The Ripple Effect: How Behaviours Shape Workplace Culture
Workplace culture refers to the shared values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours that characterise an organisation and its work environment.
It is the full package of the norms, traditions, and practices that shape the way people interact, communicate, and collaborate within the organisation. It’s “the way we do things around here”.
Workplace culture influences the overall atmosphere and mood of the workplace, as well as the attitudes and perceptions of employees towards their work and the organisation.
Workplace culture is not static; it evolves over time and is influenced by various factors such as leadership changes, organisational growth, and external events. A strong and positive workplace culture fosters employee engagement, productivity, and well-being, ultimately contributing to the success and sustainability of the organisation.
Where you have people, you have culture. And whether you’ve defined it or not, it’s most certainly there.
The thing is, if you want your workplace culture to be a certain way, then you need to actively work at it. If not, your people will create their own culture, and it may not be the one you want.
How do we get the behaviours we want?
Everything starts with your Values.
Values are fundamental beliefs or principles that guide and shape behaviour, decisions, and actions. They represent what is deemed important and desirable, serving as a compass for ethical, moral, and behavioural standards. Values influence attitudes, priorities, and priorities, guiding individuals' interactions and choices in various aspects of life.
This is why defining your Values in your business is so important.
2. Share your Values with the Team.
Once you’ve uncovered your Values, don’t keep them secret. Share them with everyone in your business. Better yet, get them to help you unpick what the Values in your business are. And, if there’s a Value that you particularly wanted but don’t have, CREATE it!
3. Make them REAL.
Nice sounding buzzwords as your Values are one thing. Explaining what they actually mean is where you can really stat building the behaviours you are looking for.
Don’t just say “One of our Values is Professional” and leave it at that. Be specific.
“One of our Values is Professional. For us this means we are the experts in our field. We know we are doing this when we write regular content for our Industry news pages; we never wear odd socks; we always send a thank you card after meeting with our clients; we always answer the phone the same way; we never give a client a cup of tea without using a saucer…”
In this way, everyone in you business is entirely clear on what you are expecting them to do and how to behave when it comes to presenting as “professional”.
And as you can see, what is in one business, won’t be the same for another business. A business down the road may also have “Professional” as a Value, but for them, that may mean that they wear pants on their heads every Friday and always make a point at arriving late for meetings. Hey, whatever works for you!
Ultimately, if you don’t define what behaviours you want, if you don’t communicate that with your team and get their input, then you can’t get bent out of shape if people aren’t behaving in the way you would like them to.
We love working with small businesses on their Values and it can be a really enlightening and collaborative team experience.
And of course, once you have your Values, that’s when the magic really starts because then you can start using them for recruiting, rewarding and recognising people! What’s not to like?
Unsure where to start? Get in touch with us today and we can have a free, no-obligation chat.