How To Improve Team Culture At Work
Strong company culture is essential to a successful business in the long term.
That’s right, a positive workplace culture is crucial if your organization is to continue to grow and thrive in the world of modern business.
The type of corporate culture you wish to foster depends on the type of organization you wish to be. Cut-throat, trusting, fun, ambitious? The company values are fundamental to your mission.
But is your company mission statement misaligned with the type of organizational culture you wish to foster? Are your company’s core values wildly different from those your business presents?
If so, then keep reading this article. In it, you will learn what team culture is and what a healthy company culture looks like. But most importantly, we will share several ways that you can improve company culture and employee satisfaction – helping you to build a positive culture in your business.
What Is Team Culture?
Team culture is a collection of things that go into creating the type of company you are. Company culture includes things such as:
- Core values
- Beliefs
- Attitudes
- Working practices
- Work environment
- Employee recognition
The synthesis of these features into the team dynamic is what is referred to as company culture and helps form a company’s mission. Strong company culture starts with all of these as its base.
A company’s culture defines the work environment – that is, it establishes how a team works together to achieve their common goals.
Every business has an organizational culture. Your current company culture might be a strong corporate culture grounded in trust, excellence, and personal growth or it might be a toxic workplace of individuals – or somewhere in the middle.
Either way, it exists and if you want to improve company culture, the first step is finding out what a strong company culture looks like.
What Is A Great Company Culture?
Great company culture is usually one with highly engaged employees who are keen on continuous professional development – one in which the company stands by its workers and employees feel recognized and encouraged in their personal development.
A company’s culture is brilliant if employees are aligned in their core values and attitudes to work if the work environment is conducive to happiness and success and if all members understand their roles and the roles of others.
Here are some of the key signs of positive company culture:
High Employee Retention
It is common sense that the employees most committed to working for a company long-term are those who identify with the company’s culture and core values.
Human resources teams can be more successful in the hiring process by making sure that the organizational culture is tied to their employee value proposition, customer value proposition, and social good.
This is also true when it comes to retention. The current company culture is one of the main reasons employees feel the need to leave.
Things such as toxic work environments, long commutes, unreasonable expectations, and disorganised management teams play a crucial role, and mean it is always important to improve company culture whenever possible!
Clear And Open Communication
Good company culture is built on open and honest communication.
This does not just mean talking to your employees clearly – employee recognition and support for personal and professional development are also key.
How can teams align themselves with your company’s core values and goals if they don’t know what they are? How will they know they are doing a great job if senior management never tells them? And how will new employees settle if no one is there to help them?
And it is a two-way street. When employees feel they can be honest with management it means a business is actively striving to develop and improve in the long term. This mutual approach to communication is consistent across all the best company cultures.
High Employee Engagement
If employees feel valued and that they align with the company values, then they are much more likely to engage with the organization. Employee engagement is crucial for improving the company culture.
Happy employees are engaged employees. To spot engaged employees, look out for individual contributions.
For example, if you see an employee staying late or arriving early to get a task completed or help other team members, it is a sign they are engaged in the company and support the company culture.
These actions in the day-to-day operations of your organization are essential for positive company culture.
An Accessible Leadership Team
What makes a good leader changes over time. In the world of modern organization, approachability and accessibility are key. Â
The best leaders create opportunities for their employees to be their best and develop and grant them unlimited access to support when needed.
A strong culture is built on supportive leadership and trust in the employees – trust that they know what they are doing and will complete the task.
Accessible leadership also leads to psychological safety for employees – psychological safety in the sense that they are not afraid to make mistakes but are encouraged to do their best and learn from any errors. And that there is always someone to talk to that they can trust.
What’s more, developing a company culture of safety and reliable leadership will encourage employees to set their own goals and perhaps inspire new leaders from within the group.
This will save your organization both time and money in the future.
How Can I Improve Team Culture?
Building a great culture will not happen overnight – you have to think about the bigger picture. It is a long process, about more than just flexible schedules and better work hours for your employees, but a process that will be very rewarding.
There are many ways you can improve team culture, here are some of the best.
1. Build Trust And Strong Employee Relationships
The best company cultures are built on trust and mutual respect. These qualities lead to better employee engagement and to employees who are happier and more fulfilled.
Team-Building For Building Trust
One of the best ways to improve your company culture is with live team-building activities. These activities provide a brilliant way to develop trust among all employees in the organization, from leaders to team members.
What better way to invoke trust among team members than by having them complete a Survivor Island event – in which they must survive stranded on one of the many beautiful islands in Thailand?
Or how about by working together to race against other teams across the metropolis of Bangkok or the historic town of Chiang Mai in an Amazing Race?
Working together to solve problems and complete common goals under pressure will help cultivate a pool of shared assumptions and ideas within the group that they can then take back to the business.
And the skills they learned in teamwork and communication will not only help develop trust but also the organization itself by inspiring a sense of autonomy in the current employees.
Employees will also learn new skills and experience new concepts that they can bring back with them to keep your company culture fresh and dynamic.
What’s more, increased participation in team-building events will not only develop a culture of trust but also one of mutual respect and engagement – a sure way to improve your company culture.
The positive results of regular team-building are endless, but most importantly they create a team culture that makes the company a pleasant place to work.
2. Connect Your Employees To A Purpose
To improve company culture, it is essential that employees have a common sense of purpose – and that they know what this purpose is.
Your company could do this through regular team meetings and one-to-ones with the employees. These are great for giving feedback and sharing ideas in both directions and should not be underestimated – every company should use these.
However, for long-term success in improving company culture and developing a common set of ideals, we must recommend team-building activities.
Team-Building For A Common Sense Of Purpose
Through well-chosen team-building activities, you can outline the type of company culture you want to create for your employees.
An event like an Escape Room is perfect for showing your employees how you want them to work on a complex project when they are under pressure, for example.
What’s more, an Escape Room is also brilliant for developing a company culture of trust and innovation – as we discussed in the previous section.
And with the brilliant virtual team-building events that are now available, team-building events are also a great way to ensure remote teams also share a common sense of purpose.
Where once this would have been almost impossible (or incredibly expensive) now team members are only a video call away.
For example, why not try some educational puzzles during the next remote team meeting? These are a great way to improve company culture by fostering an environment of high standards and continuous learning.
Or an Online Improv class is perfect for getting all your employees working together to solve novel problems. A great way to encourage professional development and foster a culture of creative thinking and innovation.
3. Create Positive Employee Experiences!
Important business news: improving your team culture doesn’t have to be a chore – a lot of it is just encouraging your team to have fun together! And what better way to do that than through some of the best and most unique team-building activities in the world?
Because after all, the best cultures are those that are grounded in a sense of fun and happiness – all else follows trust, communication, and collaboration. And the good news is that there are several fun team-building activities out there for you to start improving your company culture.
For example, is there a better way of getting employees and their co-workers to relax in each other’s company than a Jungle Adventure?
Trekking through some of the most beautiful places in the whole world – in Hua Hin and the town of Krabi – solving puzzles and having adventures with friends. Forget happy hour, this trip is sure to keep your employees happy for many years to come!
Taking your employees to places such as Bangkok and Samui is the perfect way to encourage a culture of fun and engagement for groups of all sizes – from large groups to small ones.
Let us tell you that research shows your employees will be more than pleased with their next trip to Thailand!
How To Improve Company Culture
Improving a team culture means identifying the values, beliefs, attitudes, and working practices that you want your organization to embody and striving to achieve them.
If you want your employees to be successful and continue to develop along with the business, strong company culture is crucial.
What’s more, however, if you want to improve the company culture, you gotta walk with your employees and do it with them. Culture comes from the top down – and if you are not willing to set an example at the top, don’t expect your employees to follow.
The best way to inspire a new culture is through regular and varied team-building exercises with your employees.
These work to develop all the skills your employees need to build the type of culture you want to see – whether it is one of trust, collaboration, communication, or a sense of fun and engagement among employees.
Now you know what strong team culture is, why it is so important, and what you and your employees can do to start improving it – it is time to start the journey and think about planning a team-building event!