Why the psychological climate of your company leaves much to be desired and how to change it

Perhaps you do not know yet, but there are 4 problems that kill the productive psychological climate in your office. In this article, Barry Saltzman, will tell how to restore the desired mood in the team .

Do you evaluate your employees annually? Great - why not do the same for the company's psychological climate?
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It is important to remember that the psychological climate of a company is much more difficult to measure than the contribution of your employees. Employees can happily ride from project to project, but this does not mean that they do not work in a toxic environment. Despite smiling faces, positive chatter and ubiquitous congratulations on the victory - this does not mean that your staff does not scroll through a long list of grievances every day on their way home.

Honestly, you may not know that not everything in your office works correctly, unless you make frequent and thorough assessments of the company's psychological climate one of your priorities. To identify the problem, I use the following parameters to determine the dynamics of the psychological climate of the team and, if something is wrong, I find the source of the flaws.

1. Job satisfaction

Are your employees satisfied with the work they do? Do they understand how their personal contribution helps to achieve the goals of the company as a whole? Do not be afraid to ask directly what annoys them, or does not work to the end. At the same time, you should not completely change everything in your office only because of the dissatisfaction of the staff with their work.

2. Collaboration

The lack of willingness to cooperate with others is a clear indicator that something in the system does not function correctly. Do your employees find an opportunity to voluntarily unite their efforts? How effectively do they use it? Is there a hidden tension in the relationship that needs to be eliminated? Chat with the leaders of your units, and just pay attention to it. (We recommend reading a useful article about 3 steps that will help rally your team .)

3. Compliance with corporate values

What are the principles of your company? Do your employees know them? More importantly, do they know why these principles were chosen as benchmarks, and how they fit your company's goals. The question of why is as important as what is, perhaps even more. “Because I said so” rarely works even for children of kindergarten age; Do not think that it will be able to sufficiently stimulate your employees.

4. Innovation

Whatever projects are planned daily in your team, no one gets pleasure from monotonous, repetitive tasks. It is important to give employees the opportunity to show their creativity . Your employees will be happy to have the chance to do something unusual, and you will receive wonderful fresh ideas in gratitude for giving them the opportunity to try something new - even if this is not successful.

Purposeful work on changing the psychological climate in the office can eliminate existing problems, and it is not as difficult as it may seem at first glance. Three possible solutions:

1. Reward those who have made a positive contribution.

Scolding employees who did something wrong or failed a task is a common occurrence in most companies (although, hopefully, this happens rarely). But how often do you notice, highlight and reward a positive contribution?

On the one hand, this is a great opportunity to once again pay attention to those actions that promote the goals and values ​​of your company. It also helps to embrace the principles of those who observe it from the side.

Did your office neighbor Alexei do much more for the client than his official duties demanded, after which he received a salary increase? There is a high probability that you will want to do the same. Remuneration of positive actions not only works better for motivation, but also contributes to a change in the psychological climate of the team as a whole, creating a more pleasant and friendly atmosphere. Your employees will feel the difference.

2. Your employees must see the prize.

Compatibility with the psychological climate of the company should be a necessary requirement for the recruitment of new applicants with relevant attitudes, abilities and experience. Values, principles and goals of the company should always be on the agenda, and not only on the first working day of the employee.

Do senior managers consider the company's psychological climate important? What about lower-level staff? Are the values ​​and expected behavior clear to all employees, is they instructed how an ideal employee should think, act and behave? If you answered no, your organization does not give sufficient priority to the company's psychological climate.

The company's expectations should be repeated at every step: rewarding good performers and reorienting bad ones, a positive personal example of the leaders of the organization, clarity and simplicity of the company's requirements.

3. Company leaders should be like-minded

Leaders of your company should feel the closeness of its mission and each other.

For my readers in the personnel department, I do not mean intimate relationships or drinking all night. But leaders need to be close enough in spirit so that their decisions in similar situations are the same.

Consistency is key; the leader must set the tone for his subordinates so that they can do the same for their employees.

Communicate more and work together more often. Think of your company 's leaders as ambassadors of corporate goals and plans, give them the necessary tools to pass this message on to their subordinates.

PS We recommend another article on the topic - 5 ways to increase team productivity.

Translated by Vyacheslav Davidenko, founder of MBA Consult