Building a strong team culture isn’t just some kind of idealistic, impractical vision but an astute leadership strategy. Studies performed by Harvard Business School concluded that companies with the most effective cultures increased their revenues up to 4x compared to their competitors and Gallup found companies that prioritize culture can see a 33% increase in revenue. In fact, most experts agree that culture can account for 20-30% of differences in performance. So, what are the steps that every leader should take to create an exceptional culture?
Apply the Theory of Cultural Relativity
While hiring people to work on your team, remember that we all see the world through the prism of our own unique combination of cultural values – shaping how we process information, events, and relationships. Which helps explain many workplace friction and tensions, such as these examples:
- Long-term employees thrive on a team that prioritizes loyalty and dedication, but some new-hires feels oppressed by (what they perceive to be) stifling conformity
- A manager who tries to promote a more optimistic, trusting and unselfish team culture is considered weak or naïve by several employees who prefer a more competitive environment and individual recognition
- An assertive, achievement-oriented team leader is perceived as aggressive and relentless by employees who strongly value patience, kindness, and sensitivity
- Audacity and adaptability are essential to the team's success but several new-hires (uncomfortable with ambiguity and risk) quietly oppose a dynamic new action plan, thinking it's rash and reckless
It's all relative. Applicants (no matter how talented) whose cultural values matrix is incompatible with the rest of your team and its mission are likely to have a negative impact on overall group performance. Concrete Logic's CultureSet™ Questionnaire can help you screen potential employees to ensure that they are compatible with mission-critical values and priorities.
Optimize Team Chemistry
It turns out that there actually real science involved. Team performance is positively correlated to feelings of trust and acceptance which release chemicals such as dopamine and oxytocin that open up our blood vessels and send more oxygen to the brain, helping us to work harder and smarter. But stress and anxiety cause the brain to release hormones like cortisol which do the opposite, constricting the flow of blood and oxygen to non “fight or flight” functions, making it more difficult to focus on what we're trying to accomplish. Therefore, it's critical that everyone on the team share mission-critical values and knows that you, as their leader, have their backs. All of which builds a sense of trust and psychological safety, two primary ingredients for great team chemistry. Take Concrete Logic's CultureSet™ Questionnaire to receive a complimentary team culture and chemistry evaluation.
| Your Team’s Cultural Values Matrix | # |
| Primary Value | |
| Secondary Value | |
| Less Important Value | |
| Least Important Value |
Set Your Culture
There is no shortage of management books and blogs that offer cookie cutter solutions; however, those recipes for the "ideal culture" may not be all that relevant to what your team is trying to achieve. You, as team leader, are in the best position to determine which fundamental cultural values (and to what extent, giving each a value from zero to 10) that are most important for your team to succeed.
- Autonomy/Openness or Authority/Decisiveness?
- Egalitarian/Humility or Hierarchy/Status?
- Agreeableness/Sensitivity or Assertiveness/Achievement?
- Ambiguity/Risk or Certainty/Security?
Use Concrete Logic’s Do-It-Yourself Tools or take the CultureSet™ and Hire Quiz that will automatically create your team's cultural values matrix. Contact us for a no obligation, complimentary trial today.