backAll Articles

Published December 31, 2019 at 12:00 AM

How to Have a Productive Company Culture (Infographic)

6 min read
6 min read

Key Takeaways

  • Good culture and productivity go hand in hand: if your firm is strong in culture, productivity will improve.
  • Start weekly meetings with a round of good news to get things off on the right foot before digging into the problems that need to be solved.
  • Rhythm Systems believes in constant feedback rather than dreaded annual performance reviews; constant feedback keeps employees productive because they know they are working on the right priorities.
  • Be flexible about when people work and have everyone schedule their week ahead of time; letting employees structure their days around when they are most productive beats a one-size-fits-all schedule.
  • Do less, not more: it is better to do less effectively than to try and fail at everything at once, so make sure your team has enough capacity and use an employee health index to spot red or yellow status early.

Company culture is essential. If disengaged workers were engaged, they would boost U.S. productivity by $79 billion a year! 

A boost in productivity could be a massive benefit to your company. Good culture and productivity go hand in hand. If your firm is strong in culture, productivity will improve.

So, how do you ensure the correct ratio of fun and productivity?

productive company culture.jpg

1. Start your Meetings with Good News
At the start of your weekly meeting, share a round of good news. This will start your meeting off on the right foot. After a round of good news, you can dig into the meat of the meeting - what problems need to be addressed and solved.

2. Constant Feedback
At Rhythm Systems, we believe in constant feedback rather than the dreaded annual performance reviews. Constant feedback will keep employees productive because they know they are working on the right priorities.

4. Schedule Think Time
When people think about productivity, they rarely think about spending an hour flexing the brain. However, taking time to process through a set of problems and actively get ahead allows you to look at the big and small picture.

5. Be Flexible
A perfect example of this is my colleague and me. I am a typical morning person; I get a lot done before noon, but after lunchtime, forget it! On the other hand, she is most active in the afternoon and rarely productive in the morning. Allow your employees to structure their days to maximize their productivity.

6. Set the Right Red-Yellow-Green Criteria
Your A players need the proper success criteria to hit their goals. When working on your quarterly and annual plans, you need realistic goals and milestones. The correct success criteria will help focus your team's energy and projects throughout the year.

7. Cross-Functional Teams
So often, we get stuck in the paradigm of "this is how things always have been done," so they stay the same. We have teams at Rhythm Systems called CANI (Continuous and Neverending Improvement); CANI teams comprise employees from different departments. Different perspectives change how problems and solutions appear and drive measurable employee engagement.

8. Schedule Your Week Ahead of Time
Too often, we get halfway through the week before realizing that we didn't get anything done that we wanted to get done. Our team suggests sitting down once a week and scheduling your week ahead. I recently wrote a blog about how to plan a week. 

9. Do Less Not More
It is better to do less effectively than to try (and fail) to do everything all at once. Make sure your team has enough capacity to get all their priorities done. Use an employee health index to track employee health, and ask if their status is red or yellow to see how you can help them. A happy employee is a productive employee.

Want to learn more about improving Employee Engagement? Check out these additional resources:

10 Ways to Improve Employee Engagement in Your Manufacturing Company

3 Employee Engagement Stats that Will Make You Take Action

5 Employee Engagement Blunders to Avoid

How to Keep Employees Engaged

Improving Employee Engagement (Video)

 

  request meeting with Rhythm Systems

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you build a productive company culture?

Combine a handful of consistent practices: start meetings with good news, give constant feedback instead of relying on annual reviews, schedule think time, be flexible about when people do their best work, set the right Red-Yellow-Green success criteria, use cross-functional teams, plan each week ahead of time, and do less, not more.

Why start meetings with good news?

Sharing a round of good news at the start of your weekly meeting gets it off on the right foot. Once the round is done, the team can dig into the meat of the meeting, the problems that need to be addressed and solved, from a more positive footing.

Is constant feedback better than annual performance reviews?

Rhythm Systems believes in constant feedback rather than the dreaded annual performance review. Constant feedback keeps employees productive because they always know they are working on the right priorities, instead of finding out once a year whether they were pointed in the right direction.

What are CANI teams?

CANI stands for Continuous and Neverending Improvement. At Rhythm Systems, CANI teams are made up of employees from different departments. The different perspectives change how problems and solutions appear and drive measurable employee engagement, breaking the "this is how things have always been done" paradigm.

How do Red-Yellow-Green success criteria improve productivity?

Your A players need proper success criteria to hit their goals. When working on quarterly and annual plans, set realistic goals and milestones with the right Red-Yellow-Green criteria; that focuses your team's energy and projects throughout the year.

Why is doing less more productive?

It is better to do less effectively than to try and fail to do everything at once. Make sure your team has enough capacity to get all their priorities done, and use an employee health index to track how people are doing; when someone's status is red or yellow, ask how you can help. A happy employee is a productive employee.
Picture of Rhythm Systems

Rhythm Systems

LinkedIn Connect with me on LinkedIn.