The Proteus Leadership Centres

In 1999 Proteus launched our first ‘creating a positive culture in the workplace’ conference with great success and the popularity of this theme for leaders has only increased over the years.

Posted by Richard Dore - Director

The vast majority of leaders that participate in our programs are very keen for success and are more than happy to work hard and commit themselves to their job and organisation.

However, having a great workplace culture can appear to be rare and creating one is elusive and near impossible for some managers. People are often frustrated by their culture, with some describing their workplace as being dominated by negative and toxic personalities, with underhanded and manipulative infighting that stifles growth, innovation and results.

The following ideas will assist you on your journey for creating a great culture and unlocking roadblocks.

• Firstly you must visualise the culture you want and model the behaviour accordingly. We have a saying or mantra at Proteus, which is “reflect the culture that you want”. If you want a great culture it starts with you … ‘culture is caught not taught’! Modelling exceptional behaviour sets a standard and expectation for people to live up to. Not modelling positive behaviour will at best frustrate people, or at worst be seen as hypocrisy and increase cynicism.
• Focus your energy on the right people. Positive, optimistic people will not only inspire you but also celebrate your successes and encourage you to do more. Don’t surround yourself with negative and miserable people, as they will only bring you down to their level. Sure, always support and empathise with a person who is having a bad day but be wary of persistently pessimistic people who are energy vampires. The best way to do this is call your negative people on their behaviour and don’t indulge them. Alternatively, simply get rid of them … set your miserable people free!
• Recognition is vital for a great culture. Spend the majority of your time giving people praise, recognition and rewarding them accordingly. People simply love being acknowledged and praised for their contribution, so catch people doing the right thing. Funny thing is, when you give people genuine praise, it also gives you a lift and it becomes contagious.
• Make a decision today that you are no longer going to whinge and you will no longer allow other people to do it to you! We have another saying at Proteus, which is “if you are not prepared to be a part of the solution then you forfeit your right to complain”. This is one of the best strategies for a great culture, because you and your people start offering ideas, plans and solutions each time a problem comes up. As opposed to the toxic dump delivered by negative individuals or an environment where people want you to fix everything, which will only create a culture of dependency – something you must avoid.
• This leads to fighting clean. Create workplace team rules or norms whereby if you have a problem you go direct to the person, without getting everyone else involved. This works best when you create a culture of ‘robust debate’ and ‘healthy dissent’. I believe there is nothing more exciting and invigorating than having a workplace where robust discussions occur which allows for innovation and creativity to rise to the top. However ensure that there are no ‘bloody revolutions’ and that no one becomes precious if they don’t get their own way.
• Celebrate your successes and your people. Rather than being frustrated by the diversity of your staff, celebrate and utilise their differences and support and encourage their uniqueness. I read somewhere that successful teams have a party and unsuccessful teams have more meetings! So always remember to celebrate.

Finally, use the three ‘Ps’ (Performance, Professionalism and Passion) for creating a great culture.

1. Performance: when you come to work, work. Focus on the important things with results being your constant goal – remember it is called work for a reason.
2. Professionalism: whilst at work, be professional which includes appropriate behaviour to your organisation and industry. Have your team be crystal clear on professional behaviour expectations.
3. Passion: be passionate about your work and make the workplace a fun place to be. Even when you don’t feel like it – ‘fake it till you make it’ – it is a much better world to be in.

The above suggestions are quite simple, however not always easy to implement, because these ideas may require you to change your behaviour. So take a moment to stop, reflect and respond more strategically to achieve your desired results.

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