As a business that has been operating for 28 years we have experienced many highs and many lows in both business and our own team culture. From periods of rapid growth to not enough work, as a leader its only natural to experience stages of both.
When the global financial crisis (GFC) hit in 2007 I remember feeling a sense of uncertainty; would our business feel the impact we were seeing so widely in mainstream media? As a leader, I understood that it was my responsibility to take care of my team and manage their worries during this difficult time- maintaining high morale was essential. That’s exactly what we did! We used our strength as a team to support each other through. Quiet offices support the busier offices, we prioritised our weekly meetings, and did regular team building.
After surviving the GFC and keeping our team intact I realised that our lowest times in business were not our lowest as a team. If we could maintain our positive team culture, support each other, be authentic and enjoy moments of light-hearted play we could ride any wave together. As a team we thrived for the next 10 years practicing what we preached and even creating some pretty amazing frameworks (more on that later) that have served us internally to have a positive team culture we were all very proud to be a part of.
It was in 2020 however that life for us all changed like nothing any of us have experienced in the modern era. Working remotely, home schooling, lockdowns and limited social contact outside of our homes became the standard. For many businesses this meant reinventing themselves to accommodate this new way of operating and unfortunately for many others this meant the end.
My own personal experience was challenging, scary, frustrating, confusing and life changing. Being in an industry that almost came to a standstill I was forced to reduce all staff to minimum wages and part time hours. Sitting in that zoom meeting that Monday afternoon telling the team that I was unsure what the future looked like for us was one of the hardest moments of my career. I had no answers, I was afraid and for the first time in my life I could no longer see a clear path forward. I was shit scared. I lost a significant amount of weight and for many months did not sleep through the night. The business that I had spent more than 25 years building, nurturing and loving was crumbling in front of me and the team that I love so much had tensions more like a dysfunctional family. Here we were, an organisation that practices and teaches positive team cultures and we ourselves were amidst our own “Culture Crash”.
I knew it didn’t matter if business was thriving or not, if we didn’t have a team that felt connected, passionate, and secure then we would not survive the culture crash that COVID had brought upon us. As a team we worked hard to take our business online and were lucky enough to serve many amazing clients throughout COVID with a means to keep connection alive.
Even so, we lost many remarkable staff over those two years- some of which had been working together for 10+ years. We were all exhausted, vulnerable, and uncertain about the future of our industry.
I want to go back here to just after the GFC because this was my first ‘AHA moment’ – that our lowest times in business were not our lowest as a team. We needed to find a way to build back up our positive team culture. As we experienced the world drastically change around us, one thing that didn’t change was the need for positive workplace cultures. 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.
Generally speaking; workplace culture is not something you can change overnight (PWC). It is a collective effort of small behavioural changes embraced by a team to create a more pleasant and enjoyable environment. The pandemic had forced upon us to layoff valuable team members, make changes to where and how we worked, and challenged us to connect and communicate. Unfortunately for our team, when coming together was more important than ever the pandemic forced us apart. The fear introduced an “I” behaviour rather than a “we” behaviour.
This is when the second ‘AHA moment’ happened. Over the years we had worked hard to develop and deploy a framework that supported and enriched positive team cultures. A framework we all believed in and felt passionate about, yet we were not using this powerful tool ourselves.
If you have read any of my articles before then you will know that the framework I am referring to is the 3 E’s…We believe in order to have a positive team culture you must first master the art of…
- Education
- Engagement
- Environment
We decided to use the 3E’s framework we had been building and perfecting for the past 25 years and start from the beginning with our own team made up of both old and new staff. This is how we did it:
Education
Behind all of the above was one of the most significant changes seen in business to date…. mindset. Businesses both large and small were not immune to the uncertainty created by the pandemic- our team included. With uncertainty comes fear and with fear comes the need for answers.
As leaders it’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to manage a culture, instead you should be managing the behaviours that shape it—encouraging, discouraging and fostering behaviours that demonstrate the values and norms you want to reinforce in your organisation. As a leader through the pandemic, I realised creating clarity wasn’t about having all the answers, but giving into to the basic human need for transparency, guidance, and support.
We knew we had a strong team with the skills and qualifications to do the job, but we were a new team still building trust and connection.
We enlisted leadership team performance specialist Adrian Baillargeon to help our team focus on what we could control and CHOOSE to make a difference.
We practiced both self-awareness and awareness of our team members. We measured this over time and as we were educated on our own team dynamics. The result: we saw a positive shift in not only self-perception but the perception we had of our fellow colleagues. When individuals consciously acknowledge their own strengths and the strengths of others, they are better able to leverage them to collaborate and maximize the potential of the team. With Adrian’s guidance we were able to turn self-awareness into a team practice so that the group could adapt and thrive collectively. This brings us to the second E in our framework- Engagement…
Engagement
Engagement is a vital ingredient in creating a positive workplace culture. However, in times of upheaval and disruption it is easy to forget the importance of the team around us. Engagement is being involved and invested in the team you are in. It requires an attentive focus and an active willingness to work towards the goals of the team. Now that we were empowered with the education, we worked with Adrian to set some team promises. Promises that would later see us keep the positive shift we were experiencing move in the right direction.
The whole team were engaged in this process which meant we were all clear on what needed to be done and committed to putting it into action.
We promised to:
- NWin with our Why
- NPrioritise Play
- NCommunicate like true friends (honestly, regularly, and genuinely).
- NMake each others days with our fun
- NRecognise each other, seek out the positives, acknowledging each others successes, efforts, and outputs.
In a workplace culture, the best performing teams are the ones that have learned to work through problems and make decisions together.
The importance of choice is linked with our basic human need to feel a sense of control. When an individual or team has options, they have control.
In the workplace, choice can emerge formally or informally but the fundamentals remain the same……by involving team members in a decision-making process, you create an opportunity for colleagues to collaborate, learn from each other, and work toward a common goal. We had our goals in mind and we were ready for action!
Environment
Before I get to the action part of this article it’s important that I break down environment- the third E in our framework. Without a supportive environment you cannot keep engagement or education going.
Let’s get into a bit more detail:
Your environment relates to how you feel in your workplace. When I refer to workplace, it is the everyday workplace for each individual within your business whether that is an office, the kitchen table, online or even a vehicle.
For most businesses it was the physical office environment that was impacted the greatest by the pandemic. Working from home provided all sorts of challenges from ergonomics such as working at the kitchen table to the increasingly blurred lines between work and personal life with many facing home schooling and other unavoidable interruptions.
For our team, we realised we were missing something you may have heard referred to as water cooler moments. These are the unplanned moments shared with team mates where we engage in non-work-related chatter; it could be discussing what we did on the weekend or debriefing on the latest episode of the top reality tv program of the time. The accidental moments we once shared in the office were actually a significant driver of our positive culture. They were moments of play, banter, collaboration, and bonding.
We gained some very powerful knowledge from this. To focus on team development and well-being (education) we needed to create an environment to support it. When combined, these two key focus areas would lead to greater engagement which ultimately leads to a positive team culture. To create an environment that supported ongoing education and engagement we needed an action plan.
Action
An action plan plays a crucial role in any positive change as it helps teams collaborate and communicate effectively to finish a project. An action plan removes all uncertainty as to who’s responsible for what and sets realistic expectations. Creating a plan will strengthen teamwork and communicate strategies for implementing it at the same time.
Most teams know when change must happen, but few grasp the importance of how to implement it. Enter our external facilitator Adrian! We worked with Adrian to turn our team promises into an action plan. We discussed the drivers behind our team promises and put initiatives in place that would create an environment to support them.
Some of our actions were:
- NWeekly huddles with involvement from all participants.
- NWe shared our personal journeys (one week at a time) to break down barriers between old and new.
- NWe set up a buddy system for individual team members to get to know each other.
- NSet up a WhatsApp group for regular banter (both work and non-work related)
- NWeekly recognition sessions to shout out jobs well done.
- NCreated clarity from top down around job roles and responsibilities.
- NWeekly Play: Each week one team member asks the team a fun and random question. Remember those water cooler moments? This drives exactly that. Let me give you an example: Are there more doors or wheels in the world? Try it at your next meeting.
Where we are today
Ten months on and I’m extremely proud of my team and grateful to Adrian for guiding us back to a thriving team culture. A culture of support, play, safety and understanding. Developing a positive team culture doesn’t happen overnight, it takes hard work, consistency and the nurturing of key characteristics, behaviours, and best practices. No matter what shape your culture is in, the secret is using the three E’s to set strategies that will appeal to your team to ensure maximum participation and lasting results so your culture (and performance) will continue to thrive long into the future!
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