Andrea Wanerstrand, PCC, Founder, A3 Culture Lab, LLC.
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If you want your organization to thrive and have a positive impact in the ever-changing business world, then it is time for you to take a look at your company culture. Believe it or not, many companies will fail because they are unable to adapt and change their mindset with the times. They cling to a hope that the culture they had prior to the pandemic remains unchanged and that their ways of working will return to what they once were. Sadly, neither of these hopes are based in reality. The world of work has been forever changed. However, if that feels bleak, you can turn around that scenario by focusing on three elements that can ignite your company culture and drive impact: building team trust, supporting a flexible work environment and fostering growth-mindset behaviors.
1. Trust is key.
The first factor in igniting an effective company culture is to foster trust among your team members. This means that you need to be transparent with them, be honest when things go wrong and give credit where it is due. In order for your team to feel comfortable taking risks, they need to know that you have their backs and support them as they try new things. This is a concept known as psychological safety, or simply put, an environment of trust, which describes the way team members feel when they can be themselves without fear of being judged or criticized by their colleagues or facing any retribution by management of the organization.
People who feel psychologically safe are more likely to share ideas, ask questions when they don't understand something and offer help. They are also more likely to take accountability not only when things go well but also when they don't. When you create a culture of psychological safety your people will be able to learn from each other and grow together in achieving success.
2. Flexibility is a must in today's workplace.
The second element that you need to focus on creating in your company culture is a flexible work environment. This means that you need to be able to adapt as the business landscape shifts and changes. Today’s workers are demanding to have more flexibility in their jobs, whether it's working from home full-time or occasionally taking time off during the day or working a different schedule. The FlexJobs 2022 Career Pulse Survey found 65% of respondents report wanting to work remotely full-time, while 32% want a hybrid work environment––that’s 97% of workers who desire some form of remote work.
One reason flexibility is so important in the workplace is that it allows employees to better harmonize their work and personal lives. When you are able to do this, then you are less likely to feel burned out; it reduces stress levels and often increases productivity and innovation when you are at work.
However, it's important to note that the meaning of flexible work varies from one person to another. What might be a flexible work arrangement for one person may not be suitable for another. The key is to allow your team members to have a voice in how they want to work and then try to accommodate them as best as possible.
3. Encourage growth-mindset behaviors.
The third and final company culture element that you need to focus on creating is a growth mindset. According to Carol Dweck, author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, people with a growth mindset are more likely to take risks, learn from their failures and be creative. On the other hand, people with a fixed mindset often avoid challenges, give up easily and resort to shirking responsibility, cheating and/or blaming others in order to prove themselves in the right.
Creating a growth mindset within the culture of your company is not just about encouraging people to do well but also accepting that they will make mistakes. In the end, it's important to remember that everyone makes errors and there is always room for improvement in their work. This is where the first element of ensuring a work environment based in trust is so critical. A growth mindset embraces calculated risk-taking to accelerate innovation and in doing so expects there will be some failures (learnings) along the journey to the greatest successes that your team will achieve.
In Conclusion
When you focus on ensuring an environment of trust, flexibility and growth-mindset behaviors in your company culture, then you are setting the stage for success. These three elements can help to drive impact within your organization by enabling innovation, creativity and risk-taking among your team members. Trust is the foundation that allows the other two elements to flourish, so keep in mind that trust is the most important of these three elements and without it, your company culture will suffer on multiple fronts.
It's important to remember that company culture is always changing and developing over time. This means that you need to stay aware of what's happening in your organization, listen to the needs of your team members and try new things as they come up. While this may seem overwhelming at times, it also gives you an opportunity to create a culture that is uniquely yours.
Igniting a thriving culture within your organization doesn't have to be difficult or complicated. As long as you keep these three elements in mind, then you are well on your way to having a company culture that will enable innovation and creativity in today's new world of work.
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