What is one step to create a positive workplace culture?

Effective workplace culture is built on a foundation that encourages teams to collaborate, communicate, and share ideas. By fostering an environment that promotes working together as opposed to independently, companies will be able to create empowering relationships in the office and foster better productivity across departments. Additionally, open communication is also important for encouraging engagement from employees — as it allows all members of the organization to feel like their voices are heard and appreciated. To help promote good communication within your company, consider investing in internal social media platforms or team chat tools so employees can constantly share information with each other in real-time.

When employers practice tactical empathy they remember that their employees are people first. Tactical empathy involves placing yourself in your employees' shoes and considering their needs, thoughts, feelings, and opinions when making decisions in the workplace. Tactical empathy allows employees to feel heard and engenders trust. It can also improve communication and productivity. Effective leaders use tactical empathy alongside other traits like integrity, motivation, self-awareness, and vision among others.

It should be alright for employees to have a bit of a laugh at themselves, at the company or at each other or just about anything, so long as it’s respectful and in good fun. No one should be afraid to smile or laugh in your office. Handling less serious situations with some lighthearted humor is a great way to promote a positive and stress-free working culture. Being able to chuckle at a situation that might be stressful might be just what a company needs to de-stress and start working towards solving an issue or improving their productivity.

When an employee makes a mistake, takes ownership of it, and tells their co-workers about it, they demonstrate a very important skill to have in the workplace - humility. In addition, sharing what they have learned shows that they want to make sure someone else doesn\'t make the same mistake, which provides support and promotes teamwork. When employees are no longer afraid of admitting mistakes they\'ve made, the looming cloud of negativity floats away and leaves behind a more positive culture.

If the values that serve as the foundation of your company culture are best in class, but they are not represented in the workplace -what is the issue? Employees will mirror whatever they see happening around them, and those actions and behaviors will always be those that leadership at all levels recognize, manage and model on a consistent basis. It is as simple as that. The key to having the right people on the right seat in the proverbial bus, is by going beyond the right person-job fit, and keying on the right person-culture fit.

The truth is that a perfect workplace doesn’t exist. There will always be conflicts, different opinions, and miscommunication between people. However, the most important is to create a culture where employees feel that they can be themselves and express their feelings. Constructive feedback shared among your staff is a prerequisite for positive workplace culture. In such an environment, employees know that they can talk about it even if something goes wrong and work it out. Focus is on a common goal and finding a solution rather than differences. In a workplace where feedback is seen as a value, relationships are more authentic, and people express their true selves. Such a workplace culture contributes to higher job satisfaction and positively impacts your business performance.

Toxic leaders breed toxic workplace cultures. One step to move towards more positive workplace cultures is to be consistent in holding leaders accountable who fail to adhere to conduct and behavior standards. It means not being afraid to lose the tenured leader who is unwilling to model respect, foster workplace happiness, and cultivate inclusivity. It means, companies would need to take a stance and be willing to terminate leaders who despite making phenomenal financial earnings and sales continuously treat people badly. Companies would have to be willing to place people over profits and irradicate greed. That is moving one step closer to creating more positive workplace environments.

Please make sure everyone feels included. It has been found that most people transition out of a company because they feel unappreciated. Be sure to include your team to some degree in processes, share company information, and allow employees to have a voice within their department. Creating subgroups that help your team interact with sharing responsibilities for company activities can also make one feel as if their input matters. By doing so, it will help bridge the gap between departments and strengthen your overall employee participation, moral, and workforce culture.

I make sure to have regular check-ins with all my direct reports, and occasional check-ins with all employees. An “open-door” policy gains more credibility with employees when they see you being proactive with communication. If I am your immediate supervisor, I make sure that we are taking the time to meet at least once a week—and that during that meeting, I leave time to listen. Similarly, company-wide meetings need to have space for employees to share concerns, feedback, or any form of communication that they think I need to hear. It is always better to be proactive on the communication front, rather than waiting for communication to come to you.

Show your employees you trust them to do the right thing and you will be rewarded by a team that wants to demonstrate to you that trust is justified. For example, instead of making people wait for accounting to review and approve expense reports, pay employees as soon as they file a report, with the assumption an overwhelming majority of expense reports will be accurate, and those which aren’t can be revised. Find meaningful ways to demonstrate trust and you’ll differentiate your culture from others.

One step to help create a positive workplace culture for your company is to do more shout outs, acknowledgements, and accolades throughout the work months. Even if you feel you already do plenty of shout outs and acknowledgements for your employees hard work, you should do more! Letting your employees know how much their work is valued and appreciated is key for creating a positive workplace culture. They will repay your kinds words, rewards, and accolades will even more hard work and they'll want to spread the positivity they receive with their other co-workers. Know when your employees complete a hard project, donate a large amount, or go above and beyond with their tasks and shout them out in a meeting or group chat! Also, don't be afraid to encourage shout outs between your co-workers within your group chats!

Two things - creating a habit of putting together a meeting agenda that is shared with attendees in advance (at least 24 hours before meeting starts) and establishing meeting etiquette that ensures people can contribute without being interrupted. Sharing an agenda in advance provides everyone with a chance to anticipate discussions, prepare, and creates an equal opportunity to contribute. These two things alone create a culture of respect, collaboration, equity, engagement, and belonging.

Recognition and rewards are important positive reinforcements for employees that incentivize them to bring their best selves to work and wholly participate in everything they do. It doesn't take a lot for an organization to extend a word of thanks, give their star employees a shoutout, and even reward their hard work with innovative perks and additional time off. In the long run, it's the small gestures that contribute to a positive workplace culture, one that your employees will look forward to being a part of.

Leadership must encourage open and honest communication and importantly, those aren't the same thing. No matter how advanced a system it always requires periodic maintenance, and communication is no exception. Improving communication must be a collaborative effort, with team members empowered to offer suggestions and openly discuss their experiences if they so choose. But in order to get the most honest feedback, there should also be a way for employees to disclose their experiences to management anonymously.

When it comes to your values and company ethos, nothing holds them up better than authentically believing in them. Corporate leadership and thereby the company culture comes from fierce accountability. When you are authentically aligned with the company culture, it seeps into every aspect of the company’s workings. If your employees sense this integrity in your company culture, they are sure to integrate into it and uphold it in a positive way. To create a culture that’s solid, coherent, and adhered to, the leaders of the organization must be willing to act in accordance with the company culture and values authentically.

Humor within the workplace is the best icebreaker. First, it creates a culture of happiness and productivity. Studies show conflict and stress are significantly reduced when employees can laugh occasionally or don't take themselves too seriously. Lastly, no manager declared work as a place of dull and humorless talk. On the contrary, it's perfectly okay to smile and crack a joke periodically. It lightens the mood and builds togetherness.

Workplace culture isn't something that can be taught to your employees — it's something that they observe and follow. And who better to lay down the foundation of a great work culture than the company's leader? When leaders embody the core values that the organization stands for, they leave behind a path for others to follow. And before you know it, your employees will take the right cues and share the same enthusiasm and excitement that you exhibit.

If you want to create a positive workplace culture, you have to put your people first. People know when they are second best to finances, policies or processes. Speak to them, listen to them, learn from them, develop them, grow them and support them. See your people as people, put them above all else, after all, without them you have no business. And always put your people before policies and profits.

Helping your employees achieve a healthy work/life balance is a key component of a positive workplace culture. By allowing your staff to take lunch breaks, work from home when necessary, and focus on their own self-care and wellness, you can help them maintain a more positive outlook throughout the workday — which will in turn lead to increased productivity and engagement. Additionally, this approach will also make employees feel valued by the company and help reduce turnover rates over time.

There are different ways this question can go, but I will answer the question in my area of expertise, "banishing burnout." One way to create a positive workplace culture is to ask questions and LISTEN. Employees want to be heard. For example, ask their opinions when strategizing a major change. The individual contributors are on the front lines and would have the best information about the needs of the organization and the imapct of specific changes. I hope that gives you enought information. If not, feel free to get in touch: Janice@JaniceLitvin.com Burnout Speaker & Author: Banish Burnout Toolkit www.JaniceLitvin.com