Thursday, February 9, 2012

Team Climate: Are You Running Hot or Cold?


The only way to know how employees see the organisation is to look at it through their eyes.
When you first start a job, you have an expectation of how the organisation will treat you. Too often a gap begins to develop between the expectations an employee has of the organisation and the reality of what the organisation can provide. This often leads to the creation of an emotional virus. An employee becomes dissatisfied with their job, and has negative feelings towards the organisation. Staff around them pick up on their emotional dissatisfaction and it becomes infectious, spreading through the organisation and creating a general feeling of dissatisfaction.
So what can you as a manager do to combat the spreading of this lethal demotivator within the company?  The most important thing is to understand what the people are going through.
Managers need to have a clear understanding of the expectations of their staff, and how to manage them.
The climate of a team or organisation has everything to do with its output, so understanding how your teams climate changes and can be influenced by individual expectations can be incredibly important, and an invaluable tool for managing and motivating. A large motivator is job satisfaction. Are our needs being met?
Here are 5 factors that, when addressed properly, will enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of any team and promote a positive team climate.

Contribution – is what I am putting into the team being valued?

Recognition – self expression and positive feedback. Employees need to know that even though a contributed idea may not be used, it is being recognised.

Challenge – people want to be pushed, but they do not want to be pushed if they feel there will be no recognition, no chance for self expression and no chance for contribution.

Sincere appreciation – Positive feedback is a valuable tool, but when over used and not timely or relevant it can do more damage than good. Make your feedback and appreciation specific.

Individual responsibility – Improves individual confidence

What can employees do to improve team climate?
While it is largely the responsibility of the organisation and manager to promote a healthy team climate, there are still a variety of ways that individuals can assist in ensure the team climate stays positive. Self responsibility and self motivation – this is often a challenge for many people. This involves taking proactive steps, and getting yourself out of victimisation mode. While it is often natural for many of us to revert to this, staying in victimisation mode will actually only harm ourselves. The key to making this change? Transmute your negative experiences and begin to learn from them.
So what sort of team culture does your organisation have? 

This blog is based upon Training Point's 'Improving Team Climate' training video produced by Ash Quarry Productions. Watch the full training video online here.

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