A Positive Work Environment Delivers BIG TIME for the Business and the People (... and This Is How You Create It)

The impact of a positive work environment on people and the work they do is extremely powerful in every way you can think of. Creating and sustaining a positive work environment is much more than just doing the right thing for employees (which, it is), but it is, in fact, a potent business strategy that can deliver great amounts of value for the organization.

A positive work environment is one in which people are cared for beyond their condition as “employees”, but in their totality as a human. In a positive work environment, everyone strives to help the organization and one another succeed. Leaders and people operating in a positive work environment know that people and business success are two sides of the same coin, and one is not possible without the other.

For a positive work environment to emerge and thrive, employees must feel safe, included, respected, treated with kindness and compassion by their peers and leaders, accepted and embraced by everyone, and have a strong sense of belonging to the organization.

In a positive work environment, employees and teams strive to achieve their goals and outcomes with excellence. They are more innovative and use their creative potential and talents to help the organization succeed. People in a positive work environment see their own success as an extension of the success of the organization. In a negative work environment, on the other hand, people see the success of the organization happening at the expense of their own happiness, mental health and well-being, and morale.

The powerful effects of a positive work environment for the people and the organization are incredible:

- Increased employee engagement (and the corresponding impact in productivity and performance)

- Increased levels of employee happiness and joy

- Higher levels of creativity, risk-taking and experimentation

- Employees feel prouder of the work they do, becoming ambassadors with a positive and strong impact on the brand and its reputation

- Better and more effective communication and collaboration among individuals and teams, and their corresponding leaders

- Reduction in mental health temporary or chronic illnesses such as depression and anxiety

- Decreased levels of or outright prevention of burnout

- Decreased levels of stress; improved overall wellness and well-being

- Reduction in absenteeism and sick leave

- Higher productivity and performance

- Decreased levels of turnover

- Higher company revenue

In a positive work environment people are cared for and their professional progress and development is top of mind for the organization, there is open and honest communication founded on trust, people are kind and compassionate toward each other, and leaders have the utmost respect for their teams.

A positive work environment delivers for the people and the business.

This is how you create a positive work environment.

Recognize Where You Are in the Journey

You don't build a positive work environment overnight, especially when there are precedents of a culture that is actually opposite to positive. Begin by recognizing where you, acknowledging past wrongdoings that violated the principles of a positive workplace and commit to beginning anew. People are more forgiving of those who are trying their best and recognize their shortcomings, than of those that try to fake and hide facts and truths. You can't build a positive work environment by hiding what everyone knows is negative (even if nobody talks about it publicly - the BIG elephantS in the room). Commit to the wonderful transformations that are needed to create and sustain a positive work environment and walk the talk, even if you are limping during your walk at the beginning. Your employees want to know that this is real, and not a fake internal (or external) PR campaign that is the response to something really bad that someone did.

Build Trust

Trust is the most valuable organizational currency. In fact, trust keeps everything together, working properly. Nothing of positive impact will ever happen, anywhere (including work), when there is no trust. Set up the organizational foundations to create a culture of trust. People will feel that there's a positive culture when there's trust.

Act with Compassion

Compassion is the willingness to do something to relieve the suffering or pain someone in your team may be going through. It requires awareness, a desire to relief the suffering, and a willingness to respond. In a positive workplace, people truly care for each other and act with compassion. It's hard, if not outright impossible, to build a positive work environment if employees are not kind and compassionate toward one another. In particular, a gigantic violation of the principles of a positive work environment occurs when leaders don't act with compassion in the way they interact with their teams. Acting with compassion must be intentional. In addition, learning how to act with compassion requires efforts from the organization to teach people what compassion looks like at work, in the small and big actions. Compassion and kindness are powerful drivers of positivity at work.

Promote Meaningful Connections Among the People

Meaningful human connections and relationships is at the top of the list of the most important drivers of people's happiness and joy. For a positive workplace to emerge and thrive, connections (about work, but also social connections) have to exist. Promote meaningful connections among employees. But, please go back and reread that sentence: meaningful connections. Your happy hour on Fridays at the corner bar is not that. Your foosball mini-tournament is not that. Your beer tap or free breakfasts are not that. Your brown bag lunches are not that. Meaningful connections have to have meaning. People supporting each other. Find the ways to do this. Do you know how? No? Start here: ask your people, be curious and open-minded about their answers. They know what they want.

Care for the People

At the top of all the most important things employees want from their workplaces is to be cared for. Not just as a "cog in the productivity corporate machine", but to be holistically cared for as humans. Caring for the humans at work is the strongest way to build a positive work. Many organizations claim to have a positive work environment, but when you scrutinize how people feel you find that they recognize that the organization cares for them only in their condition as employees, but not in their most important condition: that of a human. Caring for the people is necessary for a positive work environment.

Show Appreciation and Gratitude

"No feedback is good feedback" is terrible feedback. You have to be VERY intentional and even go out of your way (as a leader or a colleague) to show others that you appreciate and are grateful for their work. In addition, appreciation is also about giving people credit for the good things they do. It's important to understand that appreciation and gratitude are not just given when a positive outcome results from someone's work. There are many steps (sometimes intangible steps) going on their journeys to achieve those outcomes: what they learn, their efforts, their failures and experiments, their creativity and risk-taking, their commitment and discipline. No, you don't have to thank people just for coming into work on time, if that's what you are thinking. But when you know that they are trying their best to deliver something great and they are making progress toward their goals, that's when saying: "I see how hard you've been working recently. I am so proud of you. Keep it up, and let me know what else I can do to support you" goes a long way. Also, when your team members, direct reports or even leaders do something great, go out of your way to recognize, privately and publicly, and give them credit for what they've done.

Learn From Mistakes in a Constructive Way

Besides being cared for, employees have a strong desire for learning and development to progress professionally. In particular, they want honest and thoughtful mistakes to be acknowledged as learning opportunities and not as excuses to punish and retaliate. Learning from mistakes in a CONSTRUCTIVE way means that, if you are a leader, you will work with your team members to identify what and why something went wrong, what needs to change going forward, and the tools and resources needed to avoid such failures in the future. If it's your coworker, you can do a similar exercise offering help if needed (and if you can offer it). Learning from mistakes is about guiding people with compassion through the hardship of failure toward progress through learning.

Encourage Cooperation and Collaboration

Cooperation and collaboration can happen in two ways: because it's "mandatory", measured and rewarded; because it's organic and natural and people find personal value in it. The second is more powerful and sustainable. Encourage and inspire people to cooperate and collaborate organically.

Measure Results (Celebrate or Pivot)

Some leaders may consider the effects of a positive work environment as mere hearsay or anecdotal. This is when it becomes critical measure the results of the actions taken to identify the effects. Celebrate the positive effects and pivot away from strategies that are not working.