10 Actions to Improve Culture & Climate

If you’ve ever:

• Left a job because you couldn’t stand someone on your team

• Felt like you couldn’t speak up within your team

• Felt no one appreciated your work

You’re not alone.

The environment in which you’re operating matters.  It’s the Climate, which is more than just culture.

So this week, we’re diving into Climate, the next C on our journey through the 3Cs.  

(If you missed the last couple of weeks, we’re focusing on the 3 proven Conditions for Success leaders need to enable within teams.  Catch up on the 3Cs here and read how to maximize Clarity here.)

Today, we’re going to cover:

• What Climate is

• Why it’s important

• 10 actions to maximize Climate
   

What is Climate?

It’s the environment we’re operating within, and it has two components:

• Hard: org structure, systems, resources

• Soft: relationships, dynamics, internal culture

Some components of productive Climates:

• Effective decision making processes

• Strong personal connections

• Safe space for idea sharing

• Effective team execution

• Proactive collaboration

• Being happy at work

• Blame free culture

• Accountability

• Inclusion

This is why it goes beyond culture.  It’s more than how people interact or the vibe within a company.

Climate is asking this:  Do I/we have all we need to be successful?

Pause here.

Reflect on the current Climate within a team you’re on.

Perhaps it’s a team you’re leading.  Or maybe it’s a cross functional project team.  Or perhaps you’re part of a leadership team.

• Do you have all you need to be successful?

• What would help?

I encourage you to consider this dialogue within the team.  What ideas, or development opportunities, might enable your team’s success?

Why Climate Is Important

People quit Climates that suck.  And holy moly, is it costly to have high attrition. 

Plus, with our increasingly remote and dispersed workforce, there’s a real risk for people feeling disconnected, lonely, and struggling to relate. 

• ⅗ of Americans classify themselves as lonely

• 58% of those respondents say they sometimes or always feel like no one knows them well at work

These are from a 2019 study, so let’s assume the numbers have increased further.  (Source: Loneliness in the workplace 2020 report, Cigna)

There’s some good news…We know what an antidote can be: “Employees who feel well connected to their teams are 25% more productive than disconnected colleagues.” (Source: Gartner research on productivity)

Maintaining a keen awareness for what people need to succeed, ie their Climate, will contribute to building a thriving team.

10 Ways to Maximize Climate

These are ideas for action I hope you’ll leverage and forward along as points of discussion with your peers and partners.

Notice these are both process related (hard) and relational (soft).

1. Ensure Meeting Hygiene

• Start and end meetings on time.

• Have an agenda and desired outcomes of the meeting.

• End early when you can, cancel meetings that can be emails.  Show you appreciate people’s time.

2. Create Decision Making Empowerment & Frameworks

• Share your mental model as you make decisions - what factors and tradeoffs are considered?

• Vocalize and empower team members to make decisions.

3. Align On Follow Up

• Make follow up No Big Deal.

• When work is assigned, openly and regularly discuss:

  • What feels right for follow up?

  • What cadence of updates do you want to drive?

  • What support would you like from me? The team?

4. Evaluate Resources & Priorities

• With every Yes, there is a corresponding Not Now.

• Establish a regular and visible process for work evaluation and prioritization.

• Empower every team member with the ability and skill to ask these questions when receiving requests:

  • What’s your ideal timeline?

  • [Conflicts with a current priority] I’d love to take this on, and I currently have X, Y, and Z already prioritized for completion this week.  I’d like to propose I take this on next week, does that work for you?

  • [If it needs immediate attention] Fair, ok, then I’d propose slotting it in this week and bumping Z to next week.  Are we good with that tradeoff?

5. Co-Create The Team’s Brand

• Teams with shared mental models perform better than those that don’t.

• Co-create the team’s brand, energy, and mission (aka North Star) using an exercise like this.

6. Give Praise & Appreciation Often

• Look for the good - look for people providing the right inputs: critical thinking, creativity, thoughtfulness, generosity.

• Recognition = praising what they’ve done.

• Appreciation = acknowledging and appreciating who they are.

• Do both at least weekly with each other, encourage the team to praise and appreciate one another.

7. Create Team Learning Opportunities

• Read and discuss industry articles together, attend a brown bag lunch together as a team, encourage team members to attend the same external training opportunities.

• Learn together, create meaningful discussions, and the team will grow and connect together.

8. Make Personal Connections

• Prioritize getting to know each person you work with.  Use this Relationship Kickoff Conversation for inspiration.

• Ensure you’re maintaining relationships via casual coffees, checking in personally, etc.

• And consider creating and sharing this type of Getting to Know Me doc.

9. Have Fun & Laugh Together

• Have contests, get creative, start meetings with a song, put on wacky hats.

• Take a virtual baking class together, go bowling, be humans together and do things that are fun and not 100% focused on work.

• Explore these for inspiration.

10. Take Time Off

• Leader sets the tone - use all of your PTO, every year.
   

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That’s it for today!

What’s your core take away?

What action will you be taking?

Comment below and let me know!

Next week…we look at Competence!  Don’t miss it: https://www.enduranceboss.com/newsletter