values here. Your values will provide a leading set of standards to help you operate, make decisions, and interact and communicate with your employees, customers, partners, vendors, and other stakeholders. As long as they are true and referenced often, they will provide direction and insight for your team. Along the same lines, provide a clear vision to your team about what you’re trying to accomplish so everyone can be working towards the same goal(s).
Embrace Transparency & Communication
Ignore the urge to leave your team out of operations, revenue and expense, forecast and other strategic conversations. Just because business has been done this way for years doesn’t mean that it’s best practice. By including everyone in these discussions, you remove uncertainty around important topics, continue to align your vision and plan, and increase the opportunity to capture, develop and implement big ideas. For example, your team will have a clearer idea of growth opportunities, and what’s needed to get there. Currently, the only thing we aren’t willing to discuss at LŪM is private, personnel matters, out of fairness to other team members. This level of transparency and increased communication means access for everyone, including all levels of leadership, and a willingness to embrace both positive and negative topics. When there’s an issue, you tackle it head on even if that means tough conversations and some conflict.
Establish a Work Culture Employees are Happy About
Find opportunities to make your employees happy. After all, this is a two-way relationship, and they can easily choose to move on. Consider the benefits, both tangible and intangible that you are or are willing to provide. This could be as big as shifting to a partial or full remote working setup, cutting out early on a Friday for drinks or the day before a holiday, or letting them choose between more vacation or more pay. Certainly, as a business you have limitations, but get creative and find ways to invest in their lives and help them enjoy being a part of your business. Afterall, when employees are happy at work, they’re more productive and engaged.
Offer Opportunities to Collaborate
Humans need to interact. Our brains actually function better when we work together. When you give your team opportunities to collaborate, they’ll feel more valued and produce brighter and bigger results. Additionally, as humans, we find security in community, and that means more comfort sharing, being creative and taking chances. Big ideas don’t usually come out of being safe.
Create Specific Goals & Incentives
Lastly, each employee should have clear goals and expectations for completing their job. Based on these, you can set incentives for team members that exceed what is expected. Incentives give employees opportunities to strive for more and have control over what they receive. This also helps alleviate the natural “but I do more” or “I do better” ideas that often comes with your highest performing team members.
And How Does This Impact my Public Relations?
Do you want happy, fulfilled employees talking about your business or unsatisfied, irritated ones? Your team know the nitty gritty details of how you operate, your differentiators, proprietary customer details and much more. This is a relationship you need to value and nurture. Your team is one of your best PR assets. Ensure they speak positively about and advocate for your business creating and nurturing a culture that is positive, inclusive, collaborative, and rewards their efforts.
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