It is not an employee issue; it is an environmental issue.
What would you consider the mood of your workplace environment?
Is there enough encouragement, empowerment, trust, or something similar?
The workplace environment is essential for lasting success in an organization.
Whether good, bad, or indifferent comes to mind, there is always something that can be changed.
Improvements are essential to redefining what the definition of fulfillment means.
As a company grows, or different leadership positions change, this is bound to happen. But be sure to realize, this is different from the core values the company may have.
If the outlook toward the company shows a different set of emotions on the negative end, this is a red flag.
A business cannot thrive for a long amount of time if the people inside of it don’t have the positive emotions to support them.
Although there might seem to be a problem with it looking around, the morale is what sets the company up for success.
You can look around and see people getting work done, but can the quality or enjoyment of work improve through an enhanced environment?
Harvard Business Review talks about a positive work environment and the effects it has on every individual. Some of these effects are:
- Improved Relationships
- Promoted Creativity
- Buffers Stress
- Bouncing Back from Challenges
With that said, the environment inside of your workplace should have these positive emotions flowing.
Everyone will gain the benefits that this will produce. From the confidence, the CEO obtains knowing that his employees are doing well. Leading to the emotional reinforcement that the workers get when they know a job is well done.
Everyone should be on the same page when creating an environment of positive influence. At a baseline, we should all desire to see everyone working at their natural best.
Whatever this may look like for you, I want to share how I help my clients develop their environment throughout the company.
Building Strong Leadership
Strong leadership affects the entire business and the people in it. You should know that already.
Bad managers have a big cause in employees’ health in research shown by Anna Nyberg at the Karolinska Institute.
This study shows that a bad boss affects the physical and mental health of a person during and after work.
Bad leadership can bring bad health. This is a big deal.
Leadership is about caring for the employees that work for you. Give your employees a place to thrive.
Where trust and vulnerability are, leadership is right alongside that.
Trust shows that you value the people that work for and with you. When you can allow them to make decisions on their own without micromanaging or the fears of what might happen, the trust starts to become reciprocated.
As mentioned, leadership brings along vulnerability. This isn’t oversharing personal details or speaking on all your fears.
Vulnerability in this area means that you shouldn’t feel ashamed of not knowing an answer. That you don’t need to lie to cover up a mistake when the solution solves itself by asking for help.
Leadership should bring this mental clarity that trust and vulnerability are valuable, and you should be afraid to share them.
Do you bring trust and vulnerability as a leader?
Creating Quality Teams
Not everything in the workplace is solo, nor should it be.
Many times, a group of people come together on a specific project that utilizes all their skillsets.
From there, the team works together to complete the mission in the best way possible.
In a book I loved reading, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni did an amazing job creating a model toward how and where teamwork fails.
Like a chain, a single broken link will disrupt the teamwork that was set in place allowing negatives to interfere with the work environment.
A couple of the “dysfunctions” of teamwork Lencioni talks about are accountability and conflict.
These two dysfunctions are always paired up with each other. A lot of people are nonconfrontational or they don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.
This should not be the case. When you talk with aggression, that is when feelings get hurt. That is when you lose the point of the conversation.
When you let these problems slide, you aren’t focused on a positive environment because this can disrupt more than your small team.
Don’t allow these issues to grow. Bring empathy and understanding to the conversation. This is what will bring results.
Communication is another aspect of quality teams. There are several moving parts at a single time in business.
When you have the right teamwork to flow throughout the chaos, communication will be at the center of that.
Before every play on the football field, the quarterback will choose a play that will work best for the situation the team is in. It is up to the rest of the team to follow through with their roles.
That initial communication proves that with the right people, the quarterback can see through the chaos. Then, no matter what the defense brings up, the leader can get around it with the knowledge the team will be in the right place.
That is how great games play out. This is how leadership wins. That is how teamwork thrives.
Empathy
Already mentioned in this writing, empathy in the workplace is essential to promote a positive work environment.
Merriam-Webster defines empathy as the action of understanding the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another without the communication.
What does this mean for the workplace?
You can build better relationships and the quality of the environment around you when relating or thinking of the experiences others have faced.
As a leader. showing interest in the hopes of dreams of employees or coworkers is one of the greatest ways to show empathy (CCL).
This does two things for the individual you are talking to:
- It shows that you care for them. Employees that know a leader cares for them boost the workflow and productivity.
- You can assign them projects that allow them to thrive. When you know someone, you can set them up to excel with projects that are in their wheelhouse.
When you lead with empathy, you can lead a group of passionate people that are going to excel at their work.
That will not only elevate themselves but the company and everyone else around them as well.
Empathy naturally reciprocates from leader to employee, and amongst all the other coworkers.
There are only positives to bringing in a positive work environment (makes sense, right?).
With Purpose is a business and leadership consulting company that loves to cultivate the people and processes to bring added growth to clients.
Through thoughtful conversations and a holistic approach, we take an outside view of the company to direct our clients in the way best fits.
With Purpose will help Build, Restore, and Advise the shifting parts throughout the organization to bring added success to your business.
Interested to learn more? Give us a call today to see how With Purpose can help grow your business!