Tag: Teamwork

14 Ways You Can Enhance Your Company’s Culture

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Company culture plays a major role in job satisfaction and the sense of security that comes along with it. Fortunately, you can have a powerful impact on your workplace, whether you’re a senior manager or a summer intern. Try these suggestions to create an environment where everyone can feel valued and appreciated.

Steps to Take by Yourself 

1. Maintain a growth mindset by continually learning. Invest in your education and training. Developing your knowledge and skills will broaden your opportunities at your current company and in all of your future positions. Should your company offer opportunities to lead discussions and/or present in front of other teammembers don’t hesitate to raise your hand to lead a topic. You’ll be a stronger member of any team for it.

2. Think long term. While you may not be an entrepreneur running your own business and taking all the risks associated, but there’s no reason you can’t be an intrapreneur! An intrapreneur runs a business inside of the business. Intrapreneurs take on an ownership mindset where she takes on projects and drives initiatives to conclusion. Owning your role and the results needed to elevate you and the teams success requires a long term focus. Keep your goals in mind. Evaluate how your actions will affect your company’s future and drive your actions towards that future. Going the extra mile could lead to repeat business, glowing reviews, and valuable referrals.

3. Take risks. Creativity in the workplace is seemingly becoming a lost art. It may be because there is not a culture around rewarding resourcefulness, creativity, and taking risks. However, what you see lacking in the workplace culture presents an opportunity to catalyze the team, other departments, and your development. Reward yourself for being innovative, even if some of your efforts fail to pan out. If you’re persistent, you’re bound to come up with some breakthrough ideas. Maybe you’ll find a new tool to help close more deals, or a technology to streamline communication across teams. Or perhaps you’ll work on redesigning a company process or policy.

4. Ask questions. Being able to ask for information and advice is a sign of confidence. There is a balance to questioning the companies way of doing business versus challenging it. Approaching co-workers and/or your managers with a sense of curiosity (intention) will often be reciprocated, however challenging others can be viewed as antagonistic and destructive. For example, approaching others with, “It makes no sense to me the way the company is approaching XYZ issue, how can this ever change if it makes no sense to begin with?” Now you can image the potential defensive reactions that a question like this may solicit. It’s not constructive and the intent of the question sounds more like a disparaging comment than a real question. Compare that to the language of a curious intent; “I’m curious- the team seems to have a wealth of experience around XYZ issue, I’d be interested in learning how the decision came to be with addressing it the current way?” You’ll do your job better and show your colleagues you appreciate their experience and expertise.

5. Be social. While many leave it up to the managers and owners of an organization to shape the culture of an organization, it’s equally the responsibility of individuals to reinforce and build the culture. Culture involves both internal and external factors. Get to know your coworkers as people, not just as coworkers, and help them. Be the person who goes out of their way to make friends with new team members. Many of them may feel out of place when they join your organization or have to adjust to a hybrid environment. Invite them to lunch or to a virtual coffee to talk. You could suggest other people for them to meet, or if you’re in the office, you could go ahead and introduce them.

Steps to Take with Your Co-Workers 

1. Build consensus. Think about all the parties whose interests your work will affect. Request feedback and input across multiple departments. Attempt to gain understanding how your work affects their role within the organization. Involve others when you’re making important project decisions. They’ll be more likely to support projects that they helped develop.

2. Welcome new hires. Reach out to new employees. Explaining the corporate culture to them may reinforce your own beliefs and actions. Additionally, during the Pandemic many teams experienced high-turnover, therefore it’s easy for teammembers to fall into the mindset of, “why take the time getting to know them when they’ll likely only be here for a short period of time?” This thinking perpetuates a siloed environment and a negative culture.

3. Give praise. Be generous in acknowledging the talents and achievements of your colleagues. Congratulate a colleague who recently completed an important project. Let the office manager know that you like the way he reorganized the supply cabinet. Thank the warehouse staff for organizing product on time for a tight deadline. 

4. Share credit. Recognize teamwork. Thank others individually and in public for how they contribute to group victories. Throw a party or write a letter expressing your gratitude.

5. Communicate openly. Speak directly and respectfully. Thank your coworkers for sharing their viewpoints. 

6. Resolve conflicts. Disagreements are unavoidable. Hold yourself accountable for your actions and apologize when needed. Be courteous, even when you find yourself on the opposing side of an issue. 

7. Focus on strengths. Remember to pay attention to the things you and your co-workers do well. Everyone’s strengths are the essence of your company’s culture and the foundation you can build upon to keep growing. 

8. Give back to the community. Your company’s philanthropy and community programs say a lot about its corporate culture. Take part in initiatives you care about, such as holiday food drives or volunteer outings. Does your company not participate in community event? This is a perfect opportunity to coordinate one! 

You’ll find your work more meaningful and gratifying when your employer’s culture aligns with your own values. Whatever your job title, you can have a positive influence on the culture in your workplace.

Learn to be a Valued Team Player and Reap the Benefits

Have you ever struggled to “click” with your co-workers? Whether you see the differences as a matter of age, stage in life, or philosophy, those gaps surely make it more of a challenge to work together to achieve a common goal. 

Of course, it’s important to be recognized for your individual achievements. However, wouldn’t it be nice to also receive kudos for your great teamwork skills, despite your differences?

The good news is you have the power to become that valued team player! And even better, your career will benefit immensely from your team skills.

Apply these ideas and you’ll be a star on your team:

1. Be friendly to every co-worker. Sounds simple, but not easy in practice. A great piece of advice that I was given in early in my management career was to “be curious” about every person on your team. Even if you have completely different interests than a co-worker, you never know what can happen if you show sincere interest in them.

2. Ask work-related questions. When you’re unsure of factors related to a work project, approach a co-worker working on the same job and to try to clarify your questions. In some organizations it is very easy to fall into work silos. Reaching out to others who may be in a different department may provide a different perspective on shared issues or problems.

  • Reaching out to others shows your willingness to accept information from co-workers in order to do your best work. 
  • Plus, this behavior demonstrates your respect for your co-workers and their input.

3. Celebrate even the smallest successes. When a co-worker completes part of a project or resolves a minor issue, make it a point to comment on it. Show you notice the contributions of your co-workers through your words. Your comment on their achievement may be the only one they get. In some organizations and management structures you know you haven’t done anything wrong when your manager hasn’t spoken to you in days or weeks. While that is unfortunate, it tends to be true.

4. Show openness about your work plan. Prior to proceeding with your work on a project, tell involved co-workers what you plan to do. Creating culture involves repeatedly casting a vision regarding the work that you do.

  • When you speak to your co-workers about the direction you’re heading in the work you’re doing, it promotes open communication and shows you’re using a team approach.

5. Use “we” when talking with co-workers. When you use “we,” it pulls all of you together to work for a common cause. 

  • When you and your co-workers feel a part of something greater than yourselves, you’ll be amazed at the things you can achieve together.

6. Notice behaviors of your co-workers. Do they offer to help you once in a while? Are some of them willing to put in extra effort when it’s needed? When they do, let them know you notice.

7. Reciprocate. When a co-worker chips in to help or finishes a task to assist you in completing a project, remember to return the favor. Help them out when they need a boost with their big project.

8. Avoid pointing out the errors of your co-workers. Calling attention to the mistakes of others is rarely the way to go. It certainly won’t earn you any brownie points with anyone. 

  • It may sound cliché, but everyone makes mistakes and you likely won’t want someone bringing up your faux pas to the group, so don’t do it to others. 
  • Take the attitude that you’ll instead try to learn from the mistakes of others.

9. Be generous. Of course, it would be nice if you received special recognition for whatever you contributed to someone else’s project, but it may not happen all the time. 

  • If you approach a job with the idea that, above all, you want to be an effective team player, you’ll be recognized for your stellar individual skills at some point.

Being a team player will help open doors for you over your career. Plus, you’ll probably make some friends and learn something of great value in the process. When you can demonstrate you fully understand the importance of contributing to the team, you’ll eventually win the game.