How to Create Effective Culture Codes for Your Organization
Culture codes are the building blocks of a dynamic and thriving work environment
September 9, 2022
Shared norms, customs, and ideas come together to form the culture of a group of people. These beliefs and practices are reinforced through repetition. In a work environment, the precedent is usually set by the people in leadership roles. The way things are done, the way people interact, make decisions and influence others, are all a reflection of the work culture. You may have lofty ideals, but unless you are putting them into practice, your company culture will not reflect it.
Culture codes are a kind of shorthand that incorporates complex thoughts and underlying context into a simple phrase that is understood, with all its intricacies, by everyone involved.
Defining Culture Codes
Your organization’s culture codes should be unique to align with the goals, objectives, and mission behind the company’s conception. Considerable overlap between the codes of separate companies is to be expected since certain values will be universal to all companies. Your goal is to create codes that are specifically tailored to your workplace. Remember that these codes are not set in stone, and can evolve with time and experience.
Your Values
Your organization’s culture codes should be a reflection of your company’s values. What does your company stand for? What is the thread that connects everything you do?
One of the core values for Swit is to Re:humanize work by taking a human-centric approach. This is reflected in every aspect of the company, from the asynchronous work model to the intuitive and user-friendly product.
Your People
What kind of talent do you want to attract and work with? Are you looking for team players or autonomous workers? Do you want rule followers or those that find creative solutions? Are you more interested in big-picture people or those that pay attention to detail?
Company Policies
The codes of culture also inform the way policies and guidelines are written and put into practice. A company that values a formal work environment and a strict hierarchical structure will keep employees at arm’s length. There would be no team-building events like free lunches and break room lounges.
Swit believes in an ‘open door’ policy where everyone from the CEO to an intern can be reached through DMs, to air grievances or ask questions. All conversation in both chat channels and on task cards that are not private is open to anyone who wants to view it for context and reference.
Employee Perks and Benefits
Competitive pay, medical insurance, and 401K are just the basics; you have to sweeten the pot to attract and retain skilled workers. Employee appreciation programs that recognize high performers and offer bonuses and awards are a good start.
Swit’s repertoire of perks for employees includes employee bonding events such as retreats, fun interoffice contests and games, care packages for onboarding and birth announcements, and a weekly Tea-time check-in.
Career Development
In today’s competitive environment you have to accept the fact that even the most loyal employee will eventually move on to greener pastures. Your job is to make sure the time they spend working for you is mutually beneficial. A career development path for each employee, based on their interests and skills, ensures that they are a valuable asset while they work for you and are more hirable once they leave.
Possible Hindrances
When culture codes are put into practice, the process isn’t always smooth. This short quiz will allow you to see if and where your group dynamic fails. Here are some problematic scenarios you might encounter and possible solutions.
Your group lacks a sense of purpose
Create a list of priorities you want to work on together as a unit. This list should be ranked in order of importance, consisting of no more than 3 or 4 points. For successful groups, the top item on the list consistently ends up being their in-group relationship — how they treat each other and interact as a collective. This reflects an imperative truth for finding a sense of purpose; the most important project was building and sustaining the group all along! If they get that right then the rest will follow.
A great way to create a healthy work environment is by creating in-group catchphrases. Just as sports teams have chants, company employees can have their own version of cheers. They don't have to be eloquent poetry, just memorable and action-oriented. They should get to the heart of what your company’s goals are all about. They can be a little cheesy as long as they get everyone motivated.
"Create fun and a little weirdness" - Zappos
"Talk less, do more" - IDEO
"Work hard, be nice" - KIPP
Swit’s Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 integrations offer spreadsheets and docs that make creating lists a breeze! A dedicated brainstorming channel would allow the sharing of brilliant ideas whenever inspiration strikes. These can then be consolidated into a single file and added to the shared drive or as a tab to the channel.
Your group lacks trust
Openness and transparency go a long way in establishing a tradition of trust. When managers and leaders are able to hold themselves accountable and admit when they make mistakes, it inspires honesty and discourages finger-pointing. It becomes more about how to fix the problem than who created it.
Leaders should routinely check in with their teams to discuss their concerns:
- What is one thing I do that you would like me to continue doing?
- What is one thing I don’t do frequently enough that you wish I did more often?
- How can I help you become even better?
- Am I doing something that doesn’t work for you?
The golden rule for delivering bad news, even something as inconsequential as a delayed expense reimbursement, is that it should be done face to face. This ensures that there are no misunderstandings. Each side has a chance to say their piece and clear the air, and no one wastes their time nursing grudges. It works because it deals with tension in an up-front, honest way that creates shared clarity and connection.
Swit’s video conferencing and calendar integrations let you easily schedule and hold meetings with employees when working in a remote or hybrid workplace. Whether you’re delivering good news or bad news, being able to see each other’s faces and hear each other’s voices makes it more personable.
Your group lacks cohesion
One of the most important moments for creating safety is when a group shares bad news or gives tough feedback. In these moments it’s important not to simply tolerate the difficult news but to embrace it. We’ve all heard the phrase ‘don’t shoot the messenger’, but it’s important to go a step further and encourage the messenger. Feedback is a positive thing when viewed as an instrument of improvement. When you create an environment where feedback is both given and received with openness and positivity, it means only quality work is being put out.
Swit’s task cards are meant for open discussions, where collaborators can debate ideas, create checklists, assign due dates, and give feedback with full transparency. Even after a task has been completed, these task cards can be viewed for reference and context so that there are no misunderstandings.
Swit’s Culture Codes
As a real-world example, let’s look at Swit’s culture codes, the meaning behind each phrase, and how it translates into practice.
Codes of Culture
We re-humanize work from the inside out.
We live by example in order to represent the value we want to deliver through our product.
We work for customers to make their missions come true.
By prioritizing the specific needs of each customer, we’re able to make their lives better while also bettering ourselves and our company.
We care about the people working with our product.
We go beyond just delivering software to our customers. We care about how they feel and how our product affects their lives.
We break mediocrity and continue customer satisfaction.
Our relationship with our customers is always growing and evolving. We care about continued satisfaction and are constantly iterating to make the experience even better.
We take this job as an opportunity to do the best work of our lives.
For everyone at Swit, this is mission-driven work that is made possible through a respectful and welcoming work environment.
We care about the people we're working with.
Regardless of which team we’re on, all members of Swit are encouraged to proactively help and support each other.
We optimize for shared goals, rather than for ourselves.
While different teams may have different milestones in place, we all work together to achieve a company-wide objective.
We always show up on time and respond timely.
We see this as a way to show respect for our coworkers and help reduce stress in the workplace.
We work with an optimistic view of the future.
No matter what stage the company is currently in, we take the view that we will always be even better in the future. We believe that pessimism negatively impacts the work atmosphere and discourages innovation.
We encourage bad news and focus on issues, not people.
We recognize that - no matter how hard you work - things can always go wrong, which is why we focus on figuring out why a problem happened, rather than assigning blame.
We take leadership from everywhere.
Regardless of position, everyone can and should feel comfortable taking ownership of a task and offering leadership in order to encourage others and increase customer satisfaction.
We stay humble and hustling.
We believe these two essential values can best coexist when everyone is focused on a team goal, rather than individual success.
Culture codes form the framework on which the foundation of your business is built, so it’s okay to take your time with it. It might take a few drafts to get it right. Luckily, Swit’s unique combination of Collaboration Essentials makes it the perfect tool for any project, from planning to execution.
If you’d like to learn more about how Swit can benefit your business, contact us to schedule a meeting with our team.
Nyda Ahmad, Copywriting Manager
