It’s February. Love is in the air. Or maybe it isn’t.This year, forget about romance and focus on what I like to affectionately call “Workmance”.
What is this?
It is Positive Culture.
Mirriam Webster defines culture as being “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization”. It is what a strong leadership team establishes in order to maintain a healthy, thriving workplace environment. It is that spark that unites and carries the employees of any business. It is what creates healthy work relationships that lead to collaborative and innovative ideas.
Recent research indicated that “Thirty-eight percent of workers want to leave their jobs due to a toxic work culture or one where they don’t feel they fit in” and “…58% have left jobs, or are considering leaving, because of negative office politics”. This illustrates how many employees will no longer tolerate a work environment that does not value them, recognize their efforts, or include them in decision making. Setting goals, having a clear company mission, and having open lines of communication are three ways that a business’s culture can be addressed when trying to improve upon an existing environment.
Goal Setting
Establishing strong goals for the company as well as its employees is crucial to a business’s overall culture. These goals must be time driven in order to continue pushing all team members towards success. Goals should be revisited at regularly held meetings that ensure that action steps are being followed by the team in order to meet set deadlines. It creates the opportunity for workers to see the purpose and results of their efforts.
Have a Clear Vision and Mission
Employees must understand the company’s vision in order to then buy into the mission that they have signed up to be a part of. Often times as people get comfortable in the workplace they begin to forget why they started working there to begin with. This can lead to a negative culture, low morale, complacency, and can drive down the overall productivity of the business. It is vital that leaders communicate the vision and mission often with its stakeholders to ensure that there is always a sense of urgency to succeed.
Communication and Collaboration
Leaders must ensure that they are communicating effectively with their staff as well as with each other. Staff must first see a united leadership team that is willing to discuss the business and work together. The administrative team must make a conscious effort to allow opportunities for their staff to meet and discuss new ideas, collaborate on decisions for the company as well as finding solutions to issues that may arise. This will in turn create an environment where staff members feel valued and safe sharing new ideas, opinions, and visions for the future.
Creating and maintaining a positive culture can be achieved in many ways. However, one of the most important is by having a driven, growth-mindset administrative team leading its staff through the vision and mission for the company and workers, goal setting, and collaboration to reach higher productivity and ultimately a thriving company.
