Challenging times can affect your organization in ways that interfere with the strong culture you’ve built. However, with proper focus, you can foster a supportive team culture, even in tough times.
A supportive culture is beneficial both for the organization and its employees. It helps with productivity, retention, and attracting top talent, which helps companies grow. It also develops a sense of belonging among the workers. They can perceive an atmosphere of trust, fairness, and security. Read on to uncover how you can develop a supportive team culture for your organization.
Celebrate Achievements
Sure, you’re a busy manager. But ignoring achievements, even small ones, can negatively affect employee performance over time. If employees don’t feel recognized for their wins, especially if they are approached about failures, they will feel unappreciated. Celebrating achievements is an excellent way to encourage workers. It also establishes you as a trustworthy manager that connects with employees.
Appreciating employees for their positive contributions encourages them to give their best. It lends itself to a positive work culture where employees feel they can grow and learn. It’s important to pay attention to everyone’s contributions. Allowing unconscious bias or favoritism to enter into the equation will ruin everything you’re working to accomplish.
When planning a reward system, you want to make it varied. Thank you notes and public congratulations in meetings or on social media are a great start. But you’ll also want to include gifts and financial rewards to further encourage your employees. You might send get well gifts when someone is sick or flowers if a worker’s relative passes away. In the same way, you should offer something meaningful for a reward. Rather than just giving money, utilize gift cards, movie tickets, and spa certificates.
Provide Opportunities for Growth
Even during tough times, employees appreciate the opportunity for learning and growth. In addition to fostering a supportive team culture, career advancement opportunities lead to increased job satisfaction, motivation, and productivity. It also will build up the company as a whole, improving its ability to compete in the marketplace.
Mentorship programs are helpful for employee development. Pairing new employees with veterans allows them to access knowledge and experience firsthand. Those who have been with the organization are familiar with the company’s culture, expectations, and values. They can answer questions and provide advice to new employees or individuals transferring to a different department.
Offer in-house seminars with guest speakers and training programs to help employees learn more in their role. You can also send staff members to off-site training programs or career advancement sessions. Employees will gain much-needed expertise that will not only advance their skills, but will also increase the effectiveness of their team. It’s a win-win situation. Employees receive opportunities for growth and feel supported in their career, and the company becomes more effective because of it.
Encourage Open Communication
Open communication leads to a happier, supportive, and more productive workplace. Building a culture that relies on two-way conversations leads to the transfer of ideas and increased trust. This environment is developed when managers actively listen. They should respond to each employee’s concerns or comments to set the tone for the whole company.
In order to create a culture of open communication, you should set clear expectations. This includes how to reach out and specific guidelines for feedback. Develop a safe atmosphere where employees can openly express their opinions and concerns without worrying about repercussions. Do not tolerate bullying, judgment, or harassment.
To promote communication with your team, regularly schedule one-on-one meetings. Ask open-ended questions to encourage discussion about progress, ideas, and challenges. You can also learn more from employees by encouraging feedback. Set up suggestion boxes or surveys to collect feedback on work processes and policies. Allowing anonymous responses helps ensure that employees express themselves and their concerns honestly.
Organize Team Building Activities
Coworkers who know each other on a deeper level feel typically supported in the workplace. Team building activities help develop relationships and form that closer connection. Strengthening bonds between team members can also increase collaboration, ease stress, and improve the overall employee experience. Team building makes for more productive teams, and a fully engaged workforce can actually double revenue for an organization.
Before deciding on a team building activity, you need to have clear goals in mind. Then you need to inform the team why you are doing that particular activity. Align the event with whatever your team needs to improve. For instance, if your team is having trouble communicating with each other, a non-verbal activity likely won’t fix the problem.
One game that can be played to help with communication and collaboration is paper chains. You split the team into two equal groups and allow them to choose a team leader. The team leader leaves the room when the game is explained. The goal of the game is to make the longest paper chain within a limited time. You can add some twists, like players can only use one hand or only one person can talk at a time. The first part of the game is explaining the rules to the team leader once they return. Efficient communication is essential to winning.
Creating a Supportive Culture
You need to focus on what your team needs to create a supportive culture during tough times. Do they need to learn to interact with each other? Or do you need to encourage open communication? Provide what they need and offer encouragement, recognizing big and little wins alike. In a supportive culture, employees will thrive. And when employees thrive, the company will also succeed.