Building a Strong Team Culture in the Workplace
Let’s face it. In today’s fast-paced, increasingly ‘digital’ workplace, it’s becoming really hard to build team culture and camaraderie. But there is no doubt that having a strong team culture leads to more productive teams. In fact, I would go as far as to say that it’s a prerequisite. Many studies have shown that a strong team culture can enhance productivity, employee engagement, and ultimately employee retention. However, building and sustaining a strong team culture is no small feat, especially when remote work, rapidly changing goals, and old corporate habits pose as headwinds. In this article, we’ll explore why building a strong team culture is essential and share some practical steps leaders can take to develop it on their teams. Let’s get into it!
Why A Strong Team Culture Is Important
A strong team culture isn’t just about making your employees feel good. It’s a critical driver of performance. When people feel connected, valued, important, and part of something bigger, they tend to work harder and more effectively. In fact, research shows that teams with stronger, more inclusive cultures outperform those without. Let’s dive into each of these more deeply.
Benefit 1: Increased Productivity & Business Outcomes
Put simply: when employees feel more aligned with a company’s mission and understand the role that their work plays in the larger missions, they become more invested in achieving goals. A study by Gallup actually found that engaged employees drive a 23% higher profitability for companies. And it makes sense why. Teams with strong cultures collaborate better, communicate more openly, and problem-solve together faster, leading to higher productivity.
Benefit 2: Increased Employee Retention
Another key benefit of a strong team culture is employee retention. When there is a strong culture at work, employees feel a sense of belonging and purpose, and it makes them more likely to stick around the company long term. High employee turnover rate is really costly for companies – not to mention the hours that go into recruiting, onboarding, and ramping new employees. It’s always a good idea to index on creating a strong environment so you don’t have to repeatedly bring new individuals into the organization.
Why Building a Strong Team Culture Can Be Difficult
Now that we’ve (hopefully) convinced you of the power of having a strong team culture, we want to talk about why creating one can be challenging. This way, you are prepared for the possible headwinds that you may face. The unfortunate truth is that in today’s typical business environment, teams are usually remote, the pace of change is relentless, and culture feels like an afterthought behind aggressive goals.
Headwind 1: Aggressive Goals and High-Pressure Environments
In our experience, this is most apparent in startups and fast-growing companies, though this can also exist at long-standing established companies as well. If you find yourself operating in these types of companies, it’s quite possible that the people around you spend a lot of time focusing on hitting ambitious targets and less time on culture. Leaders may prioritize short-term wins over long-term team development, which in turn creates a high-stress environment for everyone. This pressure to perform can make it hard to invest time and resources into culture building programs.
Headwind 2: Resistance to Change
In more traditional old-school companies, anyone trying to build a strong culture could be met with resistance. ‘That’s how we’ve always done it’ or ‘that’s just the way things are done here’ are phrases that are all too common in the industry today. Change, especially cultural change, can feel daunting and inconsequential to some, and as a result, companies may resort to just following antiquated habits and out-dated norms because it’s the easier route to take.
Headwind 3: Remote Work Environments
Some companies genuinely value team culture, but struggle to develop it in this new era of remote work. With remote work, employees are no longer physically together in a shared space, and that makes it really hard to foster connections. No longer are the days when those casual interactions—lunch breaks, hallway chats, or after-work socializing – happen. When teams work from home, those organic connections are lost and the risk of disengagement increases.
Tactics for Building a Strong Workplace Culture
Despite all the challenges quoted thus far, there is hope! In this section, we will get into some of the deliberate actions that leaders (and employees) can take to improve team culture and thus team performance. With each strategy, we also include some tactical steps you can employ starting today!
1. Create a Safe Environment for Open Dialogue
One of the best things leaders can do is openly and deliberately create a team environment where employees feel safe and empowered to speak their mind and pressure test the status quo. By creating this kind of environment, you open the doors for innovation, better problem-solving, and continuous improvement. Who doesn’t want that?!
Some tactical steps you can take:
- Encourage Feedback: Regularly ask for feedback during team meetings or through anonymous surveys to give everyone a chance to voice their thoughts on the way things are going. .
- Lead by Example: Show vulnerability and openness yourself as a leader. Admit when you don’t have all the answers or when you’ve made a mistake. This encourages others to do the same.
- Facilitate Conversations: Create forums, such as monthly roundtable discussions or one-on-one check-ins, where team members can share ideas and concerns without fear of judgment.
2. Define Clear Roles and Responsibilities
There is nothing worse than scope creep (which leads to team burnout) and confusion around what your team does. A well-structured team, where everyone knows exactly what their role is, the job to be done, and how their work contributes to the bigger picture, is a happier team.
Some tactical steps you can take:
- Clearly Define Role:: Create detailed job descriptions and scope for each member of your team. Regularly revisit these definitions in case scope changes over time.
- Set Expectations: Clearly outline what success looks like for each role and how it ties into the overall team objectives. This helps employees understand how they ladder into larger team output.
- Share Cross-Functionally: Make sure you share the defined roles on your team cross-functionally so people outside of your immediate org know who does what and what is in scope for your team.
3. Operate with Transparency
Transparency builds trust. When employees understand the reasoning behind decisions that are made, they are more likely to buy into the vision and work together toward the same goals.
Some tactical steps you can take:
- Always Explain the Why: When making decisions, whether they are small day-to-day choices or larger strategic decisions, always explain the reasoning behind them. This ensures everyone on the team is bought into the plan.
- Share Updates Regularly: Hold recurring team meetings where you or other leaders can provide updates on company goals, progress, and any upcoming changes.
- Open the Books: When appropriate, consider sharing relevant financial or operational data to increase the team’s understanding of why something was decided.
4. Hold Teams Accountable to Goals and Strive for Excellence
Teams that perform well and hold themselves to a higher bar tend to be happier. After all, who doesn’t like to do a good job and be at the top of the leaderboard? For this reason, it’s important to remember that good leadership and creating a positive team culture also means holding your team accountable, teaching them to be better, and striving for excellence.
Some tactical steps you can take:
- Set Clear Goals: Use SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals to ensure everyone knows what they are working toward. If you want to learn more about this, check out our other article on SMART goals here.
- Measure Progress: Regularly review progress towards goals in team meetings or one-on-ones. Always remember to celebrate wins but also don’t be shy to address areas for improvement head on.
- Stress Growth Mindedness: Build a team mindset of continuous improvement, where team members are always looking for ways to grow and further develop their work.
5. Break Down Barriers for Your Team
Strong leaders advocate for their teams and remove obstacles that prevent them from doing their best work. When leaders do this, teams see it and appreciate it, which leads to a strong culture overall.
Some tactical steps you can take:
- Identify Roadblocks: Regularly ask your team what challenges they are facing in their day to day, and work actively to remove those barriers. Make sure to share updates with your team along the way. Even if you can’t win the battle overnight, showing that you are fighting for them goes a long way.
- Be Loud and Fight for Resources: Whether it’s budget, tools, or more heads, make sure your team has everything they need to succeed.
- Champion Your Team: Ensure upper management is aware of your team’s abilities and achievements. Advocate for their needs in leadership discussions and make sure to give them kudos in public forums.
6. Make Time for Fun and Bonding
Even the most high-performing teams need time to recharge and have fun. Spending time to foster team bonding goes a long way and it certainly leads to better collaboration.
Some tactical steps you can take:
- Schedule Social Time on the Calendar: Plan regular team-building activities, whether it’s a virtual happy hour or an in-person outing. These activities help foster more ‘human’ connection.
- Celebrate Milestones: Acknowledge team achievements, birthdays, or work anniversaries! These celebrations, big or small, are fun and foster camaraderie.
- Encourage Informal Conversations between Your Team: Make space for non-work-related chats, whether in a dedicated Slack channel or before/after meetings.
7. Get to Know Your Team Personally
Similar to the above, as a leader, it’s important that you know your team on a personal level. Obviously don’t cross the line and respect personal boundaries, but it’s important that you have a good enough pulse on the team to know when someone is having a bad day or when someone achieved an important milestone in their life. When employees feel like their leaders care about them as people, they are more willing to show up and do good work.
Some tactical steps you can take:
- 1:1 Meetings: Don’t underestimate the power of a regularly scheduled, strong 1:1. Make sure to meet with each team member individually to discuss not just work but also their personal goals and challenges. If you’re someone who frequently adjusts your calendar, try to avoid rescheduling these sessions too often. Constantly moving them suggests the meeting isn’t a priority, which is not the message you want to send.
- Empathy in Leadership: Be attuned to your team’s emotional state and offer support when they face personal difficulties or burnout. Know when to push hard, and know when to read the room and lay off for a bit.
- Personalized Development: Understand the individual strengths and aspirations of each team member, and help them craft professional plans and find opportunities to grow.
8. Create Opportunities for Growth
In addition to helping employees find opportunities for growth, it’s also the responsibility of the manager to create those opportunities from time to time. Employees are more likely to stay engaged when they feel they are growing and learning and creating a culture that encourages professional development is key to long-term retention.
Some tactical steps you can take:
- Offer Additional Learning Opportunities: Provide access to training, courses, or even workshops that align with the team’s needs and individuals’ goals.
- Encourage Stretch Assignments: Allow employees to take on new challenges or 1% projects that expand their skills. Go into it knowing that it may not be perfect, but give them the chance to get their hands dirty, make mistakes, and learn.
- Always Provide Regular Feedback: Offer constructive feedback regularly and in the moment so team members know how they can improve and what tactical next steps they need to take.
In Summary
Building a strong team culture in the workplace is a critical driver of business success, but it’s not always easy to do and it certainly does not happen overnight. That said, the good news is as leaders, we have complete control over the tone and culture of our team. Our hope is that you can apply the strategies we’ve shared here in this post and take meaningful steps to cultivate the team you and your team deserve. Good luck!
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