Marketing Director
A good and positive team culture lies at the foundation of any successful business. Yet, so many organisations seem to overlook the value of a positive team culture – the UK economy loses around £20.2 billion every year as a result of employees quitting their jobs due to poor company culture.
But contrary to popular belief, there is even more nuance to it than simply developing a certain kind of “culture” in your business. You should also work on creating a positive team culture. Hence, here’s how to build a strong and positive team culture at your company.
Why do you need a positive team culture?
As mentioned above, company culture is closely related to the success of your business. It can impact anything from employee satisfaction to sales. For instance, if your employees are happy with their jobs, they will likely be more productive which will, in turn, lead to increased sales.
Nowadays, dedicating more time to a positive team culture is even more important because of the damage the pandemic has done to businesses in all kinds of industries. According to the Culture Economy Report 2021:
- 9 out of 10 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) maintained their productivity levels despite having to work remotely.
- Only a half of all employees are satisfied with their employers’ efforts to maintain positive remote culture during the pandemic.
- 27% of employees quit their jobs due to company culture.
Company culture is different from team culture. Company culture looks both at the bigger picture and the more nuanced layers within your organisation. Team culture is about the way your employees work together and interact. So, in a way, team culture is a part of company culture. In other words, working on a positive team culture will also improve company culture.
How to build a positive team culture
Show everyone how they are valued
The first thing you should do to build a positive team culture (and continue doing it consistently) is show everyone how they are valued. It’s not enough to simply show your employees that they are recognised and valued – you should also show HOW. In other words, it’s important to recognise their contributions and what exactly they bring to the team, what makes them valuable.
The best way to do this is by analysing the strengths and weaknesses of each team member. You can also look at each member’s particular duties and output. This way, you will get a better idea of how each employee truly contributes to the team. You can then use this knowledge to empower each team member to do their best.
Identify a leader and follow them
Another essential thing you should do is identify a leader within your team and encourage everyone to follow this leader. Having a leader is necessary to strengthen your team and make your employees strive to achieve a particular item. In addition to that, a leader is a role model for your employees who will aim to follow in their leader’s footsteps.
Moreover, you should help your leader grow and develop their leadership skills over time. Of course, this will usually come naturally to a good leader who uses their new knowledge and experience to guide their decisions. Yet, it’s still a good idea to find opportunities for them to grow as a leader.
Create opportunities for growth
Speaking of opportunities, it’s not just your team leader who needs them. Creating opportunities for your employees to grow will enable them to become better professionals. This will, in turn, help them become more valuable members of their team and will make their collective output even more impactful.
You need to focus on development. The best teams are the ones that are constantly striving to become better at what they do. By learning together, they are able to strengthen their collaboration and perform better.
Overcome challenges together
One thing you should always remember about building strong and positive team culture is that you and your team need to overcome challenges together. By solving problems together, you will all eventually get so close to each other that the level of teamwork and collaboration will pretty much skyrocket.
For example, imagine that there is an issue that is only related to customer support. The usual way to solve it is to let the customer support team deal with it (or even only have a single person in that team be responsible for it). Instead, get other members of the team involved – or even other departments. This kind of approach will help you solve the problem faster and might even reveal underlying issues that also need to be addressed.
Prioritise communication
One of the biggest problems many companies face is poor communication which leads to conflicts, misunderstandings, and other disasters. That’s why it’s crucial for you to prioritise communication above all else. After all, it’s not even that hard to do as long as everyone is on board and knows how to communicate correctly.
Gather your team and decide the best channels for communication. Create a set of rules on how to communicate in certain situations. This will organise all the communication you do within your team. Likewise, create the right setting for casual communication during breaks to let team members relax and get to know each other better.
Reinforce positive messaging
Positive messaging is a powerful tool for motivating your employees and helping your team stay productive. By constantly reinforcing the ideas and values your employees support, you remind them why they are a team and what they are working towards.
For instance, when there is a situation where the opinions of your team members diverge too much, you can remind them about their main objective, values, etc. This will help them come to a consensus and find the best solution that will correspond to this objective as well as their own personal interests and beliefs.
Set and achieve realistic goals
Last but not least, make sure to set and achieve realistic goals. Just like a leader can set an example and lead the way, achievable and realistic goals make it easier to work towards success because employees know that achieving these goals is possible.
If you have incredibly high standards for goals, it’s a good idea to break them up into smaller goals and milestones. Achieving small goals is much easier and faster which will further encourage your employees to work harder as a team.
Creating a positive team culture: summary
The bottom line is that you should always aim to create a more collaborative work environment at your organisation. That’s why it’s so important to dedicate time to building a strong and positive team culture. Use the tips in this article to help you get started and put together your own strategy for improving your company and team culture at your business.
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