5 Culture Building Activities that Your Employees Will Appreciate
Your company culture is toxic and no matter what you do, good employees keep running out the door. Why? It’s simple. Although your intentions are good, you’re not being intentional with your efforts. You’re trying to get your team to participate in different culture building activities (and actually like it), but you’re missing the most important component; Meaning. In this post, you’ll receive 5 culture building activities that will not only enhance your company culture and keep your team interested, but your employees will also feel like you care by incorporating things that have meaning to them.
One of the main ingredients to building a culture that your employees will love is to build a culture of inclusion and value. When your employees feel included in the changes you’re promoting, their buy-in increases. Inclusion also helps you, as the leader, understand their thoughts about the change so that you can engage them better throughout the process. Most of all, they will feel valued & connected to the organization when you take the time to make the changes meaningful to them.
Activity #1: Offer a casual dressing day or week with a donation to a charity of an employee’s choice.
Offering a casual day or week has definitely been done before. However, when you include a donation to a charity of employee choice, it has a totally new meaning. You can offer this with a $1 donation for one casual day, or a $5 donation for a casual week. Your employees may support various charities for reasons that are important to them. This activity will help them feel like their interests matter to you and the organization.
[ctt template=”4″ link=”bQwW6″ via=”yes” ]Your culture building intentions are good, but they’re not intentional & that’s why good employees are leaving.[/ctt]
Activity #2: Host a fitness competition with a health goal or awareness of an employee’s choice.
Many people are focused on fitness goals nowadays. Hosting a fitness competition with a health goal or awareness of an employee’s choice is a great perk to support those goals and also encourage teamwork. You can split your employees into teams and select a different awareness or fitness goal for each month. For example; one month could be for diabetes awareness, while next month’s focus can be a weight loss goal. The main objective is to have your employees suggest a goal or awareness that matters to them.
Activity 3: Host a workplace vision board party.
Vision board parties have been very popular lately, especially around the new year. What better way to have fun and be strategic than by hosting a workplace vision board party where your employees illustrate what an ideal workplace (or team) looks like to them. Close the office a few hours early and provide the supplies for your employees to create their boards (poster boards, magazines, glue, tape, craft decorations, markers, etc.). The key here is not to treat this as just an activity or gathering, but to really observe and make note of what your employees truly want while they’re at work. This will help you align your leadership and employee engagement practices to their needs. You can even hang the completed vision boards around the office afterward!
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Activity 4: Offering a learning experience that employees are interested in.
Offering a learning experience that actually matters to your employees will keep them engaged and feel supported in their professional development. This could include workshops, training classes, lunch & learns, seminars/webinars, etc. Let your employees suggest topics that they’re interested in and you can host the ones that will benefit their roles. The topics can include things like productivity, conflict resolution, creativity, collaboration, leadership development, professionalism, overcoming workplace stress, financial planning, etc.
Activity 5: Celebrate achievements that employees make outside of the workplace.
Celebrate the achievements that employees reach outside of the workplace. Your employees have lives, families, and interests outside of work that matters to them. Being mindful and acknowledging their good news in the office, even if it isn’t work related, makes them feel more connected to the organization. Highlight their child’s achievements in a newsletter or on a bulletin board. Share a championship win or media mention with your team in an email. These efforts are small, but they have a big impact one employee inclusion and engagement.
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