How to create conditions for a work-culture where people can thrive

Creating a work-culture where people can thrive is essential for any organization that wants to succeed. A work culture that attracts trust benefits people and the organization, increasing productivity, retention rates, and employee satisfaction. 

7 Ideas to attract trust to your work-culture organization:

1. Listen actively: Listening is essential when people share their feedback or concerns. This means taking notes, refraining from defending yourself, and thanking the person for sharing. Afterward, review your notes and respond with kindness. Share 1-3 things you heard are going well, 1-3 things that need improvement, and choose 1 item to follow up on and improve for or with those people. Then, follow up to let people know you listened.
2. Focus on interactional-gestures of understanding: Stop thinking of communication in the sender-receiver model. Instead, think of communication as interactional-gestures of understanding. Communication happens and is interpreted through the interaction of people in a discussion, even when you email or send a one-way message. People interpret what is shared through their feelings about you, the organization, and how they feel.
3. Take action, and Build the middle: Change, work-culture, and satisfaction with your work must not all be Sr Management. When pockets of change or bright spots happen, ensure senior management knows and gives them language to understand and highlight the good or bad stuff. Organizational change happens (mostly) middle-out. Build the middle.
4. Use actionable steps: Provide specific strategies for active listening, such as paraphrasing what the other person said, asking follow-up questions, and summarizing the conversation at the end. Everyone benefits from access to tools and resources to help them improve their work-culture. This could include templates for conducting surveys, guides for implementing feedback, or online courses on managerial-leadership.
5. Highlight success stories: Examples of other organizations or teams that have successfully improved their work-culture can be powerful tools for learning. Share success stories of implemented changes, case studies, or interviews.
6. Emphasize ongoing effort: Creating a trust-attracting work-culture is an ongoing process that requires continuous effort and attention. Encourage regular check-ins, solicit feedback, and make necessary changes.
7. Call it current behaviors: Rather than discussing “culture,” focus on current behaviors. Current behaviors are malleable; people can share what behaviors help and hinder and how they want to see things change.

By implementing these strategies and continuously working towards improving the work-culture, we can create a positive and thriving environment where we can feel pride in our work and community.