Improving an organization’s culture — 4 top areas to focus upon
There are numerous blogs on the internet about an organization’s culture, and indeed most of those are very good reads.
The reason I want to share my opinion on this topic is that I believe every organization should pay special attention to the following aspects of their culture.
- Effective Feedback System
- Celebrate your failures
- Encourage each other
- Effective One On Ones — 1:1
WHAT IS CULTURE
First of all, we need to understand what Culture is?
Culture is an umbrella term that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups. Culture often originates from or is attributed to a specific region or location. Wikipedia
As we all know, we are socially connected with each other and as per the above definition, we all have norms and values.
WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
Culture expresses an organization’s values and beliefs through shared assumptions and group norms within the workplace. An organization’s culture is a shared belief system where employees have similar values and norms. Organizational culture can include several elements within the business, including the work environment, the organization’s mission statement and core values, management style, and workplace ethics. An organization’s culture could be deliberate or come about naturally. Harvard Business Review
In any organization, culture is one of the main founding principles. With good culture not only the organization grows but colleagues working in the organization grow as well.
Now let’s revert back to the original topic for the aspects I believe are important for an organization’s culture.
- EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK SYSTEM
We all should learn the art of giving and receiving feedback, gifting effective feedback is very important to developing an organization’s culture. It helps the organization drive growth, improves colleague engagement, and boosts productivity. Valuable feedback motivates colleagues to give their best to the organization.
- GIVING FEEDBACK
There are many ways to gift your colleague effective feedback but the thought of giving your observation to your friends or colleagues might make you uncomfortable because you might not want to hurt their feelings, but the truth is, by giving feedback you are helping others to be a better and improved version of themselves.
So just assume that your colleague wants to hear feedback and by providing that feedback in an honest and helpful way, you can not only help improve the impact they can create but also establish yourself as a better colleague and leader within your organization.
In an attempt to minimize your discomfort, you might be tempted to deliver challenging feedback through digital channels (like email or Slack). But if you want your feedback to land well with your colleagues, you need to resist that temptation, fight through the discomfort, and deliver your feedback in person.
Avoid giving your feedback through email or slack, things have a tendency to get lost in translation over digital channels. If you send feedback over email, for example, your colleague might misinterpret your tone and immediately go into defensive mode.
Book a time slot and try to meet that person in a good or hassle-free environment. Remember that the feedback conversation isn’t an opportunity to share your opinions on how they do their job. It’s an opportunity to share your fact-based observations on their job performance in an honest, straightforward way.
Always remember to give real-life examples, and events that you feel that person should think about. By keeping things based on the fact you lay the groundwork for a more objective conversation and make it easier to work towards a solution with your coworker.
- RECEIVING FEEDBACK
If giving effective feedback is an art, then receiving feedback positively is an add-on skill. Listen to the input without interrupting. You can absorb more information if you are concentrating on listening and understanding.
Remember your body language and tone of voice always speak louder than words, so try to avoid putting up barriers. Be attentive, and listen to the whole feedback which indicates that you value what someone has to say and puts both of you at ease.
Make sure you understand the complete feedback, especially before responding to the feedback. Ask as many questions as you want to clarify if necessary. Write down the key points somewhere and repeatedly talk about those points.
Ask the person who gives you feedback, and what should I do. Ask that person about the value of the feedback, and the consequences of using it or ignoring it, and then decide what to do. If you disagree with the feedback, consider asking for a second opinion from someone else.
CELEBRATE YOUR FAILURES
Celebrating your failures is just as important as celebrating your success. Having fun during work and colleagues enjoying what they do, should be an important value in organizations. Colleagues should be encouraged to experiment with new ideas and explore new verticals. Yes, when one explores and experiments with new things, there can be a chance of failure. But why fear such failures, the positive aspects of an environment where experimentation is encouraged may outweigh the downsides.
In many offices, teams have their wall of memories, but I am suggesting you create a Fail Wall, where mistakes are posted, emphasizing that everyone fails and honoring outside-the-box thinking. Just encourage people to write down their failures on post-it notes and stick them on the wall.
Secondly, keep a track record of failures, with detailed information about what people tried through effective documentation, such as RFCs. A past failure can become a wild success in a different context. Take notes on why the idea failed. it might succeed under the right conditions, or if certain aspects of it are revamped.
ENCOURAGE EACH OTHER
Encouraging your coworker or recognizing his/her contribution increases workplace culture substantially. If any organization shows regular appreciation to their colleagues, then many good things happen. It also helps organizations to engage with colleagues better.
Recognizing and encouraging each other over social platforms like LinkedIn attracts talent, retains talent, and increases the impact of colleagues. Only appreciating each other can warrant a big thank you. Action like giving a surprise treat to the team, or giving extra days off around the holidays can be good ways to show the appreciation that can lead to increased satisfaction and people growth.
EFFECTIVE ONE ON ONES — 1:1
One-on-one meetings are the key component of a successful organization. It also provides an opportunity for leaders to get to know their colleagues on a more personal level. If one wishes to make his/her one-on-one more effective then common topics can include current goals, feedback, recognition, career aspirations, blockers, and more. As a leader in an organization, one should ask about any needed additional support in the work environment.
Every organization should implement a 1:1 culture, which are periodic conversations between colleagues and their leaders. 1:1 are most effective when they are focused, weekly or monthly, and allows both parties to speak openly. The outcomes of these meetings can result in motivated employees with higher morale, engagement, and productivity.
That’s all folks, investing in culture early on yields great results for an organization, and helps the organization to become an inspirational institution. As the well known management consultant and writer Peter Drucker said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”.
Disclaimer:
Bazaar Technologies believes in sharing knowledge and freedom of expression, and it encourages it’s colleagues and friends to share knowledge, experiences and opinions in written form on it’s medium publication, in a hope that some people across the globe might find the content helpful. However the content shared in this post and other posts on this medium publication mostly describe and highlight the opinions of the authors, which might or might not be the actual and official perspective of Bazaar Technologies.
