1. Intrapreneurship, Shark Tank-style.
It is crucial to create a culture that empowers
everyone within the organization to be
innovative and intrapreneurial. We hold a semi-
annual event, very similar to Shark Tank, where
employees come and pitch their ideas. Ideas
range from new products to ways we can
streamline or improve our current processes.
This helps create a culture of collaborative,
collective intelligence.--Dusty Wunderlich,
Bristlecone Holdings
2. Public shout-outs.
At the end of every monthly team meeting, we
put up a slide listing all of our company values.
Then, team members have a chance to give
shout-outs to each other based on those values
and based on each person's work in the past
month. It's a great way for everyone to publicly
recognize each other--and it's free!--Bhavin
Parikh, Magoosh
3. A culture calendar.
We recently introduced a culture calendar that is
viewable by all team members. It includes
activities ranging from team meetings to
employee birthdays to fitness challenges. Team
members are also able to suggest new activities
in a shared document. Putting events down on a
calendar, accessible to everyone across different
office locations, leads to increased team
communication and transparency.-- Doreen
Bloch, Poshly
4. Lunch lotto.
We instituted a monthly lunch lotto where we
draw names for a group to go to lunch on the
company's dime. This was started in efforts to
build interdepartmental relationships between
people who may not work together regularly, and
break down silos that may exist between some
departments. We encourage people to chat
about personal and work life, and they typically
take a longer lunch than usual.-- Angela Harless,
AcrobatAnt
5. A Champion-in-Residence.
Our company's biggest cultural win was the
addition of three-time boxing world champion
Paul Vaden, who is our Champion-in-Residence.
Paul has had a big impact on our company
culture. Employees meet with him regularly, and
he attends major company meetings to offer
inspiring guidance. He also adds to the level of
fun in the office and hosts departmental boxing
classes off site, too.-- Jason Kulpa, Underground
Elephant
6. Naps.
As the CEO of a mattress company, I always try to
emphasize the benefits of adequate sleep to my
customers and clients, as well as my team
members. Napping is a huge part of our
company culture here, and I have found that a
well-placed nap will make my already-gritty
employees even more hardworking, creative, and
happy when they wake up.-- Firas Kittaneh,
Amerisleep
7. A supply of books.
We cover the cost of books for our team, so
there's zero friction in the process for anyone
who wants to learn something new. Because we
seek out new markets and novel product ideas,
we're constantly adding to our knowledge base
and becoming experts in different fields. Catering
to a culture built on learning and continuous self-
education is the key to our successes.-- Emerson
Spartz, Spartz
8. An adventure reimbursement program.
We implemented an adventure reimbursement
program to instill the concept of "work hard, play
harder." We reimburse our employees to
participate in an adventure or try new things on
the company's dime. During meetings, we then
talk about it. Some have taken swimming lessons,
gone to a play, taken karate lessons, and the list
goes on.--Tamara Nall, The Leading Niche
9. A group "campfire" session (no tech allowed).
We have a process called "campfire" every
Monday and Wednesday morning with zero
electronics. Our team meets at our creative room
on the floor, cross-legged. We discuss project
statuses, current challenges, brainstorm creative
and development solutions, define workload
action plans, and socialize. Our full team is
deeply integrated into the company with an
enthusiastic understanding of the global
workload.--Dalip Jaggi, Devise Interactive
10. A Ping-Pong table.
Great companies have a passionate drive to beat
competitors and help customers win. Embracing
a healthy culture of competition is a great way to
feed this fire. Our solution: Installing two Ping-
Pong tables and running monthly tournaments
with a variety of prizes. Let's just say that the
competitive spirit is alive and well at
VideoBlocks.-- Joel Holland, VideoBlocks
11. An investment in employee learning.
We believe strongly that as consultants and
advisers, we must push the thinking in our areas
of specialty. We invest in developing our staff
members as thought leaders because it not only
helps strengthen our brand, it also provides
opportunities for team members to shine. This
strengthens our culture because it directly aligns
with our values and strategy, and benefits
employees.-- Chris Cancialosi, gothamCulture
12. Better communication for remote workers.
We are a small company with a remote
workforce. In order to strengthen our corporate
culture, we needed a tool that allowed all of our
employees to share ideas, work through
problems, and socialize just like they would
under the same roof. We've accomplished this
with Slack, which has become our team's virtual
office. It's the foundation on top of which we've
developed our culture.-- Maxwell Finn, Loot!
13. Frequent team lunches.
We encourage a team lunch every Friday
afternoon outside of the office. This allows the
employees to connect on a personal level outside
of work, which helps them relate and connect
with each other. You spend more time with the
people you work with than your own family, so it
is important to enjoy your time around them. -
Jayna Cooke, EventUp
14. Dinners at teammates' homes.
At least once a month on a weekend, a teammate
or co-founder will cook dinner for the team at
their home. Teammates will bring their family,
dogs, significant others, and friends. We're
extremely family-oriented as a team and treat
building our company as a team/family effort,
not just as a job.--Nanxi Liu, Enplug
15. Team recognition and rewards.
I'm not lackadaisical about the culture I build,
and I've found major success with software and
apps that allow employees to give each other
kudos for just about any job well done, then
allowing the employee to pick from a variety of
rewards THEY want (headphones, time off, casual
dress days, cash, etc.). Because of programs like
YouEarnedIt, I'm able to let my employees
cultivate real culture.-- Darius Mirshahzadeh,
Endeavor America Loan Services
16. Team workouts.
Seeing each other sweat and compete together in
an organized sport (like soccer or running) does
wonders to build team cohesiveness. You view
each other in a different light as well as learn
about people's families. People learn to
compete. It's something we will continue to
expand on in the coming years.--Kofi Kankam,
Source: inc.com
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