When the culture of an organisation is wrong, employees come to work begrudgingly or with a sense of foreboding. Often, a lack of empathy exists between management, teams and individuals.
Office politics and cliques can have a disastrous effect on the mental wellbeing and productivity of workers. So, how do you create a culture where everyone can be at their best, work well together and feel part of something worthwhile?
Trust, Transparency and Accountability
A major cause of toxicity within organisations is mistrust. Employees don’t believe they can discuss problems with managers or HR departments without negative consequences. Or, they don’t trust each other and feel their workload is unequal or that good work goes unrecognised.
In addressing these problems, organisations must communicate clearly with staff and encourage an environment of openness and transparency. Micromanagement is best avoided. Make everyone part of the big picture and share with them all the company’s challenges and triumphs.
To achieve an open and transparent culture, modern platforms for collaboration and productivity are useful. Examples might include Trello or Slack. In this environment, emails are used mainly for external communications with clients, contractors or vendors.
Transparency makes everyone accountable not only for the work they do but also for their behaviour. There is less opportunity for bullies to slander colleagues or surreptitiously rally others to their cause. Stamping out this type of behaviour is vital to creating a healthy culture with good employee engagement.
Create Strong Co-Worker Relationships
Personality clashes are inevitable in workplaces, but there are ways to build common ground and help people get along. This doesn’t always mean forcing them to take part in “team-building” sports events, which many will abstain from.
Simple activities help people bond, such as eating lunch together or maybe enjoying coffee breaks with fun treats such as doughnuts or pasries. A more elaborate idea is to offer staff discounts on group vacations or special events, so employees create shared memories together.
A culture of openness, tolerance and trust is one worth having in any organisation.
