Workplace Culture

The last time we delivered workplace culture assessment results to a leadership team, it was not the first time they had received this feedback. It was the first time they had decided to do something about it. We are often in the position of asking, “Does it hurt enough yet?” when weighing a team’s readiness to fix what’s broken. Most teams prefer the pain they know to whatever they’re about to feel if they attempt any change. It’s easier to stay the same.

Think about the team within the team. Move from outer circle to inner circle of the organizational chart. Each layer has its own culture. Board of Directors, executive leadership, senior management, supervisors, front line – culture adapts at each level. Decision authority is exerted from the outside in. Yet repair often occurs from the inside out. The more isolated the team, the greater their ability to define their own vibe. Where do you live within the nest?

Many workplaces struggle with the classic high performer who doesn’t play nice in the sandbox. His regularly committed sins are forgiven because his production exceeds his peers. While the leadership team is counting the money he brings in, he’s busy eroding the spirit of the workplace culture. It often starts with coworkers feeling sick to their stomachs after interactions with him and almost always ends with a recruitment/retention problem once word gets out that the team is broken.

The stereotype of a Tool & Die plant includes underpaid, burned-out workers and undesirable working conditions. Since the pandemic, many businesses in the manufacturing industry have been struggling to find and keep talent. It also doesn’t come as a surprise that supply chain issues and inflated material costs are cutting into operating margins. It’s easy to understand how these factors impact culture, let alone the complex series of interdependent work process that must happen in unison. Consider a typical day in the workplace.

The most common reason our phone rings is a problem with workplace culture. Every organization wants to have a positive, family-like vibe that attracts the best talent and retains them when the poachers come hunting. No brainer, right? Regardless of industry, the sustained achievement of this ideal is rare. There are so many ways things can go south. Even though there is a recipe, human frailty finds a way to mess with the ingredients. Unfortunately, the deeper the roots of the dysfunction, the deeper the fix.

Leaders are faced with both choices and decisions when building, strengthening, or repairing a workplace culture. Despite their interchangeability in casual conversation, choosing and deciding are not the same. Choice is a selection while deciding is an act of elimination. We choose a culture that embraces certain principles. Deciding, on the other hand, resolves conflict between options. The original Latin word for ‘decide’ is decidere, which means ‘to cut off.’ When we decide, we are slicing off less desirable alternatives. We are establishing a code of conduct by letting employees know what behaviors are not tolerated.

Deep below the iceberg of organizational culture lies the source of workplace politics. Hidden unless you look, it lurks without explanation and influences the day-to-day interactions between teammates. While unique to each team, its roots are common to the industry you have selected for your career path. Because our work is an expression of our history, the politics of the workplace are reflections of the reasons we choose that expression of our character. Allowing for mild stereotyping, consider these three questions:

We now have to challenge the assumption that team culture requires teammates to be in the same space. We have to question whether the Zoom screen barrier prevents true connection. We have to decide whether working from home means we have to wait until ‘things get back to normal’ before, well, things get back to normal. In the classic denial stage of grief, it somehow feels better to believe that conference rooms, auditoriums and shared workspaces will someday fill back up with teammates. When that miracle happens, we can get back to life as we knew it before the loss. Think again.

Even when all the coaching efforts and performance improvement plans have been exhausted, it seems impossible to move disengaged employees along. The HR wheels turn slowly and toxic teammates often find a way to stay an inch short of termination for cause. What would it take for them to leave on their own?

It is easy to sit around the conference table and wordsmith a mission statement. Everyone can contribute favorite values like “collaboration,” “innovation,” “compassion,” and “commitment to excellence.” The entire team can voice a commitment to behave in a way that reflects the spirit of the vision. The Human Resources department can reward good behavior and punish violations. Leadership can have the words painted on the wall where employees enter the workspace. Although a good start, these are not the actions that build positive culture.

What you can’t see sometimes has the greatest influence. What is visible isn’t always an accurate reflection of the whole picture. Teams go to great lengths to portray a workplace culture where anyone in their right mind would want to work. Add a ping pong table and a meditation room and you might be able to sell a “best place to work” rating. Sometimes, it’s not until you’ve accepted the job that you realize you’ve been oversold. Consider what lies below the tip of the iceberg.

Morale is not the path to culture. Positive morale is the outcome of strong company culture. A healthy workplace draws talent in and makes them stay. The reasons people come and remain engaged are as varied as the diversity of the team. Some want growth and learning while others seek to make an impact. Some teammates prioritize compensation and benefits while others value a family-like atmosphere. Whatever the draw, the culture must attract multiple generations and a spectrum of personalities. That’s a tall order. Here’s where to start.

How much sickness is normal on a healthy team? The Gallup organization has been measuring employee engagement for decades and, until the past year, the numbers haven’t changed much. 30% of your teammates would run through a wall for the company. 50% come to work, go home, and collect their paychecks. 20% are some version of dysfunctional. Have you accepted these ratios as normal on your team?

It’s often necessary for small, internal teams to insulate themselves from the toxic elements of the larger organization. Perhaps the broader workplace sanctions disrespect while the members of a single department value civility and trust. Maybe the sins of the company aren’t sufficiently unacceptable to warrant leaving the job especially when strong friendships have been built on the smaller team. How might a workgroup in this situation move forward?

Changing the culture of a workplace takes a long time. Basic science tells us that living things seek sameness. Even a loosened violin string will tighten itself back up until its new norm has been stabilized. The longer the history of broken morale, the harder it is to set and sustain a new mood. Unless the desired future is enforced consistently, old ways slip back into place. By tolerating unhealthy words and actions, you communicate permission for them to define the values of the group.

One of the fundamental principles of human development states that, with each stage, the child inherits both the successes and failures of the previous stage. So it goes in the life cycle of a team. How, then, do you keep history from repeating?

For many organizations, the mission and value statement is designed as a guiding light yet often collects dust in a fancy frame in the boardroom. For some, it is the checklist through which day-to-day decisions are filtered. How do you make mission and values real for employees? Consider the gratitude circle exercise in your next full staff meeting. Just follow these five steps:

All too often, leadership wants to jump ahead to strategic planning before stabilizing the infrastructure of their teams. In the classic Tuckman group theory of Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing, they prefer to skip the “storming” and “norming” phases. They’re uncomfortable – too touchy feely. Let’s just form and perform. Unfortunately, teams can’t sustain performance without storming and norming. The conflict and diversity that characterizes these phases are necessary ingredients for team effectiveness.

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When the leadership team completed the assessment of their culture, they reached the conclusion that the most effective teammates were the ones most aligned with the energy of change. Conversely, those who struggled with change seemed to be directing their efforts toward resistance rather than their job tasks. They created drag on otherwise promising aerodynamics.

She loved the company. The culture was an ideal fit with her natural enthusiasm and free-spirited personality. Autonomy was encouraged and rewarded. Compensation was competitive and there was plenty of room for growth. With a few notable exceptions, the majority of her co-workers shared the same level of engagement with their jobs. For the unhappy few, leaving was the only way to address the daily drain of the micro-managing supervisor whose oppressive behavior, for some reason, had remained below the radar of senior leadership.

The grace period has ended. Now that the economy has begun its recovery, gainfully employed talent has joined the throngs of unemployed in searching for the perfect gig. Just a year ago, you were supposed to be happy to have a job…any job. Now, tolerating unhealthy workplace culture is no longer a requirement of vocational survival.

It took two years. When the new superintendent first addressed the bully problem in her school district, the bullies sat at a table by themselves in the gym commenting under their breaths about that year’s cycle of new leadership. Their disruptions were rude but everyone just took it in stride. They had seen many superintendents come and go over the years. They all eventually abandoned ship. Culture eats change for breakfast. The bullying culture was deeply rooted and it was sure to survive this leader, too.

To the left of my usual blog-writing desk is an aquarium. It has been evolving as an ecosystem for a decade. The fish have changed but their environment has remained largely stable. Something protects it from changing so that its inhabitants can grow.

Is it wiser to back off and leave well enough alone when a team issue is so hot that controversy is a certain result?

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