Creating a workplace culture

I have recently celebrated the arrival of my second child, a son named Markus. When bringing my child home, I start thinking about the culture I want my son to grow up in, what sort of family are we going to be?



We are Collingwood supporters (or I am) and I want my family to embrace the black and white stripes that represent the Collingwood Football Club. I have stopped swearing in the house as I don’t want my kids using that language (tough for a diehard footy fan) and I eat healthier to encourage my two year old daughter to eat well.

A workplace culture is so important too. When you have a new arrival, setting the culture that they work in can play a big part in deciding how effective this person will be and how long they may be around for. The main difference between my home culture and work culture is that at work, we eat junk and swear, and I am the only Collingwood supporter.

I have experienced cultures that I didn’t like. I felt there was no culture, or worse, a negative culture and as a result lasted a very short time with the organisation. For the record, I love the culture at Talent Propeller which is why I returned here after 2 years of running my own business.

Remember you spend most of your days with your “work family.” The only difference is while you can’t choose your family, you can choose your work family.

It makes me interested to ask what initiatives have you instilled in your workplace to help build the culture? Or if to are stuck in a workplace with a negative culture, what can you do to instill changes?

I will start with one of my first initiatives;
When I first started in recruitment advertising, our agency had Friday afternoon wine o'clock. At the time I was the only male in my team. One of the first things I did was to push for beer and wine o'clock. It seems so small, but on Friday afternoons it did help make drinks a little more lively. As it turned out a few of the girls were more keen on beer than wine too.