April White

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Rather than perpetuating the same old top-down power dynamics, leaders can instead prioritize employees' needs. The role of company culture in many businesses has changed in recent years. This has meant moving away from traditional power structures where leaders decided the business path forward to systems that focus on intentionally giving employees a seat at the decision-making table.  While these efforts have proved fruitful for attracting and retaining employees, fostering a supportive internal culture is an ongoing undertaking that must regularly be assessed. As experts, the members of Newsweek Expert Forum understand the key role that leaders play in maintaining company culture. Below, 15 of them share their best advice on how leaders can create and sustain a supportive internal culture.

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Companies that want their culture to reflect their values and branding must first commit to their core values.

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Reaching out to peers for support is a great way to work through negative feelings. The last few years have brought many changes across personal and professional lives across the globe. While some of the changes have been positive, such as the prioritization of work-life balance, other changes like persistent uncertainty are causing many professionals to feel overwhelmed.  As experts, the members of Newsweek Expert Forum are familiar with the toll professional life can have on a person. Below 14 of them offer coping tactics that can help reduce overwhelm and get professionals back on track.

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By providing ongoing support, leadership can ensure that a manager has the tool and resources to succeed. Great managers are critical to the success of an organization. These managers sometimes step into the role already possessing innate traits and experiences that will help them succeed as leaders, but management as a skill should also be taught. If an organization builds systems to develop and shape the skills of their talent on an ongoing basis, leadership decreases the chances of creating and perpetuating bad management behaviors that negatively impact the culture and operations of the business.  To help leaders ensure managers are performing at their best, 13 Newsweek Expert Forum members share specific actions they can take to increase the effectiveness of their managers.

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Having a deep understanding of yourself and your own goals can help prevent feelings of inadequacy. From Instagram and Twitter to now even LinkedIn, having a presence online today means constantly reading about what everyone has going on. This includes the life updates that people typically post but social media has also increased people’s tendency to primarily share the highlights rather than the entire picture. While this is not a bad thing on its own, constantly viewing the success of your peers can amplify your own feelings of inadequacy around personal and professional failures. Simply deciding to take a step back is one approach to consider, but it can negatively impact your relationships with peers over time. Below, 14 Newsweek Expert Forum members share recommendations for how professionals can connect and maintain healthy relationships with peers without comparing themselves to others’ success and accomplishments.

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To set first-time leaders up for success, organizations have to create processes that offer support and flexibility. Whether a first-time leader has been promoted or is newly hired into the organization, the systems a business has in place are critical for that leader to overcome the obstacles they will inevitably face. As experts, the members of Newsweek Expert Forum are familiar with business procedures that can help new leaders feel supported. Read on as 13 of them offer recommendations on what organizations should do to build systems that help first-time leaders succeed in their roles.

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While a productive workforce is vital to a successful business, leaders must balance good management with giving employees autonomy. For many business leaders, having a hand in every aspect of their business has allowed them to ensure that each and every client is well taken care of. This method is an effective way to maintain high-quality products and services while also maximizing what each additional hire is able to contribute to the business.  However, if a leader is too heavy-handed, this management strategy can have an adverse effect internally over time, straining manager-employee relationships and negatively impacting workplace morale. A productive workforce is an essential component in building a successful business, but leaders must be careful not to become a hindrance to their employees. To help leaders adopt a management style that works with and not against employees, 12 Newsweek Expert Forum members each offer a piece of advice for increasing employee productivity without resorting to micromanaging.

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Taking notes on how the world's largest and most innovative corporations operate can help businesses of any size emulate their success.  There are certain companies you hear about nearly every day, whether they're new or have been around for decades. These powerhouse companies find a significant problem that needs to be solved and develop innovative, pleasing solutions for customers. Many startup leads aim to achieve that kind of notoriety, and there is much to be learned from observing powerhouses like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others. Below, 15 Newsweek Expert Forum members shared some important lessons they've learned by watching the strategies of other successful businesses. 

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In operating a business, the one thing entrepreneurs can undoubtedly expect is to encounter challenges. Even with a solid business plan, well-developed products or services and a network of established customers hungering for said business offerings, organizations have no guarantee of challenge-free success. In fact, if there is one thing a business owner can expect, it’s that they will encounter adversity.  Despite this fact, adversity should be regarded as an opportunity for businesses to regroup and innovate. Learning strategies for effectively handling and overcoming these obstacles can allow entrepreneurs to operate their business in an even better way than before. To that end, 13 Newsweek Expert Forum members offer advice below on how entrepreneurs can strategically leverage adversity for business success.

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It's time for businesses to take matters into their own hands by taking a grassroots approach to building rapport with key audiences.

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Leveraging data from the past year as well as feedback from employees and customers can give businesses insight into what initiatives to explore next. With the end of 2022 fast approaching, many businesses are already deep into planning for 2023. And while a new year offers a chance to try something new, market instability and the looming threat of a potential recession are increasing the amount of pressure felt by business leaders. Luckily, they don't always have to start from scratch when it comes to finding fresh ideas. Looking back at the successes and failures of the current year can offer insight into what initiatives would be best to explore or where an organization can pivot if something isn't bringing in the desired results. However, it's also key for businesses to keep a close eye on markets and customers because they too can provide guidance. To offer further insights, 14 Newsweek Expert Forum members share additional tips for business leaders as they continue planning for Q1.

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Taking the less obvious path when it comes to marketing is a great way to make your business stand out from the crowd. Marketing strategies that persist do so because time and time again they’ve been proven to lead to good results. And when something is successful, it’s difficult to stop doing what everyone else is doing and step outside of your comfort zone to change things up. However, taking the road less traveled is a great way to make your business stand out from the crowd.  To help leaders embrace thinking outside of the box, 10 Newsweek Expert Forum members share unconventional promotions that did wonders for their business.

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Although companies are under pressure to generate revenue and meet their sales goals — and are understandably anxious to find an agency that will help them get there quickly — PR, like going to the gym, is a process that requires time, dedication, consistency and patience.

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No matter what industry an entrepreneur operates in, developing ways of keeping up with emerging trends will help ensure they remain in business for the long term. Staying knowledgeable about what’s happening in the business world isn’t as simple as it used to be. Whether an entrepreneur is operating in a local, national or international market, they have to be committed to learning, evolving and adopting new ways of doing business or else they risk being left behind. With digital platforms and technologies being created and improved upon daily, it’s essential to devise ways of keeping up with what’s going on in and outside of your industry. To help entrepreneurs keep up in a changing market, 12 Newsweek Expert Forum members share strategies they use to stay informed about industry trends.

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Congruent leaders ultimately build trusted brands that do what they say before they say what they do, which means they never have to spin the truth. They're the leaders no one forgets.

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Before addressing any activism in the workplace, leaders need to have a well-developed approach. With racial justice protests, labor shortages, a global pandemic and a budding “quiet quitting” movement, the workplace of the past few years has undergone many changes. While it may have been easier to draw distinctions between one’s professional and personal beliefs in years past, it is growing increasingly difficult for leaders to keep these boundaries in the work environment in place as employees now expect leadership to stand for their values and take a side.   If leaders do decide to take action, it’s best to prepare beforehand with a well-thought-out strategy. To help you determine the best approach, 14 Newsweek Expert Forum members offer recommendations on how leaders can respond to growing employee activism in the workplace.

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Creating a culture that actively encourages employees to generate and share ideas is a great way to keep your company competitive in the market. Once an employee has been in an organization for enough time, the fresh perspective they brought with them may start to dwindle. Learning more about the organization and the clients it serves as well as becoming entrenched in already established systems can make it difficult to branch out, especially if leadership isn’t open to making real changes that impact the business in significant ways. Contrary to popular belief, the best ideas don’t necessarily always have to come from the top, and devising ways to keep employees part of the conversations happening within an organization can only lead to business wins. To help leaders create a workplace culture that fosters innovation, 12 Newsweek Expert Forum members share methods they've adopted for keeping their teams curious and innovative.

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Industry credibility and brand recognition are critical if you hope to optimize your business for its target market. With major competitors vying for the top spot in any industry, making a name for your business and improving the market can be a difficult journey. As a new business owner, this means you’ll need to dedicate plenty of time to learning and researching the industry to understand where your business can offer improvements.  As business leaders, the members of Newsweek Expert Forum have dealt with the challenge of breaking into the industry and gaining credibility and recognition. Below, they offer 15 tried-and-true tips for entrepreneurs attempting to optimize the market.

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These are the same steps all businesses and business leaders should take to improve trust — both in our brands and ourselves. And it's a path forward so we can ultimately build a society that values honesty and integrity above all else.

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There are several factors at play that companies should consider prior to commenting on any political or societal issue. 

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Before moving your business to a new industry, it's best to get a full understanding of that current market. Moving your business into a new industry can bring with it the opportunity to expand your current business offerings or go in a completely different direction. However, before jumping into a new endeavor, it’s important to carefully think through each move and fully understand the potential consequences of what you do. While an entrepreneur may have experience in a given field, that experience may not translate well to a new setting. To help entrepreneurs make a successful change, a panel of Newsweek Expert Forum members share common mistakes entrepreneurs encounter as they attempt to pivot into a new industry.

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If you want a loyal customer base that keeps coming back, you need to put consumers at the center of everything you do. Many companies claim that their customers are their highest priority. While this is a nice thing to say, there's a difference between simply delivering what a customer asks for and truly being a consumer-centric organization.  Today's consumers expect that the businesses they buy from will go the extra mile to ensure an experience that exceeds their expectations. To help your company become more consumer-centric, 15 members of Newsweek Expert Forum members offered their best tips below.

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Positive, collaborative relationships between colleagues can greatly enhance your company culture. Here's how to encourage this type of dynamic. For most people, work takes up the majority of their waking hours. Whether you're working a 9-to-5 or running your own business, your professional life can sometimes blend in with your personal one, especially when it comes to friendships in the workplace. While it's normal and natural for colleagues to form strong bonds, it's important for leaders to encourage their staff members to forge appropriate and productive connections. Otherwise, they may let close personal relationships with their coworkers cloud their judgment or cause them to play favorites when it comes to working with the rest of the team. Below, 11 members of Newsweek Expert Forum offered their best tips for leaders who want to encourage meaningful but appropriate relationships among their employees.

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A commitment to authenticity and open communication can help you build relationships that last long term. In business, establishing an authentic relationship with each and every person you meet is critical to building a professional network that helps you meet with the right people and source new opportunities. Building these kinds of connections with new people, such as clients or coworkers, doesn’t even require a lot of effort; in fact, being yourself and genuinely asking how you can help can go a long way in building a long-lasting relationship. To help professionals interested in cultivating business relationships, 13 Newsweek Expert Forum members share recommendations on how to best build rapport with a new client or colleague.

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Actively seeking to connect with your target customer base can create real opportunities for authentic engagement. With the Internet now widely serving as a social space, society as a whole continues to move toward a culture that seeks shared experiences with peers over those with expertise. This means that consumers these days are no longer limited to experts when it comes to seeking advice on products and services.  Developing an effective way of authentically connecting with customers can bring more business opportunities, but the challenge lies in finding the right strategy for engaging and interacting with these consumers. To help, 10 Newsweek Expert Forum members share tips for companies interested in creating more shared experiences with current and future customers.

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Management transitions can be tricky, so it's important to have a plan in place when a senior staff member makes their exit. There comes a time in every company when a leader is ready to move on. This company loss can be bittersweet and even provoke anxiety and feelings of the unknown among their previous team members. Employees may be concerned about gaining a new leader and how their job may change once a new leader is appointed. To help mitigate these fears, a panel of Newsweek Expert Forum members shared what to do when your company has a key leader resign. Follow their recommendations to ensure a smooth transition.

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Knowing how to manage and track department goals can help leaders ensure objectives for the wider company are also being met.  A new year offers businesses the opportunity to set both company-wide and department-specific goals. As each department works toward achieving set objectives, tracking progress can help ensure short- and long-term goals are on the right track and moving in the right direction for the entire organization.  Though knowing how to manage and track the goals of each department alone is difficult, the challenge also lies in how leaders can do those tasks efficiently while also balancing the achievement of goals set for the wider company. To help, 10 Newsweek Expert Forum members share recommendations on effective methods companies can adopt to better track department-specific goals in the New Year.

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Keeping employees consistent connected to the mission and values of the organization means building a supportive work environment. The key to creating a supportive work environment lies in how well the leaders of the organization communicate with their employees. Clear and consistent communication is essential to ensuring employees feel a sense of belonging and are fully connected to the mission of the organization, but communication can no longer be one-sided and reserved for those at the top. Changing how they communicate to better accommodate employees and their needs will allow leaders to build and maintain long-term relationships with the people in their organizations. To help, the members of Newsweek Expert Forum share communications strategies leaders should consider adopting if they want to resonate more with employees and build influence.

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Early preparation is the key to success when it comes to holiday sales and closing out the year on a high note. With the holiday rush almost upon us, it’s important for businesses to give themselves as much time as they can to prepare. The current labor shortages and supply chain delays impacting nearly every industry will likely increase during the holiday season, which could cause issues for businesses as they try to stock up for the season with inventory and additional staff. However, there are key things that leaders can and should do now to ensure they’re prepared and don’t run into any delays. Below, five members of Newsweek Expert Forum offered their advice and shared some ways leaders can begin preparing for the holiday rush in advance.

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Marketing campaigns that capture and hold the attention of prospective clients increase the visibility of the organizations's brand. One of the primary goals of marketing is to capture and hold the attention of the public. Campaigns that do this successfully not only raise the visibility of a company’s brand, but also place the organization in a position of authority. Success, however, does come with a new set of challenges, namely the fact that people are always looking for something new and fresh.  Rather than agonizing over this issue, marketers should focus on one thing: their audiences. Thinking about what promotions will work best with their target audience when developing unique marketing campaigns is often the best way to approach this problem. To help, nine members of Newsweek Expert Forum discuss out-of-the-box promotions that have had a positive effect on their businesses.

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Investing more time into nonbusiness critical endeavors can positively impact an entrepreneur's skills and business. Pursuing professional development has always been a valuable practice for continuously growing and developing business skills. Despite the benefits, however, some entrepreneurs are still reluctant to take steps toward investing in their own development. For them, any time and effort not spent on business-critical tasks may be seen as unimportant when compared to work that directly impacts and drives business.  However, entrepreneurs need to rethink their current beliefs about professional development if they are truly interested in growing their businesses and enhancing their own skills for future success. To help, 15 members of Newsweek Expert Forum shared recommendations on how entrepreneurs can take action and start investing in their own professional development.

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A business's culture directly influences relationships within the workplace. The work culture of a business has a direct impact on the ability of the organization to last long term. Besides the benefits on the business side, a positive work environment enhances the relationship between leaders and current and prospective employees, leading to increased retention and employee loyalty. However, the challenge comes with building and preserving this kind of company culture. To help, a panel of Newsweek Expert Forum members shared their recommendations for how business leaders can build and maintain a positive work culture.

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When a business is growing, leaders must be careful not to do too much too fast to keep the budget in check. Expenses that are not kept in check can impact a business’s operations and the procedures in place that keep things running smoothly. Business growth can do wonders for increasing the reach of an organization, but leaders must be careful not to do too much too fast. One wrong decision can easily strain a limited budget. With growing expenses, it’s important to have a strategy for managing the budget and planning for future financial changes ahead. Below, the members of Newsweek Expert Forum shared advice on how business leaders can save money and stay lean as their business grows.

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In order to maintain credibility in the face of obstacles, leaders must learn to embrace honesty and vulnerability. In the face of a setback, such as layoffs or a deal falling through, a leader’s next actions make all the difference for employees. Leaning on the support of employees and, in turn, supporting employees is critical for building and maintaining leadership credibility and the trust of your team when things go south. Moving away from the image of a powerful, all-knowing leader can be difficult, especially when the weight of the organization is on your shoulders. To help leaders boldly face and address business mishaps, 16 members of Newsweek Expert Forum shared steps that business leaders should take to rebuild trust with their team after a setback.

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Diversity, equity and inclusion are not one-and-done initiatives—they require long-term, ongoing efforts to be successful. Over the course of the last year, companies have started to focus on diversifying teams more than ever before. Social justice movements like Black Lives Matter have pushed leaders to make public commitments toward diversity efforts. Now, leaders should start to assess whether their strategies for implementing diversity were successful. To ensure leaders maintain their commitments, 11 Newsweek Expert Forum members shared their advice. Here's how they recommend evaluating and maintaining your company's promise to prioritize diversity.

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Search engine optimization is critical for any business that wants to be found online—and it doesn't have to be expensive to address it. In today’s digital age, putting effort into search engine optimization (SEO) is necessary to help your company stand out online. Improving your SEO boosts the organic traffic on your website, rather than relying on paid searches. Your rankings increase and your website becomes more visible on search engines, making people more likely to visit your website.  Effective SEO requires a clear, well-thought-out strategy to reach your target audience, but it doesn't have to be an expensive endeavor. Below, 10 Newsweek Expert Forum members provided their top tips for ramping up a company’s SEO without the big cost.

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Relying more on the help of others can reduce the strain entrepreneurship places on leaders. Business leaders carry the weight of their organizations on their shoulders. In addition to ensuring ideas come to fruition and customers are satisfied, executives also have the added pressure of ensuring employee needs are being met. These priorities can place a considerable strain on a leader even in times when a business is fairing well. Rather than accepting that burnout may be an ever-present downside to entrepreneurship, leaders can begin shifting the operations of their businesses to move out of that mindset. Relying more on the people who help run the business can help, but executives have to be ready to make active changes in their lives. Below, the members of Newsweek Expert Forum offer expert advice on how executives can begin moving in the right direction again after feeling burned out.

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Leaders that are unable to keep up in a changing business world are at risk of falling behind. The business world moves fast, and companies that aren’t able to keep up run the risk of falling behind. Building a sustainably successful company requires that leaders understand just how much the business can and will change over time. While leaders are well aware that flexibility is a key part of doing business, it doesn't mean that they will be able to tap into that ability the moment they encounter a business challenge. To help, a panel of Newsweek Expert Forum members share strategies leaders can use to develop their ability to adapt quickly and ensure that flexibility is built into the foundation of their organizational culture.

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The wide adoption of technology for communication is proving that there is a considerable need for virtual networking tools. The connections built between people can create bonds that drive success for both individuals and organizations. Though the formation and maintenance of these connections has been completely transformed over the past year and a half, the strength of those bonds still holds true. The wide adoption of video conferencing software like Zoom has shown that regardless of the obstacle—be it a global pandemic or a considerable distance—there is a great need for more virtual options in the world we live in today.  Expanding the ways in which people can connect in an increasingly digital world means that the future of connecting may be uncertain, but examining the changes that have taken place so far can offer valuable insight. Below, 13 members of Newsweek Expert Forum members share their expert predictions on how networking will look in the future and how leaders can begin preparing for changes now.

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Without strict boundaries, working from home can leave employees with no real barrier between their personal and professional life. With some employers opting for remote or hybrid operations, the workplace no longer looks like what it used to. There are innumerable perks to telecommuting, but moving the workplace to within one’s home brings with it challenges for both employees and employers. Not having to leave home to work means no commute—and no real barrier between your personal and professional life.  Luckily, there are strategies to combat the tendency for employees to overwork and to instead maintain a healthier work-life balance. Below, a panel of Newsweek Expert Forum members offer expert advice on different strategies business leaders can use to prevent the trend of employees working harder and longer due to telecommuting.

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If all companies focused on what they could do for their customers, not what their customers could do for them, the world would be a much different place.

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Transparency in your customer communications is a surefire way to encourage loyal, lasting relationships with them. Open, honest communication is the cornerstone of any good relationship, including that between a business and its customers. Without transparency from a brand, consumers can be left feeling vulnerable and uncertain about whether a company will fulfill their wants and needs. When internal concerns stretch an organization thin, a good customer service experience can be hard to replicate over and over again. However, there are techniques that can ease communication between companies and the customers who support them. Below, a panel of Newsweek Expert Forum members shared their top recommended ways to leverage transparency and increase customer loyalty.