There are a few corporate buzz words that can be difficult to conceptualise in a concrete way – and for me ‘team culture’ is most definitely one. We all know that strong team culture builds high productivity, leads to retention of staff and an overall enhanced sense of well-being for everyone who touches the business. Plenty of us have found ourselves immersed within what we would consider a great team culture – where we remember feeling energised, focused and satisfied. The flip side, of course, is the work environment that feels oppressive and toxic, where our motivation feels like it’s been sucked away and we spend our days daydreaming about our next opportunity.
So what exactly is Team Culture?
Culture is basically the overall ‘feel’ or ‘vibe’ of a workplace – how people behave, communicate and work together day to day. It encapsulates that wonderful environment where everyone is working towards a common purpose or goal; where respect for one another is practiced and high, where wins are loudly celebrated and down times trigger a rapid pulling together of people to support one another and steady the ship. Culture can be quite nuanced and can be different for each person in the team.
According to Kevin Oakes in his book Cultural Renovation: 18 Leadership Actions to Build an Unshakable Culture, ‘Culture is the underlying fabric that holds an organisation together’.
Sound like Nirvana? It’s doable. So what is culture about? Let me see if I can get you started.
Culture is About Relationships
More and more businesses are focusing on relationships as the most important aspect of their onboarding process. Global research shows that employees feel most satisfied within their jobs when they feel like they are supported to grow and tend to seek new roles for career progression over salary increases.
Connecting your employees with the people within and around the business who are going to be best positioned to support their growth as early as possible gets their introduction to your team culture off to a great start.
Are your people developing strong relationships with the people who will keep them growing and stimulated?
Culture is About Systems
Solid, consistent systems enable your team to execute tasks confidently in a way where they won’t be second guessing themselves – or interrupting someone else in the team for information and support.
For new recruits, documented systems that are easy to locate and implement demonstrate that your business is organised, enables them to onboard quickly and see the way that you work in a transparent way.
Documented systems offer an opportunity for you to underpin your communication with your team. All that information and processes that are in your head need to find their way into a document that your whole team can access and understand.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how well is your business systemised?
Culture is About Safety and Trust
Safety in the workplace comes in all shapes and sizes. Your team will ideally feel that they are included equally regardless of their gender, cultural background, sexual orientation, socio-economic background etc. Ideally, your team will feel safe within their role with a clear position description, transparent KPI’s and a balanced supervision program. Your team will should feel that they are included in conversations / communications that are relevant to their own job and the goals that their team are working towards. Your team will feel safe to raise ideas and innovations and also concerns and road blocks.
On a scale of 1 to 10 – do your team feel safe in these aspects of their job?
Culture is About Shared Purpose
That Mission, Vision and Values statement that your business coaches keep going on about have an important role in establishing your team culture. When your whole team are on board with these things; when these factors are incorporated into the way you plan, you speak about your business and how you operate on a daily basis, then that sense of moving in one direction starts to take flight.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how well do you execute your Mission, Vision and Values statements in the granular operations of your business, and to rate separately, how well do your team know and understand these statements?
Culture is About Communication
The old communication chestnut is very obviously essential to nail on your path to great team culture. While your communication with the team should be as open and authentic as it can be, monitoring the communication between your team members and facilitating them through rocky situations is just as important. Do you know the communication styles of each of your team? Are you aware of where they may clash and benefit from a little support to work their way through it? There is nothing bad about a little rumble, but when it escalates and/or continues on, then it can be destructive.
Think about when you are implementing something new – are you talking to the relevant team members about it during the design phase or are you just telling them what’s happening after the decisions have been made? This can be the difference between those people you are relying on for the success of the change buying in and bringing others along with them, or just ticking the boxes.
On a Scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the consistency of your communication with your team? On a separate scale, how would you rate the success of communication BETWEEN your team members?
Onward and upwards
Team culture can be an elusive thing to establish and execute. With projected change ahead in our sector, it is timely to review your team culture and if it’s not where you would like it to be, get a start on pulling it together so that your team are ready to come with you along whatever pathway you need to forge in the months ahead. A great team culture is like a warm fire on a chilly night. It has to be continuously monitored and nurtured and then it will keep you warm.
Need a sounding board to assess your team culture?
Let’s explore where your business stands and how to strengthen the systems, safety, communication, and shared purpose that shape your culture.
Book your complimentary Power Call today – and let’s work through the next steps together.
