What creates a healthy workplace culture? Business owners rarely make time to think about this question, but doing so can pay off in a lasting way. A workplace culture reflects a team’s attitudes, values, and the overall personality of the company. It typically starts with leadership and trickles down to employees, impacting morale, productivity, and ultimately the bottom line. A business can thrive or fail as a result of its internal culture, so consider these seven dimensions of a positive, God-honoring workplace.

1. Vision: Scripture says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Pr 29:18a). Our ability to cast a vision and share it with our team is foundational. Culture is derived from how people think about what they’re doing and the value they place on it. The vision — pursuing a result that is perceived as worthy — drives success. With a clear, shared vision, people are motivated, inspired, and attracted to work hard.

2. Values: Have you defined your organization’s core values and guiding principles? Values are unchanging — the non-negotiable bedrock of your corporate soul. In a Christian culture, company values should reflect the values of God. While vision is important for defining where you want to go, values tell you how to get there, and how to act along the way.

3. Structure: This refers to organizational design. Healthy cultures tend to exist when there’s structural support to encourage desired qualities. Think about the qualities required for success in today’s marketplace — focus, resilience, persistence, adaptation, innovation, etc. Develop your business and employees in a way that helps you move toward your vision in an effective way.

4. Systems: Your systems develop over time and can either enhance or inhibit the culture you seek. Systems like data management, employee acquisition and training, accounting, performance management, compensation, product development, project management, and standard operating processes bring order to your company. Without them, you’d have chaos. Create alignment between your systems and values and a healthy culture will follow.

5. Skills: Your employees’ skills are like fuel for a vehicle — you can’t get very far without them. A forward-looking culture values continual learning and skill-set enhancement. Invest in your people. Create opportunities for them to receive cross training and continuing education. Doing so is not only a way to show them they’re valued, it builds resilience for times of change.

6. Style: Your leadership style refers to the way you see yourself and the way you treat others. Some leaders are imperious and arrogant. Others are transparent and humble. Maybe you see yourself as something in between. The important thing is that your style reinforces your values. If we preach servant leadership but fail to lead by example or repent when we fall short, we can produce a weak and cynical culture.

7. Symbols: Symbols are unspoken representations of our values. They include our office wall art, the way we dress, our cars and homes, and even our closest advisors or sources of wisdom. The things we do and the decisions we make communicate our story in a way that words cannot. In healthy cultures, there is consistency between what leaders say and how they act.