Building a Strong Team Culture

After several years of doing personal growth work, I started realizing that I wanted to share it with my staff. My thinking was that if we were all on the same page, surely we would be more successful as a team. Well I wasn’t too far off, but little did I know that it was the group culture that needed an overhaul. This is when I picked up Daniel Coyle’s book The Culture Code.

Build Safety

As a leader of a small business, I have found building safety is key to having a well balanced group. When a team member feels safe, it leads to higher engagement and productivity levels.

Listening is a key component when trying to build safety amongst the group. You always want to over demonstrate that you are listening by making eye contact and never interrupting someone. The only time interruption is okay is if you are in a creative session, and it is done out of mutual excitement.

Building a relationship with your staff also exudes a sense of safety. People are more likely to feel safe in an environment where they have shared something personal about themselves. To exercise the act of personal sharing and listening, we occasionally do a group activity in our staff meetings called “Active Listening”.

We break into groups of two. One person is the listener and the other is the talker. The listener asks their partner, “What is something you strongly like about yourself?” Then the partner must talk for three minutes about this topic. During these three minutes, the listener must make eye contact, repeat in his or her head every word the talker has said, and NEVER interrupt. By repeating every word in your head, you are staying focused instead of letting your thoughts drift to your own story or interrupting the speaker.

One more tip is to overdo the “Thank yous”. “Thank yous” have less to do with thanks and more to do with the relationships. Small “thank yous” cause people to behave more generously.

Share Vulnerability

Vulnerability takes time like building a muscle. It is something that needs to be done over and over again instead of just a one-time thing. I often ask the team for their input and give credit where credit is due. When a team member suggests a new idea that the team implements, I make sure to give that team member credit for the idea and any success that comes from it.

As a leader I often disappear. The team will share more openly and take more responsibility for the group if a meeting is called and the leader steps out.

Modeling cooperation is also a key factor in sharing vulnerability. One way I do this is by having a bulletin board in my staff room with personal questions on it such as: “Can anyone dog sit this weekend?” or “Does anyone have a good tailor?”. These shared personal challenges help create a vulnerable, safe place.

Establish Purpose

More often than not when you survey the individuals of a group regarding the group’s main purpose, you will surprisingly get many different answers. The groups’ purpose and priorities need to be well-established and drastically overcommunicated.

As a team, we came up with our USP or Unique Serving Point (a.k.a. our main priority). We put this USP up in our lobby, on our website, on our t-shirts, and on our staff bulletin board. We feel that by putting this up everywhere, not only is our staff reminded of it constantly, but our clients see it as well.