3 Leadership Qualities You Need To Create & Maintain A Positive Workplace Culture

Great leaders understand the importance of creating a healthy culture

Corporations and businesses of all sizes speak consistently about work culture and its effects on employees, productivity, and the success of the organization as a whole. While it seems understood that a positive work culture leads to the success of a business, it’s even more important to understand that leadership is crucial to creating a great company.
 

The leadership of an organization is the key to a company’s culture–whether it’s good or bad. Leaders who invest time and effort into creating a positive company culture will reap the benefits both in the short and long term. Creating a great company culture takes understanding how and why it is important, as well as the specific qualities a leader needs to make it happen.

Leadership Impacts Organizational Culture

A 2021 PWC report found that the tone of the company leader or CEO was the most common key culture enabler in a company. In fact, 72% reported that culture helps successful change initiatives happen.

The tone from the top sets the stage for a positive or negative company culture, which directly impacts the company’s success. Respondents from the same survey who said their organization has a distinctive culture were also more likely to say that revenue, employee satisfaction, and customer satisfaction increased during the pandemic.

When leaders foster and encourage a great workplace culture, they quite literally are ensuring the success of their company. Even when the unforeseeable happens, like a pandemic, a positive work culture will continue to do work in the leadership’s, employees’, and overall company’s favor.

Great leaders who foster positive company cultures help retain employees. Unfortunately, just 31% of employees report they are highly committed to their organization and plan to stay long-term. High turnover rates and lack of loyalty are often a sign of poor work culture. This means creating a positive culture is crucial for employee engagement and retention, and the overall success of a company.  

Culture Is The Key To A Great Company

When a company has a positive work environment, employees appreciate their time and contribution at work. During the pandemic, this became all the more important with remote work. Even with remote employees, leaders should be working hard to create a positive company culture. This can be done by creating a workplace that emphasizes common values such as openness and trust and making the workplace a psychologically safe place for everyone.

A company is not all deadlines and productivity. Those things come when employees feel valued, trusted, and trust their employer. When leaders encourage this kind of company culture by making sure their employees know how much they are valued, the return will be tenfold. Success under normal circumstances will become the norm, and when the company is faced with challenges from internal or external factors, the company culture will carry through in a big way.

The 2021 PWC report found that 69% of organizations that adapted amid the pandemic say culture offers a competitive advantage. The key to a great company is leadership who works hard to foster a positive work culture and possesses the qualities to make that happen.

3 Leadership Qualities Needed to Create & Maintain a Positive Workplace Culture

It’s one thing to know that great leaders encourage a positive company culture. It’s another to be the kind of person who can make that happen. Here are 3 key qualities a leader must possess to create and maintain and positive work culture:
1.    A great leader is a great communicator. A leader needs a non-aggressive, humble tone and the ability to truly listen. Leaders should approach conversations with the understanding that communicating is a two-way street. Starting with questions instead of accusations or imperatives, and actively listening before responding is extremely important. Leaders should also be keenly aware that body language is a huge part of any conversation and affects the message being sent and received. Even when working remotely on video calls, eye contact, demeanor, and posture are all non-verbal cues that leaders should be aware of.

2.    Leaders must possess empathy. Empathetic leaders understand the struggles, stresses, wins, and joys of their employees–and they can do this because they regularly communicate with all departments of the company. When employees feel empathy from their leader, then a positive, open relationship can be formed. Employees won’t feel intimidated or fearful of leadership and instead will view them as a true partner and advocate who values what they bring to the company.

3.    Leaders need to be team-oriented. By focusing on fostering collaboration and team bonding, leaders make sure that everyone is doing their part–including themselves. A great leader isn’t just in charge, they’re part of the team. With a team-oriented company, no one person takes the fall when mistakes happen or challenges arise. Conversely, wins are shared among the whole team, and everyone gets to feel a part of that success. Leaders should both encourage and be part of team bonding and collaboration to create a positive work culture.

Creating and maintaining a positive company culture is imperative for an organization to be truly successful. Great leaders understand the importance of creating such a culture in their company, and moreover, understand how to be the kind of leaders who can make that happen by embodying these three qualities.

Author Bio

Joe Hart is the President and CEO at Dale Carnegie Training, the most experienced training organization in the world. Early in his tenure as CEO, Hart had to adeptly navigate the company through an unforeseen global pandemic. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Hart led a lightning-fast change of the business model shifting business activities from almost exclusively in-person training to repositioning the business to generate 95% of its revenue online. As a Dale Carnegie graduate himself, Hart’s first business, InfoAlly, provided online programs to support the Dale Carnegie, Leadership Training for Managers, and Sales Advantage Courses. Connect Joe Hart