Years of research conducted by psychologists and organisational leaders point to workplace culture being one of the most important things which determines a business’ success. Not only does it provide a positive environment for staff to work in, but it’s proven to boost productivity, increase employee engagement, and therefore return a higher profit. It’s imperative to adopt a culture which supports employees’ growth and actually values their efforts.
88% of jobseekers say that a healthy work culture is vital for success, where 86% of these seekers will avoid a company with a bad reputation. So, for the case of attracting new talent to your business, it’s important to improve your workplace culture.
A difficult thing to describe, workplace culture is not just about behaviour of employees, but also about the ingrained values which the organisation as a whole believes in. It’s all about how people interact with one another, and how they function in an organisation when no one is watching them.
It’s important to understand what determines a positive workplace culture, so let’s look at what factors create a positive culture…
What factors create a positive workplace culture?
The following factors will help you understand the different pillars of organisational culture. By working on them, you can create a supportive culture which drives better business outcomes.
Establish Trust
As a leader, it’s important for you to build a trustworthy relationship with your employees. When they trust you, they often believe in your decisions. Trust is not something which can be gained overnight, you have to earn it over time with a conscious effort.
High-trust companies experience 74% less stress, where there is 13% fewer sick days, and employees have 106% more energy at work. Struggling with motivating your employees? Read here for more information on motivation in the workplace.
To build trust, make sure you keep the lines of communication open with your employees and align your behaviour alongside the company’s values. Be honest with your staff, even when you know the truth is not what they want to hear. You should be ready to communicate bitter facts with your employees, and motivate them to correct themselves. Acknowledge your mistakes, as this helps you to build a culture of accountability. This goes a long way towards building trust.
Determine the current culture
Before you create a positive culture, it’s essential that you determine and acknowledge the state of the current company culture. Your perspective of organisational culture may be completely different from your employees’ perspective of the same, so try to have open discussions with all employees.
If you still struggle to understand your current company culture, it might be worth to hire a consultant. From knowing your current culture, it means you can really focus on the areas you want to fix, and those which you want to elevate.
Define the “ideal workplace culture”
Before you shape the existing culture in your company, define the ideal qualities that you want to integrate with your company culture. There is no best practice of culture fit that will suit every organisation, as every business has different priorities and needs. Try and align an ideal workplace culture based on the vision you have for your organisation.
Regularly communicate this ideal culture to your employees, and put in place policies and procedures to help you get started with effecting this change. This will help you develop a uniformly accepted culture which helps these values become ingrained into your business as a whole.
Read here to find out the different types of company culture.
Set clear expectations and goals
Most companies don’t clearly communicate their mission and vision to their workforce. It’s essential that employees clearly understand what’s important and what isn’t, and it’s your responsibility as a manager to set clear goals for them – so they can understand how their role can directly contribute to the organisation’s success.
Help them realise how their work experience can be enhanced when they meet these goals. This helps create transparency, which leads to positive company culture. Encouraging your employees to reflect on their own experiences also encourages a progressive culture where they will only work on improving their own input into the business.
Read here for more information on setting goals.
Measure goals and give feedback frequently
Once you’ve set goals, it’s important to regularly measure these goals. Through monitoring the success of these goals frequently, it increases your chances of meeting them. You can measure them through internal questionnaires and interviews, as this can show you how they are being received by your staff.
Make sure you consistently give feedback to your staff, as it helps your employees align their performance with the organisational culture. This, in turn, improves the quality of work at your workplace and helps your employees stay productive. Feedback is one of your most important tools as a manager.
Recognise and reward good work
Not only is workplace culture about changing the behaviour of your company, but it’s also about how you act at your workplace. Make sure you show that you appreciate hard work through rewarding your employees. When they perform beyond their expectations, it’s your responsibility as a leader to recognise what they’ve done and reward them.
Recognising and rewarding hard work are the first steps to creating a positive working culture, and doing this boosts the morale of your employees – which overall motivates them to work harder.
Develop employees
Through monitoring the performance of your employees, you should be able to help them perform better the next time. Establish a culture of continuous learning, where you implement regular training programs for your staff to improve their performance.
Put together customised career plans with your staff and find out their ideal career path in the organisation. Lay out a clear pathway to how they can achieve their goals, as this can then help them work harder to progress in the direction of achieving this goal. You’re also expressing your commitment to help them develop in their careers, which is helpful in training them for greater responsibilities and future roles.
Focus on employee engagement
Finally, it’s important to shape a positive workplace culture through focusing on employee engagement. Employee disengagement is a common issue at workplaces in recent times, and as a manager, you have to find a way to keep your employees happy and engaged at work.
In organisations where there is low employee engagement, they experienced 18% lower productivity, 16% lower profitability, and 37% lower job growth. So make sure you focus heavily on engaging your staff!
Many companies organise various employee engagement activities to increase engagement at their workplace. The success of an engagement activity does not always hinge on the amount of money you are willing to spend on it. For an activity to work, all you need is planning, flexibility, and participation!
Through focusing on employee engagement, you can understand your employees, and create a positive workplace culture, which aligns with the individual values of the employees as well as the organisational values.
Get started on improving your workplace culture!
We hope this article has helped you understand the value of having a positive workplace culture, and the steps you should take to adopt a positive workplace culture. Remember – culture is essential if you’re looking to become more profitable, so don’t be so quick to forget about it!
Do you have a toxic workplace culture? Our article on toxic culture can help you determine whether you do, and what you can do to change it.
Have any other suggestions for promoting a positive workplace culture? Give us an email at [email protected], or let us know on our LinkedIn or Facebook Pages!
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