Megan Wiseman
Building a great company culture isn’t an easy job, but we think we do a pretty great job at it here at Reward Gateway. Here are my 7 top tips to improve the culture and dynamic of your team:
1. Make the working environment as nice as possible.
Take on employees’ ideas and allow their contributions to the space. Have them take ownership for it; perhaps establish a rota for jobs and responsibilities for upkeep and they will take pride and enjoyment in their area of work.
2. Lead from the top by showing how you like things done rather than just telling.
Visibly encourage those behaviors with praise and recognition. Small things go a long way such as a personal well done note for a job well done or small team treats like ice-creams on a hot day.
3. Encourage peer-to-peer coaching and training.
Give employees the space for working on ideas for team coaching, whether that’s time to reflect and generate ideas over a park or working at home.
4. Encourage peer-to-peer recognition.
Have your team nominate a colleague each month who has been outstanding. Use it as an opportunity to dovetail exceptional criteria with the company cultures and values.
5. Abolish rules and policies where possible.
Instead provide a free thinking/acting environment where the onus is on the individual to make a sensible decision. If the individual can honestly state that their actions are in the best interest of the company, then there’s a strong possibility that this is the case.
An example: two people are visiting a client on business and are able to expense their lunch. Would the person who is able to expense a lunch based on what they deem reasonable spend more or less than the person who is not allowed to expense more than $8? The person who has the rule to not go above $8 will probably ensure that they spend exactly that, or just short of it. For the person without the rules, only the guiding principle that it ought to be a sensible amount will ensure that they probably spend a lot less the majority of the time.
6. Incentivize the overarching team objective.
If possible, give your people a real stake in the success of that objective. When the employees’ objectives are aligned with the company’s you can only get a great result. An employee share scheme is a tangible way to get everyone working towards the same goal.
7. Always employ new people with the team dynamic in mind.
Avoid recruiting everyone with a similar profile and instead mix it up with complementing personalities and skills sets, as this not only adds an interesting dynamic to the team, it’s also great for business.