Work culture is a set of attitudes, behaviours, and beliefs in an organisation’s work environment. A positive work culture upholds compassion, responsibility, gratitude, and integrity. A positive work culture boosts employees’ morale, improving productivity and consequently leading to a high talent retention rate. Work culture is a feel, it’s how the place feels to all that cross its path.
People value this so much, studies show that many employees are quitting toxic work environments built by and due to negative work cultures.
I know what I’d prefer to create.
Here are some ways you can build a positive work culture for your business.
- Walk the Talk
In leadership, it’s obvious that a leader must always lead by example. If you want to promote a positive work culture, you must set the pace and show your team how things should be done. For example:
- Display attitudes and traits that build a positive work culture, like responsibility and accountability.
- Appreciate your team.
- Communicate with your team consistently and develop mutual understanding.
- Put your team first and focus on their happiness. Building them will build the business.
- Open and Regular Communication
Communication is the backbone of successful businesses. Open and regular communication will empower your team to voice their honest opinions without fear of retribution. For example:
- Conduct morning briefings where gratitude and fun are highlighted. Gratitude promotes positive feelings and boosts personal and team morale. Organise fun morning huddles with games like trivia and karaoke to boost your team’s morale and promote positivity. This will help in the team-building process that promotes harmony and collaboration.
- Hold regular performance/feedback chats. Make sure to meet individual team members, chat about their performance, and listen to their feedback. These one-on-one chat sessions will help you to develop a smooth communication system and encourage openness.
- Solicit for feedback and be open to suggestions. For example, ask your team members what they stand for regarding a healthy work-life balance. In the event you get suggestions of remote working and grant that privilege, you will have successfully promoted a positive work culture of being understanding and compassionate.
- Encourage transparency as opposed to anonymous feedback. This will encourage problem-solving better as a team.
- Active Accountability
Sometimes mistakes will happen in a business setting, which is inevitable, and an individual or an entire team may have to bear the consequences. Active accountability dictates that any action that violates the organisation’s policy may be penalised, and the perpetrator must take full responsibility. Apart from taking responsibility, an individual must make up for their mess, for example, by apologising, seeking and/or implementing an effective solution.
Active accountability promotes a positive work culture in that team members in a business are compelled to do the right thing and take responsibility if they are wrong. This reduces blame game, builds trust, and enhances collaboration to prevent likely mistakes.
- Training
Buddy System
This system pairs a new or inexperienced employee with an experienced employee who monitors and passes knowledge to their inexperienced counterpart. This initiative promotes a positive work culture by encouraging collaboration and helps establish healthy workplace relationships. New recruits fit in quickly and gain confidence to start working. Additionally, because the “buddies” share knowledge, this system supports career growth and development.
Ongoing Training
This is the continuous upskilling of staff over multiple training sessions throughout their career instead of just once. You promote a positive work culture by using strategies such as ongoing training because it shows employees you value their growth and development. In fact, more job seekers are looking for organisations that consider their development. Therefore, training means job satisfaction, a boost in morale, and low turnover rates.
- Employee Recognition
Acknowledge and reward employees for good performance. For example:
- Make your employees feel special by organising awards and giving out gifts and accolades.
- Promote exceptional employees.
- You can also conduct private meetings to tell them how you feel about their performance and congratulate them.
- Recognise your employees’ efforts publicly in front of their colleagues. Take note of how you do this. Some behavioural types prefer a quiet acknowledgement, some more of a fan fair.
Employee recognition is one of the top ways to boost organisational morale. This also promotes a positive work culture that rewards and values diligent workers.
- Transparency
Positive work culture is clear about its goals, vision, hierarchy, and the company’s operations. You must be willing to share useful information with your employees to earn their trust and loyalty.
Goals, Vision, and Values
Being transparent in your business’s goals, vision, and values gives your team clarity of focus and an understanding of their expectations. Therefore, you can be sure of accountability from your employees.
Hierarchy and Company Movements
Be transparent about positions and roles in the business. Toxicity easily brews when employees realise they have been lied to about job positions, promotions, and wages. Also, make your business’s activities clear to your employees. Adding new workers? Inform your current team. This will stop any suspicion of concerns like retrenchments or replacement.
Conclusion
Successful businesses are built on the foundation of positive work culture. Once your employees are comfortable in their work environment created by positive work culture, you will likely get the most out of them. Consistency is key when using the above strategies because it takes time to perfect positivity in the workplace. Always communicate because this paves the way for the rest of the strategies. Also, lead by example, as you are the one to inspire your team.
Want to chat about how you can personally improve your workplace culture? Flick me an email and let’s do it, I’d love to support you with some quick wins and ideas.