Build a healthy culture

Here’s how you can improve your organization’s culture:

Ensure people know what is expected of them

• Create clarity around roles, responsibilities, and expectations (for alignment)

Make sure your employees know you value them (increases engagement and loyalty)

Appreciate their contribution to your organization

• 5:1 positive to negative (the Gottmans)

  • small things often

Listen & connect

• People want to work with those who understand them (Chris Voss, former FBI hostage negotiator)

Collaboratively define the mission

• People want to feel included and relevant

Be a coach (rather than a boss) who is interested in employees’ development (people want their potential developed)

• Provide opportunities to learn and advance

• Provide strengths-based feedback that’s timely, specific, authentic

Connect work to a sense of meaning

• Show employees how their work matters

Healthy boundaries

• Empower people (don’t micromanage or triangulate)

Establish a culture of healthy conflict (goal of commitment and cohesion)

• Everyone understands what is considered acceptable behavior

• Defined around issues and ideas

Own your mistakes

• Mistakes are part of learning and achieving

• Verbalize what you learned from your mistakes

  • Models culture of openness and safety to ideas