By Shay Hughes

Whether you need to reignite your culture, or restart from scratch, what does it take to help your team enjoy a vibrant in-person culture again?

No one will dispute that a lot has changed about the way we work over the last few years. It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster, with people initially loving the freedom to work from home, then not loving it so much as the novelty wore off due to isolation and missing the in-person connection and collaboration that only an in-office setting could provide. Yet, people still were not really wanting to return to the office either, because for many organizations, the office—and the culture that once made it fun to be in person—has lost its luster over the last few years.

As a company that prides itself on greatly valuing its team and the culture our team experiences on a daily basis, we are frequently asked how things have changed with our culture, how we’ve dealt with those changes and what recommendations we can give to others that are having a hard time inspiring their team to want to be back in the office environment. While we are humbled and proud to have been voted the #1 best workplace in the nation by Fortune magazine, we certainly don’t have all the answers, but we are always happy to share what’s working for us.

As a whole, I’d say the best way to transform a culture—or resuscitate it if you feel like it’s on its last leg—is by the aggregation of marginal gains. Not everyone loves this answer, because most people looking for a culture fix understandably want the easiest, fastest way to make things better, but like James Clear’s approach in his genius book, Atomic Habits, “there is power in small wins and slow gains.” Here are a few ideas that, like the marginal gains theory, pay huge rewards over time.

While not the end-all be-all, breaking bread together is a great place to start!

I always tell people that you can’t restore culture by hosting “Taco Tuesdays” or “Pizza Fridays”—and it’s true. Simply scheduling meals isn’t going to move the needle, but it’s not a bad to place to start either. Food truly is a great way to bring people together to enjoy something other than a meeting agenda, and finding reasons to bring the team together for meals, celebrations or snacks really does help make the office day more fun. We do a lot of this at Hughes Marino, from hosting monthly birthday celebrations in every office, to serving breakfast or lunch whenever we have All-Team meetings. We also have an annual chili cook off, crockpot contests, taco truck visits, ice cream sundae parties and our annual holiday lunch tradition of homemade grilled cheese and tomato soup (yum!). We even took the advice of an article in The Wall Street Journal and tried our own “Fika,” as described as a “twice-a-day ritual in which colleagues put away phones, laptops and any shoptalk to commune over coffee, pastries or other snacks.”

Communicate to your team in a personal way.

Everyone on our team appreciates knowing the why behind the decisions we make, and they appreciate knowing that a lot of thought and care for the team goes into every decision we make. That builds trust, and trust is foundational to having a strong culture. If you can build that trust through being transparent and thoughtful with your own team, I can guarantee you will notice a difference in the dedication and transparency you receive from them as well.

Invest in your team’s personal enrichment.

We regularly share inspirational stories of success from all walks of life at our team meetings and in team emails, and we often bring in coaches that talk about how to have a successful LIFE (not just be better at their job). Of course, our team does get better as we grow as individuals, but the investment in helping people have a positive outlook on their whole life and being supportive when they have challenges, is another reason they appreciate being part of a culture that truly cares about them as a person. This is consistent with who we are foundationally, as one of our core values is to “Nurture your personal and professional life.”

Do more of the little things, as the little things add up to the big things.

There are so many seemingly small rituals that developed organically over time that have now become really important traditions that bond our team on a much deeper level. Valuing these small but important cultural activities is a critical part of success by marginal gains. While we have company-wide traditions, we also empower each local team to cultivate their own unique culture, by carrying on local traditions to build a tighter bond. Traditions like Wednesday walks, Thursday stretch breaks and bring-your-own-lunch picnics outside have added a lot of fun and comradery to our days in the office. Plus, by empowering others to enhance our culture in their own unique ways, it brings many more positive layers to our team dynamic, with more teammates who feel they have an active stake in maintaining it.

Another easy-to-implement activity that is an instant and fun conversation starter? Weekly whiteboard questions! Who knew how many people would name the same favorite snacks, musicians and teams they were rooting for in the Super Bowl, World Series and NBA Finals? It’s so easy to participate, as it’s hard to resist not grabbing a pen to add your one-word answer!

Encourage community by making the kitchen the heart of the workplace.

The kitchen is often said to be the heart of the home, so why can’t the same be said at the office? One of our leaders recently said “bar none, the best thing for our culture has been our office’s farm table. We eat there together every day, we laugh, we share stories, we tease each other about who lost the latest pool table match up, we talk about what’s going on in the world or in our local market, we share our wins and challenges—all sitting around that table.” While not every office has the space for an extra-long farm table, having a central table for everyone to join together (as opposed to many small tables) naturally fosters conversation and builds relationships that wouldn’t happen if everyone was retreating to their cars or eating at their desks on their lunch breaks.

As another way to build comradery, during certain months of the year we set a complex puzzle on the kitchen counter. It’s a fun way to bring teammates who don’t normally cross each other’s paths during the workday to gather around a puzzle, celebrating together the placement of a few pieces every time they pass through the kitchen.

Encourage volunteering together.

Not only does volunteering help organizations and their recipients, but giving back to others has been proven to positively impact the participants who give their time and talent. It’s also a great team bonding activity—a win-win for everyone all around! At Hughes Marino, we made a conscious effort to implement our eighth core value, “Generously give to others,” and provide three paid days off for volunteer work per year. Over the years, our teams across the country have volunteered at food banks, senior community centers and children’s museums, and have also organized toy drives, as well as park and beach cleanups, along with many other great causes.

The easy ideas are endless, but the point is that it’s the big things and the little things that matter. The big things—like treating our teammates as the incredible human beings that they are, communicating in a genuine, thoughtful and personal way, and always striving to make them proud—are irreplaceable when it comes to having a culture of deep trust and respect. But the small things are critically important too. They bring the lightheartedness to work that we can’t get at home sitting by ourselves. Over time, those small things build real relationships with people we enjoy and have so much in common with, from our core values to where we work, to what’s important to us as individuals, family members and members of our community.

Together, the big and small things add up to a solid foundation that we believe brings strength and connection to our own team. That team dynamic is a big reason why people stay with an organization. It’s also why people want to join an organization, and when they do join, a well-developed culture helps integrate new team members so that they can quickly participate and assimilate to the organization’s way of collaborating together. Foundationally, it is incredibly powerful.

While there isn’t a quick fix or a silver bullet, and it can’t be done overnight, there is no better time than now to start compounding small wins and marginal gains that over time will build a team that is united, strong and cares deeply about their teammates. At the end of the day, investing in the right culture is the surest way to cultivate a team of people that care about one another and the organization they are building together.