12th Feb 2020
How to Create a Positive Workplace Culture: C is for Culture
C is for culture in our A-Z of Workplace Wellbeing. More specifically, we’re talking about how and why creating a strong, positive workplace culture supports your peoples’ wellbeing.
Workplace culture influences every aspect of your business and is ultimately what makes it unique. It’s everything that surrounds you in the workplace – it’s a big deal!
The easiest way to imagine it is that if your business was a person, what would they be like?
How to create a positive workplace culture
Forming a positive workplace culture that your whole team is invested in can be really beneficial. In fact, one of the biggest mistakes organisations make is not defining their culture.
There are so many ways you can choose the direction of travel for your own organisation, but it all starts with leadership. So to establish a positive workplace culture in your own business, you could:
· Share your ethos and values with your team
· Set clear goals with rewards for your people
· Create an inclusive working environment
· Foster collaboration and communication
How can workplace culture improve wellbeing?
It’s fairly easy to see that culture and wellbeing are very closely linked. A strong workplace culture improves wellbeing by helping to create a happy workforce who know their value and can visualise what they’re working towards on a daily basis.
You know what we always say, happy workers are productive workers – and there are many more benefits to sharing positive vibes throughout your company too. Far too many for us to discuss in one blog, in fact. So here’s a quick list of some of our favourites:
1. Attract and retain talent
Working in an environment that evokes the values and culture of your business increases job satisfaction, makes your people want to stay, and entices other people want to join… So you’ll never be short of talent.
2. Improves performance, including productivity and efficiency
Is your company proud of producing high quality work? Then share this with your teams. Giving your people a standard or guideline to work to gives them ‘something to go off’, if you like, often improving performance as a consequence.
3. It makes your team happy
It might be pretty obvious, but creating a positive environment encourages the people in it to be happier. Don’t forget, creating the culture you want works both ways! So finding out what makes your people tick is just as important as them being invested in your company values.
4. Your people feel a sense of pride and ownership
A positive workplace culture gives your team something to identify with and be proud of. And when people are proud to work for you, they’re more likely to be truly invested in having a future with your organisation. If they do leave, they’ll leave with kind words to say about what you’re doing.
5. It increases collaboration
Collaboration becomes much easier when your teams are all on the same page, working towards the same shared vision. Collaboration often means improved creativity and problem-solving too. Because two heads (or more!) are better than one.
6. Reduces stress
Last but not least, everything we’ve just mentioned contributes to a happier, healthier, more relaxed workforce. Win-win-win!
Design a space to showcase your culture
And that leads us onto one of the most effective ways to achieve the culture you want to create – designing a space that physically embodies it.
Whilst it can be easy to get carried away focusing on creating a workspace that’s easy on the eye, that’s not guaranteed to bring about the benefits we discussed earlier. For a workspace to truly foster happiness and productivity, it has to be suited to the needs of those using it. But don’t get us wrong… at Blueprint we like to make sure it’s pretty too!
For instance, to foster collaboration and communication, creating a flexible workspace is a great way forward.
How we can help
Our workplace consultants are happy to help you create a workspace that truly reflects your business’ culture by really getting to know your business and its people. It means we’re able to create an office space specifically for your team’s ethos, culture and goals.
To get started, book a free workplace assessment using the form below.
And if you’re interested in reading more about workplace culture, check out our blog ‘Why is Workplace Culture Important?’