You know what team culture is and you’ve seen some damning examples of toxic culture being exposed by the banking commission.

You probably also understand how that culture might have come about, so you’ll see why it’s important to create a positive culture within your teams.

I remember working with a client many years ago and we were talking about his team and how it didn’t seem to be working as it should. He didn’t think the people were being particularly caring or respectful of each other.

After we dived into if further, it was clear that his team could have interpreted his behaviour as results focused, rather than team oriented. Most of his communications were about reporting and progress assessment. He didn’t interact with them on a personal level.

Naturally, the team followed his lead to give him what they thought he wanted and personal relationships suffered.

Once he realised how important his leadership was to create the team culture, I set him the task of rebuilding it.

…cue the eye roll!

It just seemed like hard work to him.

Well, I need to tell you he went back and made changes right away, and as you can imagine, over time he had significant results.

• The team operated more smoothly.
• People began to help each other, in and outside of work.
• They became more engaged in their work.
• Performance levels improved both individually and as a team.
• Team members were happier and no longer looked to move on.
• Eventually, his team became the one people wanted to be part of.

Now I could talk about the benefits in dollar figures, but do I need to? It’s obvious that a happy and industrious team will achieve more and boost the organisation’s results.

I read this great summary of the benefit of culture over at Prototype.io.

“In organisations (or even in a society) where culture is weak, you need an abundance of heavy, precise rules and processes. It leads to a permission seeking based culture. When a culture is strong, trust exists and people will do the right thing. Thus creating an autonomous environment.”

Isn’t that a most powerful benefit of healthy team culture?

Imagine knowing your team would work happily at peak performance levels even if you weren’t there to ‘supervise’. That’s what happens when you’ve tuned up your team culture and create a collaborative culture.

Does shaping a team culture seem like hard work to you?

The benefits will outweigh all the effort you put in.

I’d love to hear about the best team culture you’ve ever experienced (or not). Please tell us your story in the comments below.

Let’s talk again next week.