3 tips to lean into levity

It’s not enough to plan, preach and promote a great corporate culture. Today’s dispersed workforce requires that you live it—and embed it across the organization.

One way to cascade a more positive culture is to create engaging, fun and even funny content experiences for employees. Here are some quick tips to pull it off with authenticity and class:

1. Transform humdrum into fun with families.

“Levity is a huge part of our organization, which isn’t what you’d expect from a financial institution,” says Dana DeSarno, manager of employee communications at Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU) in a recent Ragan Training video.

“We include it in most of our employee engagement activities,” she says. “For example, dress-up days, trivia weeks and contests help rally teams and turn everyday meetings into something our 20,000 employees really look forward to.”

However, culture isn’t a checklist, DeSarno warns. “You can’t just add an event to a calendar,” she says. “A positive culture comes from actually creating an environment where employees feel safe and empowered to have emotional connections.”

Her advice for facilitating true connections is to focus on fostering more human interaction.