Creating a great company culture takes years, but I must say that all the time invested is certainly worthy. Corporate culture is one of the key factors that determines companies success. It doesn’t matter how good your sales strategy is or how useful your product/service can be, at the end it all comes down to the team you have, the real people who will make a difference.

A great and outgoing corporate culture not only makes your team happy and proud of the company they are working for, but also attracts future customer-partners. People will want to do business with you because of what you believe in and stand for.

At Making Sense, we decided to make culture a priority as we focus on the team, their needs and workplace happiness. There are tons of ways to engage employees in activities that feel less like work and more like a second home.

Here are 7 keys to create a winning corporate culture:

1. Communication

This might sound pretty obvious, but it’s not. Communication is key towards the success of any company. At Making Sense, we encourage formal and informal communications consistently and at all levels throughout the company. This involves daily meetings and tons of teamwork. We love hearing our employees opinions which in turn, allows us to improve ourselves by creating better and innovative software.

To build a sustainable company culture you need to have transparent, clear and honest communication. So, I recommend you not only communicate your values and culture continuously, but also be open to listening to your team, their suggestions, opinions and complaints. People always need to be able to share their ideas without the fear of repercussion.

2. Team

It’s time to start looking at your employment as a team and not just a bunch of individuals. It has been proved that employees show better results when they work in a team rather than individually because they are working towards a shared purpose and common goals. If you trust and empower your teams they will go above and beyond your expectations, that’s for sure!

I noticed that working effectively as part of a team is incredibly important for output quality, success and also happiness among our workforce. Good teamwork creates synergy, and people exchange different perspectives, experiences, and skills. The outcome? New solutions and ideas that may be beyond the scope of any one individual.

There are a lot of ways to embrace teamwork, for example Scrum. This Agile methodology divides time into short work periods (one or two weeks long), called sprints. At the end of each period, the team members meet to see if they accomplished successfully their goals and also, they plan their next steps.

This technique is one of the most popular ways of introducing agility due to its simplicity and flexibility. It’s perfect to improve productivity and also to teach your employees to work as a team.

3. Social Responsibility

How do you connect with the local community? When people volunteer for good social causes, they build new connections that benefit their professional network as well as their personal life. Get your team involved in activities that embrace social responsibility, it generates well being, and happy people who will provide better results.

We try to organize different activities to help various shelters and organizations in our city. We also focus on promoting knowledge and software development in kids and teenagers. We know we still can do more, and we look forward into that.

4. Celebrations & outdoor activities

Want to have creative and talented people in your team? Create instances where they can explore themselves, enjoy some time to relax their minds and let their imagination fly. Implement doing something out of context and give people the freedom to show up in a different way.

Celebrate birthdays and holidays, or just make up special dates to party and spread happiness, good vibes and energy! Your team will interact more with each other, better communicated and working atmosphere.

For example at Making Sense, every Friday we celebrate the week birthdays with a delicious cake and colorful decoration. We also organize fun activities for Halloween, St. Valentine’s Day or Spring day.

5. Make culture a priority and put people first

A winning corporate culture includes qualities and philosophies that help to distinguish one company from another. You don’t have to imitate other companies’ cultures, you have to create your own, but mainly you need to make it a priority.

You may ask me: What is more important, keeping your client happy or keeping your team happy? I might say both are extremely important, but keep in mind that you need to empower and keep your workforce satisfied. If they are comfortable, happy and in an outgoing and relaxed working atmosphere, great results will came after that! When your team feels cared about as people, they do their best to work harder, you reduce attrition and better results. It’s a win-win for everyone :)

6. Acknowledge wins

Rewards are extremely important, recognize your team when they are doing a great job. Show them you are grateful and proud of their excellence and hard work.

When they are recognized they feel happy for the individual and glad for the company as well. Acknowledge their hard work and performance, keep your employees motivated.

We always try to show our team we know how hard they work, so we to set some goals and reward them with, for example, new gadgets, restaurants coupons and different kind of gifts to say “thank you”.

7. Have Fun

‘Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.’ Last but not least, enjoy and have fun while you’re working, that’s the perfect combination for a successful company and a great professional life.