From a management perspective, a lot can be done to create a culture that empowers employees as individual contributors and within teams. When team members have a high level of confidence in their work and the organization’s leadership, they have the tools to build the foundation of a strong work culture that will foster creativity, innovation, and success.
Let’s review some of the best ways to create change within your organization and develop a work culture that empowers team members to perform at their highest potential.
1. Clearly Define Your Mission, Vision, and Values
When your organization has a strong set of core beliefs and behaviors that are easy to understand and can be seen in practice daily, team members are more likely to adopt these practices into their work, using them to influence their contributions and behaviors.
2. Encourage Collaboration and Communication
A collaborative work environment helps team members feel more comfortable sharing their expertise and ideas with other teams. Setting up different ways to collaborate also helps open lines of communication across groups, which builds the employee’s confidence that they are being heard and actively participating in wide-reaching decisions that impact the company on a larger scale.
3. Embrace Diversity and Inclusion
Show your team members that, as a company, you accept and respect individuals. This can be demonstrated by promoting diversity in your hiring practices, promoting equal opportunities for all employees, and providing educational opportunities for cultural awareness.
4. Support the Concept of a Work-Life Balance
Ensuring a work-life balance is a great way to keep team members working at their highest potential without the threat of burnout. Allowing this type of flexibility in the workplace also shows that an organization is committed to practicing open communication and trusting its employees to be transparent and responsible for meeting their work expectations.
5. Promote Individual Learning and Development
Providing educational and developmental opportunities for team members shows them you understand their desire for personal and professional development and want to help them achieve their greatest potential. This is also a way to show them your organization has a clear path for growth and advancement and there are opportunities for them to advance their careers within the organization.
6. Be Proactive About Lowering Turnover Rates
There are many ways to help lower turnover, but none are as important as simply listening to what your team members have to say and then acting on that feedback to prove their voices were heard. Encourage them to tell you about their experiences, needs, what’s going right in the organization, and what needs improvement. Use one-on-one meetings, town hall sessions, surveys, and focus groups to learn as much as possible and use that information to work toward more positive solutions.
It’s also important to recognize employees and their achievements. Whether noting their success in a meeting or recognizing them through email or social media, show support and encouragement to let them know their work is important to the organization’s goals and the leadership team is invested in their success and growth.
7. Promote From Within the Organization
As mentioned above, team members want opportunities to learn and grow in their professions, and when they cannot envision advancing their career with your company, either their productivity will decrease, or they will seek better opportunities outside of your organization. Losing valuable talent is far more expensive in the long term than providing education and development programs that help team members improve their career prospects and feel more valued.
Empowering Team Members Means Being Open to Collaboration
Making changes like these may take time and effort, however when the right level of trust and communication is established between leadership and employees, the impacts can bring a great level of empowerment, positivity, and trust to the workplace.
When open collaboration becomes an accepted practice, it supports the level of transparency needed to make team members feel like active participants in the organization’s success. They are comfortable and confident enough to communicate with leadership and tell them their thoughts and ideas about improving the organization, which helps maintain an empowered work culture that will continue to thrive.
At i4DM, we believe in supporting our team, company, clients, and community. We recognize that, above all, people matter, and we aim to personify the ideals of integrity, excellence, and empowerment while embracing a changing world.
Connect with us to learn more about our collaborative approach and how we work together to develop the most innovative products for our clients.