A good team or business culture is hard to codify or document, but you can definitely feel it.
Here’s my 7 deadly secrets to developing a cracking culture within a team:
- Continuous learning – Treat every failure as a learning opportunity and focus on what one might do differently next time, rather than just on the impact of the failure.
- Continuous improvement – Encourage continual betterment, personally and in the work team. If the last job delivered was good, ask ‘how can we improve on it even further?’ Improvement doesn’t have to be in big leaps; baby steps can be just as valuable. Set positive challenges.
- Transparent communication – Don’t sugar-coat communications. Tell it like it is in a manner that is respectful. Communicate to others – whether it’s positive feedback or critical comments – in the same manner in which you would like to be communicated to, if the roles were reversed.
- Positive reinforcement – We all like to feel valued and that we are making a worthwhile contribution. A little positive reinforcement can go a long way to boosting team members’ self-esteem and motivation.
- Sharing knowledge and know-how – Be generous with your knowledge and know-how. Encourage team members not to be ‘self-protective’, but rather to share their ideas and help each other achieve goals.
- Recognising effort, improvement and achievement – Celebrations don’t just need to occur when someone wins a race or delivers a project on time and in budget. Little steps forward, such as tackling a personal or business challenge, mastering techniques and clearly putting in significant effort, are also worthy of recognition.
- Taking a genuine team approach – Team members need to demonstrate that they have each other’s backs, without having to explicitly say so. A leader’s role, in terms of fostering this quality, is to lead by example and also to give positive recognition to this behaviour when seen in others.
Practise what we preach
There is a disclaimer: like a chef, there are many ways to mix the ingredients of success, and some have better results than others.
Many business owners, including JPAbusiness clients, will say they have each of the above elements of a good culture in spades.
The reality is we all aspire to having a good culture, but do we truly practice what we preach on a consistent and regular basis?
I know that I still have a long way to go to be a top-shelf leader of a good culture. But from experience I also know that living and implementing these methods can be truly satisfying and can deliver a high-performing team that goes way beyond expectations.
How to influence team culture when you’re not the designated leader
It’s generally agreed that the catalyst for a team or business culture is often the leader.
But what if you’re not the ‘designated leader’ in your team? Can you still influence the culture?
You bet you can. You simply need to practise the 7 deadly secrets above, in your own way and in your role.
If you’re a business leader, or are aspiring to be one, and you want to take your team and business beyond the norm, we’d love to hear from you.
Our advisors are keen to assist in guiding you and your team on a path to developing a strong culture and enhancing your business value. Call us today on 02 6360 0360 or 02 9893 1803, or visit jpabusiness.com.au to book an appointment.