1. Cultivating a Positive Work Culture

In today's remote work landscape, creating a positive work culture goes beyond the logistical challenges. It requires fostering psychological safety and embracing signs indicating a thriving environment by consistently building the support ecosystem. As someone with various roles, such as a Project Manager, Team Lead, and entrepreneur, I have learned the importance of psychological safety the hard way. In this blog post, I want to share my experiences and insights to support fellow middle to senior-level leaders in any organisation to recognise the signs of a positive remote work culture.

Psychological safety is relevant to everyone in the workplace, regardless of their title, seniority, personality, or identity. All individuals are responsible for fostering a psychologically safe environment where everyone feels comfortable and supported.

Here are ten signs that indicate a positive remote work culture:

1. Engaging Wholeheartedly

When team members feel safe, they actively participate and show up for work literally and emotionally. Low unexplained absenteeism is a positive sign that your team feels supported and valued. As a leader, you can sense their wholehearted engagement. As a leader, we should also recognise that human emotions and energy fluctuate, so the expectation of how we show up is essential.

2. Cultivating Transparent Communication

Team members feel comfortable openly sharing their thoughts and ideas in a psychologically safe environment. Whether through direct messages, one-on-one meetings, or team settings, they find the best communication channels to express themselves regardless if they are introverts or extroverts. Be intentional about your communication strategy.

3. Recognising Achievements

A positive remote work culture encourages the celebration of individual and collective achievements. When team members feel safe, they can openly acknowledge their accomplishments and those of their colleagues with no traces of jealousy or Tall Poppy Syndrom. The celebrations can occur privately or publicly, depending on the recipient's preferences. By recognising these achievements, we also set expectations on what good looks like.

4. Embracing Failures: Learning and Growing Together

Data and performance metrics are crucial in a fast-paced work environment like SaaS companies and Startups. However, in a psychologically safe culture, discussions about performance and metrics become learning opportunities rather than sources of demotivation. Team members feel empowered to understand and learn from the stories these data tell them and adjust their behaviours and approaches accordingly. How we interpret and communicate these numbers with our teams is more important than the numbers themselves.

5. Building Authentic Connections

Authentic connections are fostered when team members feel safe to share personal stories and experiences. The truth is that I am rarely the smartest person or subject matter expert in the room. Instead, I openly ask questions and encourage others to guide me. This approach builds authentic relationships and allows for exchanging knowledge and perspectives among team members with diverse backgrounds and expertise.

6. Performance on an Upward Trend

Drawing from my experiences, I have seen the positive impact of a performance-oriented culture. Leaders can drive continuous improvement by setting goals, providing constructive feedback, and supporting team members' professional development. High performers, who are already aware of their performance metrics, benefit from discussions on strategies and the journey to enhance their growth and excellence further.

7. Stepping out of Comfort Zones

Team members feel comfortable stepping out of their comfort zones in psychologically safe environments. They proactively think ahead, considering the needs of customers, the team, and the company. With a sense of safety, they strive to do what is right even when no one is looking, eliminating the need for micromanagement. As a leader, our job is to guide and provide assistance along the way.

8. Fostering a Culture of Ownership

In a positive remote work culture, team members take ownership of their development and metrics. This ownership is driven by their intrinsic motivation and genuine care for their work. They are not simply following orders but instead taking responsibility for their contributions. Therefore, allowing autonomy infused with a shared purpose reinforced team members' trust and psychological safety.

9. Virtual Background is Down

A small but significant sign of a psychologically safe environment is when team members feel comfortable enough to share glimpses of their personal lives in virtual meetings. As trust and connection grow, pets, children, and home office setups may become visible, adding a touch of authenticity to the virtual workspace. By showing up authentically and consistently ourselves, we lead by example.

10. Feeling Appreciated

In a positive work culture, team members feel appreciated and valued. This sense of belonging and recognition motivates them to go above and beyond. By fostering an environment where everyone feels respected, leaders can inspire their teams to give their best and contribute to the organisation's success. We lead the way by paying attention to these moments of triumph and showing our appreciation authentically.

Moving forward

It's important to note that these ten signs, or a combination, are only sometimes present. Energy levels and the flow of interactions can vary. However, they serve as guiding principles and indicators of a strong sense of psychological safety within a team.?In the following weeks, we will dive deeper into the "how" to build a positive work culture based on psychological safety. As leaders, we aim to recognise what a positive work culture looks like and work collaboratively with our teams to cultivate and sustain it.

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