There’s an African proverb that says, “when there is no enemy within, the enemy without can do us no harm.”
The working environment falls into one of two categories: a positive working environment and a not so positive working environment. The characteristics used to determine whether the working environment is a positive or not so positive is as follows:
When a not so positive working environment is faced with issues, the organization implodes constantly without identifying how to best move forward.
Challenges- securing employee stability/continuity.
Overarching goal- self-preservation remains at the forefront.
When a positive working environment is faced with issues, the organization communicates in an on-going up, down, sideways pattern continuously and makes the necessary adjustments collectively, by identifying how to best move forward. Further, the information on moving forward becomes the fuel to invigorate the team.
Challenges- securing employee stability/continuity.
Overarching goal- employees realize they are one team and focus on contributing their best efforts because they don’t want to let the team down.
Abraham Maslow theorized in 1943 that there is a hierarchy of needs, and after basic physiological needs are met, the next step is safety. An example of how that can play out in the working environment is as follows: a new employee (employee A) enters the working environment and they are paired with a coworker (employee B) to supervise and/or train them.
Employee A shows up for his/her first day at work excited about their new job. Employee B is already disoriented because of the unhealthy working environment, they are frustrated because they have to maintain their workload, and now they have to on board the “next new person.” It seems reasonable to believe that after working through unstable employee challenges over time, employee B is wondering just how long will this one (employee A) stay with the team? As a result of that, employee B does not feel motivated to invest too much time into employee A. In order to get at least some productivity out of the new employee (employee A), employee B takes them (employee A) through the training at breakneck speed with no patience. This is because the Employee B feels the likelihood of Employee A sticking round is limited (based on previous experiences).
Just like that, the self-fulfilling prophecy hardens and bam!…the cycle repeats its self. In this case, the best question is, what are the essential elements necessary for a positive working environment to exist?
After two decades of assessing organizations, I have found a few essential elements that are always present in a positive working environment:
Everyone realizes that they are on the same team.
There is enough low hanging fruit for everyone to positively contribute in a meaningful way to the teams best efforts.
Every person I have ever known prefers to win, and the truth of the matter is…win or lose, we ultimately do it together.
Communication is the key to establishing or maintaining a positive working environment. Communicate what, you may ask? Just do these three things:
- Communicate the essential elements (listed above) throughout the organization and
- Be receptive to positive and not so positive feedback
- Create an environment that is willing to make the minor adjustments to identified
concerns.
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