Team Building in the workplace – Top 10 Culture Tips

A Positive workplace culture attracts talent, drives engagement, impacts contentment and satisfaction, and influences performance. Listed below are ten of the essential tips to maintain a healthy workplace culture.

Team building in the workplace positive culture tips

1. There is always room for improvement

Building a workplace culture is like building a city. There are always places to grow and expand for the betterment of the people.

2. You don't just suddenly have a culture, especially not a good one. You must build it.

Start with your purpose, values, and vision. This is your cultural foundation.

Without a foundation, you have nothing to build upon.

3. To build your ideal culture, you need employees that fit your ideal culture.

Hire people who fit your core values. When people don't share your values, their presence can destroy a culture over time. Values are like behaviors we operate by; when people operate differently they destroy the integrity of the organization.  

4. Include company culture training as part of the onboarding experience.

It's important to start out on the right foot. Make sure your cultural values are aligned with the workplace behavior from Day 1. Don't have aspirational values you don't live. Work with the revealed values already present.

5. Culture trickles down not up.

If the upper leadership is not exemplifying the ideal culture, the team never will. Leaders should walk their walk and talk their talk. Authentic leaders embrace and live the values.

6. Focus on principles, not practices.

In these times no organization is exempt from the frequent and sometimes drastic changes that plague the economy, especially in regards to technology. Practices are likely to become obsolete after half a decade while principles hold true. Netflix modified their practice of sending out DVD's to hosting streaming services while retaining their principle of providing thousands of movies and television to the public for a reasonable fee.

7. Pick the right perks to build upon your cultural foundation.  

If the mission, values, and vision are the foundation, perks help build the structure. From medical benefits to vacation time to in office entertainment options, perks should be chosen to reflect your core principles and emphasize the workplace culture. If your business is a family business and values family values, an employee might expect above average benefits in regards to maternity/paternity leave and vacation time as well as flexible work hours in order to maximize family time while still getting the job done.

8. Growth requires feedback.

Road bumps and missteps cannot be fixed if they aren't known about. To foster a better company culture, leaders need relevant and timely feedback from their employees and employees need relevant and timely feedback from their leaders. We recommend you have Start-Stop-Continue conversations with your people frequently.

9. Growth requires goals and metrics.

What does it mean to you to have reached your next cultural milestone? 88% employee satisfaction? 99%? Set your goal, gather feedback on how to get there, implement changes, and gather feedback to see if you made it. Without monitoring key cultural metrics, you won't be able to analyze your progress, potentially stunting growth and masking issues.

10. Remember the team building activities.

To build and sustain a healthy team culture, the team needs to know each other. Find team building activities that create a cohesive work unit. Start with low-risk activities and add moderate and high-risk team building activities as the health of your team improves.