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Building a great culture

Last year brought its fair share of challenges, and we’ve certainly felt the weight of it at a leadership level. However, it can be all too easy to forget that this impacts our team as well.

Here are our five thoughts on how to ensure you maintain (or build towards) a great culture - and it all starts with January:

1. Check in

Most of us come back to work ready to hit the ground running getting in touch with existing customers and new prospects. Don’t forget to check in with your team beyond seeing how their break was. Creating time to connect is not just good for the individual, but is good for the company.

Here are three simple questions to weave into your first 1:1 or call with your team:

  1. How are you feeling about the year ahead?

  2. Work wise, what would need to happen for it to be a great year for you?

  3. How can I help that happen?

At Sprout People, we have been doing in-person check-ins for 7 years.  We call these ‘Sprout Conversations’, where we go deep into the individual's journey with your company.  These conversations have revealed both small and big nuggets that led to the  retention of great talent, changes in company strategy, higher engagement, and lifted performance.

2. Develop your people

As business owners and leaders we had to keep a keen eye on clients and cashflow in 2024, and we might not have had the budget or the time to invest in our team.

Through your check ins you are likely to uncover areas where your team is looking to develop and grow into new roles or areas of interest.

To help you translate this interest into meaningful growth, Sprout People have developed two programmes to support leaders; Growing Leaders and Growing Technical Leaders, with the first cohort kicking off in February. For more information, click here.

3. Hire well

It sounds obvious. But when you get this right, it makes a world of difference.  The key is to get the design and expectations of the role right and then to ensure you don’t hire under pressure.

This is why we have a separate consulting arm and recruitment arm at Sprout.  It’s really hard to dedicate the time needed to build sustainable and high performance cultures and hire exceptional people at the same time.

Unlike most recruiters, Sprout starts with the design of the role and how it fits into your organisation, positively challenging you on whether the role needs reshaping or redesigning - or whether you need it at all.

4. Onboard effectively

Organisations with a structured onboarding process experience a 50% increase in new-hire productivity.

Check out this blog from Folks for more on this and a number of other reasons as to why effective onboarding is so important.

I don’t think this will come as a surprise to you. The clearer our expectations, the easier it is for new employees to know what success does and doesn’t look like.

At Sprout, we do this by building a 12 month success plan. It details the first 90 days, as well as creating clarity on the metrics of success in the first year of employment.

5. Prioritise a great culture

Yes, you can maintain an average culture and focus solely on driving productivity to achieve short-term gains, but let’s be honest - it’s neither sustainable nor fulfilling, for you or your team.

We have worked hard to create our own great culture and team at Sprout.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, it came from following our own advice.  We have invested time into designing our structure, the roles, getting the right people into said roles, and creating clarity as to what success looks like at both an organisational and an individual level.

Regardless of whether there are good or hard times in store for us, it is an undeniable fact that it’s a lot more enjoyable working with a team of people that you are motivated to spend time with.

All the best for a great year ahead!

Written by Brien Keegan
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