Eight Great Practices for Creating a Winning Team Corporate Culture
You can have the best business plan and build the finest facility but, at the end of the day, none of that matters without a winning team of employees that are committed to the business and its success.
Of course, it helps to hire the right people to begin with – those with a winning personality and mindset that best fit your ‘winning team’ culture.
Beyond hiring winners, however, creating (and sustaining) a true Winning Team corporate culture is not something that magically appears. It must be cultivated and will flourish or flounder depending on how it is managed.
To help you with that, here are my great eight practices for creating a Winning Team corporate culture that support world-class sales and customer service objectives:
- Unengaged Employees Don’t Create Engaged Customers
While this is more of an affirmation than a practice, it’s really important you keep this fact at the forefront of your creating a winning team corporate culture efforts. If employees are displeased at work you can bet some of that displeasure is spilling over into their customer interactions and, ultimately, costing the business substantial dollars in lost revenue. All of the following practices foster and build employee engagement.
- Set The Bar
Do you have documented values and best practices that set of standards of performance and state clearly what your organization stands for and what is expected of employees to achieve it? Remember, a goal without a plan is just a wish. Communicating your organizations’ commitment to excellence through values and best practices ensures everyone is on the same page and there is no confusion with your Winning Team Culture mission.
Establishing values and best practices is an integral part of my exclusive training tool-kit/portal program for clients. Visit Your Training Portal for details.
- Demonstrate Care
A Winning Team Culture can only survive and thrive in a caring and supportive environment. When employees feel like machines, not human beings, they become emotionally detached from the business and tend to go through the motions to get through the day.
To build a winning team culture, managers should always treat their team employees exceedingly well. Do you treat your employees in a manner that is consistent with the way you want them to treat customers? Many managers do not, yet they expect their personnel to excel when it comes to positive customer interactions.
Managers should initiate contact with team members on a regular basis, both formally and informally. Taking time with employees to show an interest in their work, listening to their issues and experiences demonstrates that you value their contribution and builds morale and motivation.
- Communicate Well
Can you hear me now? Too often employees don’t feel like they have a true voice in the company, that no one is really listening and their opinion doesn’t matter. Winning Team cultures encourage information sharing and promote an environment of open communication where employees are comfortable contributing their feedback and ideas.
- Live “Winning Team” Every Day
Creating a winning team culture is not something that happens at the corporate headquarters behind closed doors. It’s in the stores, the service areas, the warehouse, and everywhere else employees interact with customers and each other.
Managers need to be physically (and mentally) present in the workplace to consistently communicate the winning team message with employees, reinforce a commitment to excellence and promote continuous improvement for individuals and the company as a whole.
- Be a Champion Cheerleader
Perhaps nothing builds a Winning Team corporate culture better than recognition. It’s amazing what can be achieved when people feel appreciated! Recognition and praise goes a long way towards building positive team spirit and morale. Managers should always seek out opportunities to acknowledge both individual and team efforts and celebrate jobs well done.
Make saying ‘thank you’ a habit and always let employees know when they have performed well. This reinforces and encourages proper behaviors, builds trust and strengthens the culture.
- Promote Progress
The old adage fits here, “If you’re not growing, you’re dying”. It’s the same with employees and corporate cultures, they must move forward or they will deteriorate over time. Managers need to make progress a priority and not settle for status quo. Whenever possible, take the opportunity to encourage the next phase of employee and team growth. Engagement and productivity improve when employees know how they are doing now and what they can expect in the future.
- Have Fun
Okay, I admit it, this is my favorite one. As I discuss in my Pinnacle Performance training, having fun at work is a business strategy. It gets back to practice # 1, unengaged employees don’t create engaged customers. There’s a reason so many market-leading companies are also considered to be the best places to work. They know happiness matters and they create a culture of fun in the workplace that improves employee morale and productivity.
See my YouTube video, Workplace FUN Tips! for some fun inspiration.
Make a Great Day!
Steve 🙂
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Steve Ferrante is the CEO & Trainer of Champions of Sale Away LLC., providing Pinnacle Performance Sales, Customer Service and Winning Team Culture training, speaking and professional development services to success-driven businesses throughout North America. For more information on Steve and Pinnacle Performance services for your team visit saleawayllc.com
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