10 Common Pain Points of Building a Company Culture (And How to Fix Them)

A company's culture (or its common values, behaviors, goals, and beliefs) can be one of the most difficult aspects for an entrepreneur to develop. It is about bringing together collaborators from different backgrounds, with different experiences and objectives, to determine commonalities and a unified vision on which everyone can agree and strive towards. Naturally, this process may involve a few bumps along the way.

But no matter how difficult the journey, creating a strong company culture is essential to building a successful and sustainable business. To help, members of the Young Entrepreneur Council discuss 10 pain points they often hear about in corporate cultures and offer their top tips for overcoming them.

1. Maintaining the culture as the business grows

As we grow, one of the issues is making sure our culture is maintained. We are pushing back the bar of 100 employees and that means doubling the number of managers. The more management there is, the more opportunities there are to distort the culture we want to maintain. We hired a People Manager whose sole responsibility is to train management so that, even with growth, we can still have the same feeling for our employees that we had when working directly with the CEO. - Marjorie Adams, Fourlane

2. 'Office Policy'

The common problem I often hear about in corporate cultures is "office politics". The way you can fix this is to hire people who fit your company's culture. Hiring like-minded people greatly decreases office politics risks. These recruits are usually busy pursuing set goals and realizing the company's vision. Hiring people who belong improves collaboration, which in turn improves productivity. So, finding and integrating the best cultural fit should be the priority. - Stephanie Wells, Terrific Shapes

3. Limited trust of leaders

One thing that can destroy your company culture is not trusting your team. People who don't feel like their employer or manager trusts them will never feel empowered and reach their full potential. This will limit the success of the business. Put processes in place, communicate expectations, provide the right tools, then let the team work. Trust them to do the job. People will surprise you and you are bound to be more successful. - Zane Stevens, Protea Financial

4. Lack of appreciation

A common problem that I often hear about in corporate cultures is that people are not appreciated for their hard work. It all depends on how you perceive value, but appreciation can take different forms. This can take the form of monetary compensation or a grateful “thank you”. When you don't recognize their hard work, employees feel undervalued and unappreciated. When someone doesn't get a raise or promotion, or when they...