How do you build an engaging team culture?

The culture of your team can either lead you to great success or cause you to fall short of your goals.

The importance of culture is often overlooked or minimized. But particularly in a people-driven team, establishing the right culture and hiring and retaining people who fit within the fabric of your team culture will improve your team’s collaboration, connectedness, and performance.

Also, every team has a culture, whether they’re aware of it or not, whether they define it or not. So isn’t it better to be intentional about the type of culture your team has?

I’ve written about how high-performing teams need the right culture and how great leaders develop it. So what’s the secret to building a meaningful culture?

Define your team culture

This is the most important one to get right, because if you don’t have a clear vision for what you want your team to be, it will develop on its own without guardrails. Or worse, it’ll turn into something you didn’t want.

First, make sure that you understand the elements of a team culture. Culture isn’t about the work that you do and the goals you’ve set. Culture is about your values, how you communicate, which behaviors you reward and which you discourage. Your team has a mission, but your culture determines how you will work together to achieve it.

As a team leader, I encourage you to brainstorm this list for yourself first before including others. Develop your own point of view of what you value and what is a priority for you. There may even be “dealbreakers” that you won’t tolerate at all. Focus on behaviors and norms rather than tactical execution.

Here’s a sample list of some of the culture elements that are important to me:

Once you’ve got some initial ideas in mind, it’s time to consider external inputs. The two primary inputs are top-down and bottoms-up.

Top-down includes your company’s culture and your direct manager’s culture. The company in which you operate has a huge influence on your team culture. Even if you’d like your team to behave slightly differently from the broader company, you can’t avoid the influence of the environment you’re in. The same is true if your direct manager or organization leader has a strong point of view. Take these into consideration, incorporate them where appropriate, and ensure that you’re not in conflict with them.

Bottoms-up inputs should come from any existing direct reports you have. They are going to be subject to these cultural expectations; shouldn’t they have some input? You want them to be in alignment with what you have in mind, and also bring their own ideas, so that the resulting outcome represents a complete view of the team.

My team brainstormed together in a workshop, where we each documented our ideas individually on colored post-its and then grouped together where we saw themes. Here’s an example of how that might look:

Once you’ve prioritized the things that are most important to your team, summarize and memorialize them, with an output like this:

This simple one-pager is not only a good reference for your team, but also important to include in onboarding documentation for new hires.

Build your team culture

Documenting your culture is an important first step, but it doesn’t really mean anything until you’ve put it into practice. So how do you make that happen?

Create an environment that enables it

The working conditions on the team will determine the culture more than anything else. For example, if you say that you “value work/life balance”, but then you’re calling people at all hours, your team will believe your actions over your words.

The environment is particularly important if you expect people to be vulnerable, take chances, and get outside of their comfort zone. Psychological safety is critical for building a high performing culture. Team members need to understand that they are supported and different perspectives are valued. Leaders need to truly listen to understand and keep an open mind to create this environment.

Take some time to reflect on how your team currently works, and which aspects support the culture you want versus detract from it.

Include culture in your hiring process

Sometimes “hiring for culture fit” can be code for “hiring someone exactly like us” or other bias. I’m not encouraging using culture as a way to exclude great candidates.

However, it’s incredibly important that you describe your team culture to candidates during the hiring process, so that they are clear on expectations and can determine if that type of culture would suit them. Make sure to include examples of how you’re putting your culture into action.

Similarly, you should assess how well the candidate would fit within your team. Don’t just “get a feel for it” — ask direct questions. In my behavioral interviews, I weave in questions about things like growth mindset and being a team player, which are part of my team’s culture. Ask them about real-life scenarios that your team has encountered. Let the candidate provide specific examples of how they work.

Reinforce your culture

Often very fruitful and engaging discussions about values or culture happen once a year, and then are promptly forgotten. It’s easy for it to get lost among all the other priorities.

How do you make it a natural part of your team’s fabric?

First, incorporate your culture attributes into your performance discussions. When giving feedback, make sure to call out examples of where they have really exemplified your team culture. For example, “You have really been flexible and willing to step in wherever is needed recently” or “Your collaboration with [other team member] set a great example for the rest of the team.”

Similarly, don’t be afraid to encourage team members to focus on the culture aspects if they’ve strayed away. “It’s really important that everyone contribute to building our team. I’d like to see you play a bigger role in planning our team offsite.” Make sure that it’s clear that this, too, is part of their job responsibilities.

Another really effective way to recognize and reinforce your team norms is to formalize it. My BizOps team at Zendesk gave a monthly award in our staff meeting to someone who had really embodied our team norms. Nominations came from other team members, so it was an intra-team recognition instead of purely top-down. This also forced us all to periodically reflect on how well we were maintaining our culture.

And as your team grows and evolves, it’s fine to occasionally revisit this exercise and make sure the values defined still suit the team. The most important thing is that you create something that feels meaningful and relevant, keeping your team committed and engaged.

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