Workplace Culture: Towards Organizational Increased Productivity and Performance
Workplace Culture: Towards Organizational Increased Productivity and Performance
Introduction
The biggest mistake organizations make is letting their workplace culture form naturally without first defining what they want it to be.?
The term “Workplace culture” is inconsistently defined and is largely conceptual, with just 12% of companies believing that they understand what workplace culture is about. ?(sidekicker.com).??
At the very core of it, workplace culture is the characteristics and personalities that set the overall vibe of an organisation .?
How Workplace Culture Help Implement Strategies
Culture is as important as your business strategy because it either strengthens or undermines your objectives. Positive culture is significant, especially because:
·?It attracts talent.?Job candidates evaluate your organization and its climate. A strong, positive, clearly defined and well-communicated culture attracts talent that fits.
·?It drives engagement and retention. Culture impacts how employees interact with their work and your organization.
·?It impacts happiness and satisfaction. Research shows that employee happiness and satisfaction are linked to strong workplace culture (Source: Deloitte).
·?It affects?performance.?Organizations with stronger cultures outperform their competitors financially and are generally more successful.
Your company's culture determines your ability to successfully complete projects, according to TechRepublic. Two businesses with similar structures can have different effectiveness because of differences in their cultures. You can encourage a culture in your business that aligns with your objectives and makes employees more likely to succeed in reaching those objectives.
Having a solid workplace culture creates the following effects on employees:
Involvement:
If you actively seek to engage employees in setting objectives and devising methods for reaching those objectives, you will spend less time on motivation. Involved employees tend to be committed employees. You can promote a company culture of involvement by assigning employees to teams that help set objectives. You can also hold company-wide meetings either virtually or physically, so that employees feel they belong to a community that is growing together toward the same objectives. Ask employees for input on how to achieve objectives and reward the best suggestions. All of this contributes to a culture where your objectives are part of everyone's commitments.
Consistency:
Consistency goes to the heart of what company culture entails. You cannot promote a message of teamwork one day and rugged individualism the next. A consistent culture of shared objectives can move your company forward on a daily basis. Examine the messages you send out through company emails, speeches at meetings, directives and posted notices to see if you deliver a consistent message. Then, examine that message to see if it is in line with your objectives. For example, if you encourage a culture of teamwork, yet offer bonuses to individuals rather than teams, you may be working against your objective of increasing sales through a group effort.
Adaptability:
Your approach to adaptability deeply affects your ability to grow your business. If you set strict rules with harsh punishments for breaking those rules, you cannot expect to create a nimble company that easily adapts to changes in the marketplace. When you set an objective of adapting to changing customer needs, you must create a culture where innovation gets rewarded and recognized.
Shared Mission:
Your mission statement cannot sit in a drawer gathering dust while you try to inspire your workforce to strive toward your ideals. Make sure your employees know your company mission and point out ways they can use that mission to help them work toward objectives. For example, if your mission is to provide the best levels of customer service in your industry, explain to employees in production, shipping and billing how they can support customer service personnel by solving problems, completing tasks on deadline and maintaining professional communications when customers make inquiries. (yourbusiness.azcentral.com).
The presence of this in an organization makes the implementation of strategies easier amidst all demography.
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Positive Workplace Culture and Its Effect On Productivity
It improves the health and well-being of your team.
When organizations value mental health to the same degree as physical health. Workplace culture has a significant impact on employees’ wellbeing, and the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled employers to put more thought into keeping workers safe and healthy.
Wellbeing was the top-ranked trend of importance in the 2021 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends study, with 80% of leaders identifying it as important or very important to their organization’s success. (i.workplace.com)
Many organizations have moved to remote working and installed measures to give their people a better work-life balance, including flexible hours based around childcare. This can help staff feel supported and valued.
It boosts engagement and motivation.
No surprise here: In fact, one study found that companies with winning organizational cultures have 72% higher employee engagement ratings than organizations with weak cultures. When you’re engaged with your work, you have passion and purpose because there’s clarification on the goals you should focus on. Moreover, positive work environments embrace a culture where recognition and appreciation are the norm.?
In turn, you’ll have a team that’s intrinsically motivated to go above and beyond without you having to micromanage. And, as you know, this creates autonomy, which is a key attribute to job satisfaction. (Forbes.com)
It cultivates a collaborative and supportive environment.?
“It’s common for us to underestimate the importance of the company we keep. We need people, whether they're teachers, mentors, family or trusted friends, who challenge us and push us to be better. The right circle of influence raises the bar, helping us to set new, loftier expectations of ourselves.” - Jennifer Cohen?
It’s true: A 2014 Stanford study found that working together increases motivation. People gravitate toward collaboration rather than competition. “The results showed that simply feeling like you’re part of a team of people working on a task makes people more motivated as they take on challenges,” the researchers said. (Stanford University)
Moreover, another study from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) and Rob Cross, Edward A. Madden Professor of Global Business at Babson College, “found that companies that promoted collaborative working were 5 times as likely to be high performing.”
This isn’t shocking. A positive work culture prevents team members from competing with each other. It also ensures that your company doesn’t foster a toxic work environment where bullying and harassment run rampant.?
When you build a collaborative and supportive work environment, your teammates can share ideas, help each other develop skills, and pick one another up when they stumble. Additionally, through collaboration, your team members can pull from each other’s talents and strengths, welcome diverse thoughts, and solve problems more quickly.?
Positive Work Culture Encourage Happier Employees
When someone dreads going to work, they’re going to drag their feet all day. They’ll constantly check the clock to see if close of business has rolled around. They’ll do the bare minimum, never wanting to go above and beyond to show their skills or get ahead.
However, if you establish a work culture that employees are excited to be part of, they’ll be happier with their jobs. Happier employees are more likely to exceed expectations, meaning your entire office can get more done (Fastcompany.com).
Positive Work Cultures Inspire Creativity
A positive work culture encourages individuals of all experience levels to become invested in the tasks and projects they’re working on. When employees feel like they’re able to speak up about what they think is the best idea for solving a problem or making a product or service better, they’ll feel open to discussing their creative ideas. Fresh perspectives are always important for being productive. (Roberthalf.com)
If you want to keep employees productive, you need to ensure they’re happy, open to collaboration and able to express their creativity.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it takes an active action taking to put in place a good working place environment by those behind policy and decision making of an organization to make the workplace all inclusive for all categories of employees, and foster success for both the individuals and the organisation.