Removing Barriers to a Positive Team Culture

Having a skilled, functional and cohesive team is vital for business success. It sounds simple doesn’t it.

Recruit the right people who are able to perform the requirements of their job and success “here we come”. Right? 

Wrong!

We’ve all heard about the many and varied impacts of poor culture, such as low levels of morale, productivity and performance; and, high levels of staff turnover, sick leave and behavioural issues. For these reasons and more, many companies rank culture in their top two priorities along with finance. And, culture has never been so widely accepted and used as a barometer for corporate success than today. That is why workplace culture deserves your full attention!

Many organisations know this but still get so focused on ‘doing what needs to be done’ to achieve results that working on their people becomes a low priority.

Why you may ask?

Well, practising a positive and fun team culture in your workplace requires time and commitment.  Often these two little words ‘time’ and ‘commitment’ are the barriers for a company culture moving from poor or just bearable to good or even amazing.

Add in a global pandemic, the move to remote working and significant change and it’s no wonder that some businesses may be finding it difficult to maintain and enrich their workplace culture.

Let’s take a closer look at todays barriers to practising a positive workplace culture

We all work in an increasingly busy and cluttered world and have a lot of duties to perform in our respective roles, yet there are still the same 7 days per week, 24 hours per day and 60 minutes per hour…

Particularly in busy times, the focus can become too heavy on completing tasks, meeting deadlines, getting the job done, that we lose sight on enjoying work and operating effectively in teams. In other words, we get too bogged down in day-to-day operations even though we know the value of a positive team culture.

It’s similar to exercise in many ways. We all know the benefits of being fit and healthy, yet other tasks often take priority over exercising.

Overcome it 

The reality is if we make the time, we will reap the rewards. A business that cannot find the time to foster a positive workplace culture face an uphill battle. Investing time into positive team culture will win you time back in productive and happy high performing teams.

Making a start on dedicating some time to your positive workplace culture does not need to be complex or take hours on end, it can be as simple as starting a social committee that meet for 30 minutes once a fortnight to establish tactics to enrich workplace culture.

Looking for simple ideas to enrich your workplace culture? Try this Simple Guide to Team Happiness & Success in Times of uncertainty- Avoid the COVID Culture Crash.

Many times we are reluctant to make a commitment to a task or project because we don’t know where to start or we lack a little knowledge on the subject.

You may think “where do we start in changing the culture of our office” or “what are the steps we need to put in place to transform our team”?

Because the answer may not be immediately clear or conversely you are presented with hundreds of solutions, this can become a barrier to getting started.

Overcome It

If you are a regular reader then you know I believe practicing a positive team culture requires a FUMISH culture! I don’t mean a bad smell in the air; but rather the FUMISH workplace culture model which I developed based on my 25 years of experience in people and culture industry.

FUMISH is the acronym to help determine whether you have a positive culture.

Friendly

Understanding

Motivating

Inspiring

Supportive

Happy

Read more about getting started with a FUMISH Culture Here.

The Harvard Business Review described the global coronavirus pandemic as the “most significant social experiment of the future of work in action” whilst Deloitte characterised coronavirus as “a time machine to the future”.

The pandemic has forced upon us staff layoffs of valuable team members, environmental changes in our workplace and challenged us to connect and communicate. Unfortunately for many when coming together was more important than ever the pandemic forced cultures apart. When times are hard-hitting it can be easy to lose focus on the importance of a thriving workplace culture, but let me assure you this could be your biggest mistake as a business leader.

Overcome It

One thing hasn’t changes as a result of the pandemic is the need for positive workplace cultures. After all, workplace culture is one of the most powerful sources of competitive advantage (Forbes, 2020) as it is a business ‘personality trait’ your industry rivals cannot replicate. So how do you maintain and enrich workplace culture when the world around us is in crises?

Download our FREE e-book “Inside the COVID Culture Crash” that explores what businesses experienced during the COVID pandemic and how the 3Es of a positive team culture and practicing a FUMISH strategy could save your business from a COVID culture crash.