One of Impact’s core values is positivity. Whenever we bring someone new on the team, we ask them how positive they are on a scale of one to 10. Many experts say that positivity is key to boosting productivity at work, but it can be hard to keep things sunshine and rainbows 24/7. Here are some tips to help you create and maintain a positive office culture.
Why does positivity in the workplace matter?
Besides increasing overall productivity, maintaining a positive office culture has a lot of benefits for businesses. When your employees are happy, that reflects in the service they give your clients. No one wants to visit a business where the employees are miserable and rude. Positivity has additional benefits like better employee retention, too.
Keys to a Positive Office Culture
A positive work culture starts at the top – don’t let negative emotions spread around the office and permeate your employees. By modeling a positive attitude yourself, you give your employees important signals on how they should behave as well.
1. Show gratitude
Many of our parents raised us to always say please and thank you, no matter how big or how small the favor was. This holds true at work – showing gratitude is one of the easiest and most important parts of maintaining a positive office culture. Whether an employee goes above and beyond in servicing a client, or they simply take a moment to refill the coffee machine, it’s important that you thank them. For small stuff, a simple and genuine “thank you” is sufficient, but for bigger actions, consider showing your appreciation on a grander scale.
2. Celebrate the wins
What better way to show appreciation for your employees than by celebrating? From team outings to taking an especially successful employee for lunch or coffee, celebrations are big in positive work cultures.
Celebrating is also important when it comes to achieving goals. When you recognize and reward your team for hitting milestones, it helps keep people motivated to keep moving. At Impact, we enjoy celebrations like office happy hours, food trucks, and even the occasional weekend getaway.
Every celebration doesn’t have to be a big blowout affair. Even simple gestures go a long way.
3. Grant grace
Your employees are only human, and they have lives outside of work. Be understanding when they share hardships or shortcomings with you. Understand that no one can operate at 100% at all times. In short, be empathetic. If an employee needs some personal time, don’t be afraid to give it to them. We all need a break every once in a while.
4. Communicate & listen
This ties in to tip #3; similar to building relationships with your clients, you need to build relationships with your employees. Connect with your team through open, honest communication. Be transparent whenever possible and clue them in on important business developments.
Strong communication can help keep your employees engaged and motivated. It encourages them to come to you when there’s a problem, enabling you to solve it quickly and fairly.
Employees today want a workplace where they will be happy and feel valued. Many people rank culture and a feeling of appreciation as their top priorities when looking for a new job, especially millennials. To attract and keep the best employees, you need to create a culture where people are happy to come to work each day.
When you create a positive office culture, your employees will be more excited to come into the office. They’ll treat one another better, and they’ll treat your clients better, too. That’s what we call a win-win situation.
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