How can organizations achieve both a positive company culture and a positive team culture?

It is very likely that the reason is that the overall culture is good Employee chooses to work for the companyBut if they don't like the team they work for, it might not be enough to make them stay.

According to Zippia, a workplace insights platform, 88% of employees believe a strong culture is the key to business success, and more than half of employees say a good workplace culture is more important than pay. I even claim that there is. And in most cases their employers agree: 72% of companies say culture helps their change efforts succeed.But what about Individual team culture Within your organization?

“Corporate culture is the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterize a company as a whole, and is typically based on how we want to do things and the impact we want to have.” ” says Archer Chiang, CEO of AI startup Giftpack. “Team culture is controlled by managers, and their stance is reflected in the attitudes and behaviors shared by the company.”

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A team's culture often reflects the company's culture to some extent, since a company's core values ​​should be a priority for all managers as well, Chiang says. However, team culture is more concerned with how the team shares knowledge, how members support each other, the goals they share, and how they communicate among themselves. These all vary by team. Chiang says traits such as a cohesive collaboration strategy, good conflict resolution, adaptability, and an overall sense of togetherness are all signs of a happy, productive team.

According to research from Forbes, workplaces with strong cultures can increase employee productivity, boost morale, and increase employee engagement. At the other end of the spectrum, a bad team culture can be counterproductive and affect whether employees feel comfortable taking paid time off, feel recognized and valued at work, or simply feel stressed and frustrated. It may affect whether or not. bad team experience I can even do it Make your employees feel comfortable Interacting with other colleagues at work.

“I think in many ways the culture of the team is more influential than the culture of the company,” says Chiang. “Because team culture is about how employees experience their work and environment every day, it’s not just a standard set by the CEO for everyone to live up to.”

EBN recently spoke with Chiang to share how companies can drive better individual team culture and how it impacts productivity and engagement.

What difference does having team leaders prioritize the culture of their individual teams make in employee engagement?
This depends on how managers choose to run their teams, but often comes down to communication and recognition and how that influences human behavior. When team leaders focus on values ​​like recognition, employees will appreciate it, whether it's a small gift, a sticky note of praise, or an internal announcement acknowledging someone's efforts according to company standards. will remain satisfied.

Does giving managers the autonomy to decide the culture of their teams also have a positive impact on them?
It makes a difference when managers feel that everyone on the team is held accountable for the effort they put into building a good team culture, and that everyone has a positive attitude about their day-to-day work. Because when disaster strikes, managers feel like they can trust their team and that everyone will work together to deal with it.

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As an example, one of our managers worked at another company where he handled a lot of work for his team at once, and he received very little recognition for his work. Not only did it leave her exhausted, she didn't feel like she belonged to the team, and it was difficult for her to want to continue her job as a manager. When that same manager started working here at Gift Pack, she suddenly had to leave her job for a while to take care of her sick relative. Unlike her previous job, she didn't have to worry about anything while she was away, and instead she found that she received positive feedback from her team when she returned.

What steps can you take to prevent your team culture from becoming toxic?
Communication should be a focus from the earliest stages of team culture. This includes surveys conducted anonymously to collect data about whether something is going wrong or is perceived to be harmful. At Giftpack, our team uses this type of communication score to help identify issues as quickly as possible. Then start interviewing individual people and teams to figure out why the system is having problems. The setup is not complete.

Avoiding toxicity within your team requires transparency in the process and honesty from both sides. After all, no one wants to work in a toxic work environment and no one wants their voice silenced, so just give everyone on your team a platform to be heard.