Establishing a positive and productive team culture should be one of your highest priorities as a business leader. A great team that works well together plays a massive role in a company’s success. But, how can you create an extraordinary team culture?

I recently received an email from a client who wanted advice on how to make sure his team continued to work while he was out of the office. He also wanted advice on managing PC and mobile phone usage in work.

I decided to help him out and create an entire episode of Mi-TV about creating a productive team culture where everyone thrives.

Our team culture at Mi-PA isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty close. I always want to make sure that my team is never afraid to do something wrong. I don’t want anyone to feel that if they make a mistake, hell’s fire will rain down on them. I worked hard to cultivate a culture where everyone feels like their views and questions are valid. When mistakes happen, it’s unfortunate. But it isn’t the end of the world.

My team understands what’s required of them and I never have to worry that they’re slacking off when I’m out of the office. I trust them and they trust me.

So, if you want to build a positive and productive team culture within your business, here are three ways you can build a great team culture in your business:

1. Build Trust

Trust is so important in any team. Your team needs to trust you and you need to trust them. Without trust, your team is more likely to collapse. If you’re concerned about leaving the office because you’re worried your team will stop working a soon as your foot is out the door, you’ve got a problem.

A lack of trust leads to poor performance, tension in the workplace and a lack of commitment. You need to work hard to build trust so that you don’t feel like you’re tied to the office. Remember that your employees are human. You need to treat them as people and not just names on your payroll.

When a team has trust, everyone wants to do their best and there’s no cheating out of work or taking prolonged lunch breaks because your team doesn’t want to break that trust.

At Mi-PA, I’m able to leave the office without thinking that my team is slacking when I’m gone. I trust the people on my team to get the work done and that’s one of the most important things to establish in team culture.

2. Set Expectations

Setting clear expectations with your team is a great way to ensure everyone knows what they should be doing. If you’re worried your team doesn’t work as hard when you’re absent, you need to set clear expectations and goals, so your team is able to work independently without your guidance.

At Mi-PA, we have various dashboards, methods and stats to record different projects. This helps us to ensure client work gets delivered on time. This might also work for your business, especially if you need to keep track of a number of projects and different client’s work.

Make sure your team knows what’s expected of them. With a clear goal in mind, it’ll make it much easier to follow through. After all, people are more likely to commit to a task when they understand what it entails and why they’re doing it.

3. Communicate Openly

If you want to create a positive workplace culture where everyone thrives, you need to create an open line of communication. Your team needs to know that they can come to you and discuss matters in an open and honest environment.

At Mi-PA, we work hard to make sure that everyone is treated with respect. We have a strict no-bullying policy and pride ourselves on our manner. It’s vital that team members not only treat each other with kindness and respect but that they also treat our clients with the same level of respect.

I’ve learned that there’s really no point in worrying what your team members are doing when you are not there. Instead, it’s more worthwhile to concern yourself with things like whether they’re keeping up with the company’s morals and getting the work done to your standards.

It’s unrealistic to expect your team to work around the clock. I don’t mind if a team member spends a few minutes on personal matters at work as long as it doesn’t interfere with productivity or cause a problem in the office. My team and I have a close relationship and this means that they feel like they can communicate openly with me and vice versa.

A great way to ensure your team won’t slack off when you’re gone is to take time to bond with them. Get to know each other outside of the office. Team building activities can really help you and your team to develop trust and create a positive, energetic and productive team culture.

Whenever we hire a new team member, I ask them to read “Fish!: A remarkable way to boost morale and improve results.” I love this book and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to create a workplace where everyone chooses to bring energy, passion and a positive attitude to the job every day.

Want to delegate more tasks and start making the most out of your time at work? We can help. Call me on 0161 820 6080 or email me at emma@mi-pa.co.uk.

If you want to find out more about our services and discover all the ways that we can help you to grow your business, click here. https://mi-pa.co.uk/services/