Building and Sustaining a Positive Team Culture – It Takes All of Us
Leadership and Administrative Skills
Kenzie Johnston
Extension Educator, ANR/CD
Delaware
Abstract
Trust can be either your most vulnerable weakness or your greatest asset. Without trust, leaders and organizations fail. Even good leaders and organizations face a crisis of trust.
Without trust in your team, you will struggle to attain a positive team culture. Trust is the glue that holds everyone together as you work to get the job done. Trust is critical in the workplace.
Most leaders agree on the importance of building a positive organizational culture. “There’s a growing collection of research on just how powerful positive cultures are for productivity, profitability, engagement, and employee well-being” (Burkes, 2022). Organizational theory indicates that cultures are real. Theorists acknowledge that organizations have personalities just like people.
But many leaders put their focus in the wrong places when seeking to build that positive culture. They equate well-being or company culture with perks and benefits. So, they try to add cool perks like free food or a gym in the office. Or they create new benefits like flexible work arrangements or wellness programs. And while most employees won’t say no to these new perks, most organizations that add them don’t find they add much to the positivity of the culture.
That’s because positive culture doesn’t come from perks or benefits. It doesn’t flow out from the offices of senior leaders. Positive organizational cultures come from the accumulation of positive team cultures. Most employees’ experience of work is the experience of working with the teams they serve on. So, teaching team leaders how to build a positive team culture will have the largest impact on creating a positive organizational culture overall.
In this session, we’ll focus on how each member of a team or organization can help to build a positive team culture.
Authors: Kenzie Johnston
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Kenzie Johnston Extension Educator, ANR/CD, Ohio State University, Ohio, 43015