To anyone else, it might look like a cheesy team building exercise at any office in corporate America, but the “shout out board” in my community room brought me to tears.  Built and designed by my center “fun committee”, the shout out board features handwritten compliments and kudos from team members to each other.  The praise is sincere and heartfelt, written by a team of people who, a little over a year ago, were raising voices and threatening fights with each other.  As a leader, I can’t remember many more satisfying moments than seeing my team put together that shout out board, especially knowing that when I first met them, such a thing would have been a laughing stock.

Company culture is a popular concept in the working world, really just a fancy term for the overall “feeling” team members get when they come to work.  If our work were a dish we were cooking, culture would be the seasoning.   When, as leaders, we get handed a culture that is unhealthy, negative, or even hostile, it’s up to us to affect change.  Just like any chef can make or break a dish with seasoning, leaders make or break success with culture.   Here are my top steps to changing the culture of your team in a positive way:

1. Realize that a team with a hostile or unhealthy attitude will not reach its full potential.  To some, culture might seem like a buzzword that will soon fade into the background, but the fact is that a toxic work environment is an obstacle to success.  One of the most effective things leaders can do to improve performance is address a negative culture and open the floodgates of productivity by fostering a work environment full of improved attitudes and cooperative spirits.  Before leaders get bogged down in numbers, goal setting, or report prepping, we must understand that an improved culture IS good business and is one of the quickest ways to increase success.
2. Be willing to go first.  As a leader, one of my top methods is the simple principle that I’ll go first.  New system to implement and everyone is apprehensive?  I’ll go first and give it a try.  Brainstorm session off to a slow start?  I’ll go first even if it’s not one of my brighter ideas.  Once I break the ice or set the tone, my team has “permission” to follow suit.  Culture change works exactly the same way.  As leader, I’ll go first.  If we have an attitude of negativity that needs an injection of positive spirit, I’ll go first whether I feel like it or not, and begin to change the tone.  A leader must be willing to examine herself, and when needing to affect change, be ground zero for the change to begin.   This brings a heavy responsibility and at the same time the exquisite knowledge that the power to affect change lies with you.  So much in this world is outside my control, but my attitude and actions are 100% within my control and I do not need to wait one single second to exert my authority over those and begin to affect change.
3. We listen and we don’t judge.  This social media trend, featuring videos where family, friends, or spouses confess truths to the other and no judgement is allowed, might be one of the funniest and most entertaining online fads, but its principle applies so well to a leader who needs to turn a culture around.  When I first arrived at my current position, I did a lot of listening and not judging.  Coming in hot, making sweeping judgements  rarely does much to heal an unhealthy team.  Taking a little time to listen and really observe the situational dynamics helped me keep my perspective, earn their trust, and avoid moves based on partial information.  As a leader, I’m always honing the skill of listening to understand rather than listening to reply.  The simple process of hearing someone, repeating to them what you understood them to say, making sure you’re correct in your understanding, and then letting that understanding guide your reply or next move (not the need to be right or respected) has a profoundly positive effect on relationships with those you lead.  
4. Make sure your whole team knows the common purpose AND the “seasoning” or attitudes with which that purpose should be accomplished.  Every team has a common goal, and regardless of personality differences, clashing work styles, or varying values systems, everyone should be able to rally around that goal and use it as common ground.  For my team, our common goal is providing great care for our patients.  Every single member of my team believes in providing great care for our patients and wants to accomplish that goal.  Let’s face it, if someone has ended up on my team and doesn’t want to provide great care for patients, then I must take different action as a leader to assist that person in finding a better fitting option.  Once that common goal is established, it serves as a touchstone, and no matter the differences in our methods or work styles, experience, or personalities, we all have something to rally behind.  I then add the “seasoning” of an expected attitude to establish the culture I want:  we want to provide great patient care with positivity, joy and fun.  Great patient care is a goal we all agree upon, and positivity, joy and fun are the attitudes that should guide our behavior toward one another as we work together to achieve our goal.  Every situation can be evaluated by any team member through these criteria:  does it meet our goal? and is it being done with our desired attitude?  

The bottom line is that in the same way seasoning enhances a dish, company culture enhances our work.  We may be able to cook a dish, but use too much seasoning, the wrong type of seasoning, or no seasoning at all and your dish won’t be edible.  Just like no chef would send out a dish unseasoned, but carefully seasons it to give it a superb flavor and memorability, we as leaders should be intentional about the seasoning of culture we use with our teams as we produce whatever work we gather around.  It’s the seasoning that makes a chef’s dish delicious and keeps people coming back to taste it again, and it’s the culture in which we operate that will make our work meaningful and memorable.