Since The Great Resignation of 2021, there has been much introspection about how organizations can take better care of their team members and create healthier working environments that produce quality work and keep employees satisfied. Staff members have higher expectations from their employers, and a proper organizational culture that values and uplifts staff can go a long way to satisfying those expectations.
Organizational culture is a collection of values, expectations, and practices that affect every level of business, whether you’re aware of it or not. Better cultures lead to intrinsic trust, upbeat employees, sustained high-level performance, satisfaction, and a better bottom line.
On the other hand, when corporate culture turns sour, employee performance can dip, and trust in leadership can decrease. This leaves your employees feeling undervalued, and when employees do not feel valued, they may resign and move on.
Below are organizational leadership tips that will help create a more worker-centric framework to support organizational culture and values that lead to growth, fulfillment, and satisfaction.
Culture is built on meaningful work
If you can help your employees understand the value of their work, they will become more enthusiastic about working productively to reach their goals. Meaningful work can take several forms and fall into three segments:
- Compensation
- Community and connection
- Contribution
These three smaller Cs combine to create the big one: culture. Let’s discuss why.
Compensation can reflect an employee’s value
Paying your employees fairly and helping them understand their value to your organization, along with proper remuneration that reflects their job duties and cost of living, lets them know that they’re worth something to their employers. When employees feel financially valued by their employer, they value their work more. Fair and appropriate compensation is often high on the list of things a candidate considers when looking for a new role. If finding a new job is the easiest way to get better pay, employers must properly compensate their employees to build a team and culture that excites those who come to work every day.
Team building begins with community and connection
Human instinct compels us to socialize. Even in remote or work-from-home (WFH) capacities, companies can still plan retreats to foster team chemistry and trust. Strong social skills and collaboration result in stronger organizational outcomes and culture, as well as higher dividends and shared values.
Leaders have a responsibility to embody the social and collaboration skills they’d like to see from their team. Leaders can set a good example by:
- Organizing team lunches and retreats
- Embracing diversity
- Encouraging employees to think outside the box
- Allowing both natural and ongoing conversation in team meetings
Team cohesiveness is crucial for building a strong company culture. Great things can happen when you and your employees regularly connect.
Recognizing contributions produces happier and healthier employees
Recognizing employees’ meaningful contributions is perhaps the most important element of building a strong organizational culture. Workers experience a psychological state of well-being when their contributions are perceived as meaningful, leading to an increased sense of fulfillment and purpose that spreads into other aspects of their lives.
Defining a meaningful contribution varies from team to team. Deciding what that means for your organization is the first step in building a sturdy foundation from which your team can grow.
For example, ask yourself the following questions:
- Does your team understand how their work makes a difference?
- How have you proven it to them?
- What kind of confidence do you inspire in them?
- In what ways does their work connect to your company’s values?
Reflecting on the answers to these questions contributes to great leadership. Your employees will notice when you exercise this level of empathy, and they will help you build your organization into something special.
Leadership reflects organizational values
Your organization’s failures, as well as its successes, reflect on you and the value system you set into place for your team. As simple as it may seem, writing down your value system in clear language is an important part of a healthy organizational culture. A clearly defined system of values will be the guide that your team follows to achieve lasting success.
Here’s a quick list of how to build and implement an improved company value system:
- Consider your inspirations. Which leaders inspire you? What qualities do they bring to the table? Whether you’re just starting out or reconfiguring your organization, have an example for inspiration as you grow. This is essential to getting your value system right.
- Take your time. Reflection during this time is your friend—your value system is what company success, culture, and recruitment are built on. Consider what’s important to you and the company you want to create.
- Be honest. Avoid overused and redundant buzzwords in your mission statement. Ensure that your value statement reflects your unique contributions to the market. Let that idea drive strategic decisions so it can lead you to the success you’ve worked hard to cultivate.
- Iterate, iterate, iterate. Once your value system is set, share it with the entire company. Include your value system in job postings and social media and throughout onboarding and the employee journey so it becomes common knowledge and a common goal.
When you have carefully designed a value system that you believe in and act on, you instill in your employees the desire to follow suit. If they don’t, you’ll find that there may be more room for improvement. A diplomatic give-and-take approach may be necessary.
Fulfill your employees’ expectations
The most in-demand employee expectations include:
- An increase in compensation, including benefits
- Work-life balance
- The ability to do what they do best
- Better job security and stability
- A diverse and inclusive workplace
As mentioned earlier, compensation that reflects the value of an employee will help ensure they feel that value and reflect it in their work.
Another increasingly important expectation is work-life balance. A recent poll from FlexJobs, a website dedicated to remote and flexible work, found that the number one reason workers want to change jobs is to find a position or field with a better work-life balance. According to the poll, 63% favor work-life balance over higher pay.
Failures are a chance for growth
Mistakes and missteps happen. Sometimes your team makes a major misstep that they might want to conceal to avoid embarrassment or even punishment. In these situations, the best leaders flex their organizational psychology skills to convert mistakes into teaching moments.
As outlined by Indeed, a website for job seekers, here are eight steps to turn your missteps into teaching moments:
- Acknowledge the mistake
- Analyze what went wrong
- Gather feedback
- Find the valuable lessons
- Apply those lessons
- Teach others what you’ve learned
- Reflect on individual and team progress
- Keep a learning and growth mindset moving forward
The American Psychology Association says a growth mindset “rewards striving and struggle, seeing failure as an integral part of the process toward growth. A perspective that sees change and growth as possible facilitates collaboration and negotiation even when there is disagreement and conflict.”
When you or your employees falter, a growth mindset allows you and your team to learn from mistakes rather than sliding further into failure.
Organizational Psychology at The Chicago School
A degree in Organizational Leadership or Business Psychology from The Chicago School can improve your leadership style and enhance company culture.
Visit our Program Finder today to find the degree or certificate program that’s right for you. Business and organizational leaders, and those aspiring to become leaders, may be interested in the following programs:
- M.A. in Organizational Leadership
- M.A. in Psychology, Organizational Leadership Concentration
- Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership
- Ph.D. in Business Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Track
- Ph.D. in Business Psychology, Consulting Track