Building a solid culture and a high-performing team isn’t easy. It can be especially difficult for small and medium-sized organizations. However, it is worth the time, the investment, and the effort … every time.
Before you can build anything, you must earn your people’s trust. Trust is where everything starts and ends. Loyalty can never be expected or demanded. You build trust by doing what you promise, empowering your people, publicly and privately giving them credit, and rewarding them with security for their futures. Your efforts must be consistent and once started can never be stopped. High-performing teams and their culture must be nurtured and built with your commitment and inclusiveness. Profit, Not-for-profit, private sector, or government organization, these simple truths should be self-evident, but they are not for too many organizations.
In addition, your nurturing and building efforts can be enhanced and strengthened by adopting ideas and concepts from other successful organizations, and a few are outlined in this post. These have and are working for others and can work for you too and many of them can be done quite easily and inexpensively.
Things you can do today.
Reward your team. Buying lunch for your team as a surprise after they achieve a difficult team goal is a great reward example. Allow the team to choose from ideas such as pizza, sandwich platters, etc. are usually affordable and well received. Don’t forget something to drink.
Birthdays as a paid day off. Remembering and recognizing birthdays as a milestone for your people is a thoughtful way of treating your team to a small bonus. Some organizations offer a day off in lieu or instead a gift certificate from a local business partner.
Celebrate staff anniversaries. In addition to birthdays, many successful organizations acknowledge anniversaries of when their people joined their teams. A simple acknowledgment of approaching dates in meetings with a thank you is sufficient. For five-year increments perhaps more significant recognition such as an announcement of thanks from the senior leader, provision of coffee and donuts in a staff meeting, as well as some person-centered comments about how the person continues to contribute to the organization’s success.
Thank departing associates. In any organization, people arrive and leave. Successful organizations recognize this fact by celebrating contributions and wishing the person well. For many people, leaving a job means leaving their social circle, and having a team send-off can be done formally or informally.
Daily inspirational quote. Empower your team members to post anonymous person-centered quotations they find inspiring each day.
Staff created music playlists. For organizations utilizing background music, consider allowing your people to make playlists they select. Some organizations select one day a week and have “Country Day,” “Jazz Day,” or “80’s rock day” to make their work environment more personal and enjoyable.
Use information radiators. Highly effective teams want to contribute and want to know how the organization is doing. Many successful organizations use information radiators, like dashboards, in highly visible team locations to share up-to-date information.
“Ideas and beers.” Your team members can be a major source of fresh ideas and concepts. Many people have great ideas that whither and die because many small and medium-size organizations have no mechanism to encourage or nurture them. Too often, we tell ourselves that we are too busy with day-to-day tasks to explore all the innovative ideas we have, a clever idea may be to have a regular scheduled “brainstorming” night once a quarter to discuss their ideas over a few “pops.”
Have tennis balls by the door. What is the morale level of your team? One fresh idea consists of having a bucket of tennis balls by the staff exit. Each night when your people leave ask them to throw the ball into one of two buckets. One bucket is for “I’ve had a good day.” The other is for “I’ve had a bad day.” The exercise is completely anonymous and can be a good indicator of the general mood in the organization.
Send “1Ups”. Having a whiteboard in the staff room or lunchroom for “thank-you” messages for people to appreciate coworkers who go over and above is a fantastic way to foster “going over and above.”
“Dress up” Days. Many organizations have “dress down” Fridays. A fun spin could be having a “dress up” day once a month and encouraging people to dress more formally, wear suits or dresses. A Halloween dress-up day or an “ugly sweater” day at Christmas can also raise morale and inspire a sense of team as well. Other special days may include the first day of baseball or hockey season with a “Jersey” day event or could be extended to other special days throughout the year depending on the organization.
Things you can do over one to six months.
Contests. Whetherwork-related or person-centered getting contests are another way to build morale and a sense of team. Pairing new people with existing staff is a wonderful way to welcome new people to your organization.
Quarterly staff outings. These events can include having a team participate in a local trivia night, softball games, or even a bowling night. Other ideas include a potluck supper night or a “cookie crawl,” where everyone makes cookies to share. This is a non-business discussion night and should include spouses and partners.
Make staff development an organizational priority. A key component for any high-performing team is addressing and having an inclusive plan for skill development for team members.
Quarterly Performance Conversations. Reviews should not be a once-a-year exercise. Performance Conversations are interactive and should include opportunities for the team members to evaluate their managers and supervisors.
Lunch and learns. Invite speakers into the office to teach life skills, inspire people, and provide educational opportunities. In addition to external guests, inviting team members to speak about their passion and experience can be highly informative.
Do walk and talk. Have discussions away from offices to remove stigma, so instead of having one-to-ones in your office, go for a walk and talk instead. The fresh air and relaxed atmosphere are terrific ways to overcome barriers.
Introduce a ‘dare to try’ award. Innovation and transformation come from new ideas and fresh ideas. Successful organizations create cultures where failure is part of growth. They appreciate that allowing experimentation is critical to letting people and ideas grow.
Mentoring programs. Mentoring can provide huge benefits for retention, training, and development. Not only will your team learn from the best, but your high-performer experts will also get even better. Take advantage of the knowledge your team possesses. Consider inviting external partners to participate. Many people initially find role-playing awkward and difficult; however, fostering a mentoring collaboration between just two people often allays those feelings and can be very impactful.
Create a library of self-help media. A resource center of books, audiobooks, webinars, and more that is available for your team doesn’t have to be expensive and is another great way to foster personal development.
Supporting Community Events. Solicit ideas from staff about community organizations and incorporate support into company events. For example, at your Christmas party ask those attending to bring a non-perishable food item for donation to the food bank or to make a $10 contribution to a local charity. Another fitting example is providing a “paid day” for people to volunteer at community meal programs and/or deliver meals. Additionally, at Christmas time have a fundraiser to donate money for local Toy Drives. Staff who have children that are fund-raising for sports or schools should be encouraged to solicit the staff or to have a small display for customers or staff to contribute.
Supporting Community Activities. Many successful organizations also support community activities their team members participate in. Allowing flexibility in scheduling for team members to leave early for sports practices or community programs helps to relieve anxiety. Using the organization’s social media to post scores and pictures builds awareness of the program and the organization’s commitment to strong community involvement.
Encourage Healthy Lifestyles. Successful organizations know their people are more than just “cogs” in an organization. Successful organizations for example might offer a fitness tracker like Fitbit as a fun way to encourage health and wellness. Subsidizing gym memberships and supporting participation in fitness-based community events are further examples of what can be done.
Embed the “right of first conversation” for employees thinking about leaving. Staff retention is a significant issue for many organizations. Successful organizations know a healthy associate relationship is an open one. The leaders encourage team members to speak to their manager if they are thinking of interviewing elsewhere. For issues with the organization, effective leaders try to resolve those issues. People change organizations and a job isn’t a life sentence, successful organizations understand and always try to help their people.
Pay a living wage. For small and medium-sized organizations this can be difficult. However, people need to be able to afford to live. People that are living paycheck to paycheck and struggling will always be looking for a better job and their loyalty to their employer will be extremely limited.
Offer paid sick days. Successful organizations appreciate the stress and anxiety their team members experience. For parents of small children, people with elderly parents, and people with family emergencies, trusting them not to abuse the organization will help morale and build trust.
Transition to full-time associates. The trend of the past thirty years has been towards part-time or contract associates. This trend may save the organization money in the short term; however, building people with good full-time jobs with benefits will reduce turnover, reduce costly recruiting, and reduce training expenses, all of which will contribute to the growth of the organization and the community.
Building a high-performing team with a supportive culture is affordable and possible for small and medium-sized organizations. Changing systems and processes combined with an evolving leadership mindset is the path to not only surviving but also thriving. People make organizations work and, in a world, full of competition and change, they are the best foundation for success.
Please feel free to add your ideas or comment.
Good luck,
Paul.