How to create a winning culture at the workplace

Employees can be productive, affable and free of stress only in a healthy environment. Companies need to invest in creating a culture that fosters healthy competition, provides constructive feedback and is always quick to appreciate hard work and talent.

Who we are today broadly is because of the culture we have grown up and are in. Culture is deep and impactful and has a lot of ingredients that make it ‘the way it is’.

The reason for total success, whether for a team, a department or an organisation, is the culture that it has been built on. The significance of a ‘Winning Culture’ only means ‘anyone walking into the culture or living in the culture’ naturally blends and creates a winning state of mind and attitude.

 Create a culture of appreciation

How many of you love ‘being appreciated’ and how does it make you feel? What happens to your performance post an appreciation? Your thoughts on this question is an indicator of the power of appreciation. Many organisations are not only poor at this but they are vocal with criticism and mum on appreciation.

The absence of criticism is not appreciation. So, make it a habit, let it be integrated as a part of your daily meetings, have a ‘wall of appreciation’, send out weekly emails of appreciation and you will be amazed to see the positive impact all these efforts bring about.

People not only would like to be in a culture like that but will start developing a ‘winning’ attitude and approach towards life.

Thrive on constructive feedback

Another ingredient of a great winning culture is the presence of an abundance of ‘constructive feedback’, and I am using the word ‘abundance’ for a reason. Many organisations either have a dearth of constructive feedback or have more of criticism that may also be thinly-veiled.

Winning culture is created by having a culture of constructive feedback and a balanced approach in providing it: wherein you do not miss an opportunity to appreciate and give great feedback and, at the same time, you do not miss out on a chance to highlight the areas of improvement.

However, once the area of improvement is highlighted it is not left alone, it is discussed, pondered over, made free of undercurrents and concluded with an empowering solution. It is now a culture where people look forward to more feedback and introspective sessions.

Learning culture

A winning culture always has a learning attitude embedded in it. To create a winning culture one has to realise that people need to be empowered with new learning, tools to challenge their existing beliefs and perceptions and methods to keep the innovative streak on at all time and levels.

This can be achieved with continuous behaviour and leadership programmes, backed by learning reinforcement methods, establishing a coach-coachee relationship and facilitating a lot of learning-based employee engagement programmes.

Fun and energy

All the above-highlighted points are crucial and yet illusive in the absence of this point. Without the fun and energy, a Winning Culture cannot be created. Fun is an integral part of life and fun is not about ‘fooling around’ but is about total involvement and enjoying the entire process.

For example, fun can be brought in in all of the above-highlighted points – training can be conducted in a fun way, where you learn while you have fun. The fun element does not dilute the learning but imprints the learning more powerfully at the subconscious level. A fun element can be in the process of giving and receiving feedback, creating an appreciative culture, having rewards and recognition around the activities and more.

This should also be looked as a top-down approach. You cannot have a ‘grave-faced’ leader and expect to have a fun culture. Fun, appreciation, energy, learning, if driven from the top down, creates a powerful winning culture at the workplace.

Always remember, creating a culture takes time and the process will be underscored by many ups and downs, but once created, you can reap the benefits for years. Creating a culture requires a contribution from each person. So contribute and experience a great way of living.

(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)