How To Create A Work Culture Where Employees Look Forward To Monday

Hire the best to begin with

Remote work may have reshaped the way many companies conduct business, but one unfortunate thing about workplace life hasn’t changed.

Too many employees – and perhaps even CEOs – can’t wait until Friday arrives. Meanwhile, they dread the approach of Monday, their despondency growing by the minute as the sun sets Sunday evening.

But such a gloomy outlook about the beginning of the workweek is counterproductive, because businesses that keep their team members engaged and excited about starting their workday are more successful, whether the work is in an office, remote or some hybrid of the two.

Of course, one reason many people don’t begin work on Monday enthused about what the week will bring is that too many businesses have their priorities backward. Those priorities usually begin with making money, and once that’s taken care of the next order of business is to make sure the customers are happy. Finally, once their customers are happy, they take care of their team members.

It should be the other way around.

If you make sure your team is engaged and happy to be at work, and you make that your No. 1 priority, then your employees will take care of your customers. And if your team takes care of your customers, then your customers will take care of the profitability and the growth of your business.

How do you create such a culture? Here are four steps for getting started, whether employees are reporting to the same office or spread out remotely all over the country or even the world:

Accept that a Great Company Starts with You

If the company’s top leader isn’t excited about going to work each day, then you can hardly expect anyone else to be enthusiastic. If you want to create an environment that team members are excited to be a part of, then you need to be excited about it yourself – and your employees need to see that, whether it’s in person or on a Zoom camera.

Establish a Firm Foundation

Strong companies have a strong foundation that includes a core purpose and core values, along with a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG), an aspiration everyone can work toward that’s meaningful, ambitious and can get people excited. The idea of a BHAG comes from Jim Collins’ book, Built to Last and it’s a good one. The businesses that are most committed to their mission, their vision and their core purpose are the ones that are the most profitable. People don’t get excited about beginning each workday if the only goal is to make the boss rich.

Have a Plan

Make sure everyone knows the plan. Your plan should lay out how your company is going to achieve its BHAG. You need to work on the plan every day and also know the status of the plan so you can know what isn’t working. You also need to communicate all of that to your entire team – no matter how remote they may be. When everyone on your team is familiar with the plan, they are going to work harder to help you achieve it.

Recruit and Retain the Best People

The greatest expense in a business, outside of payroll and rent, is turnover. That’s why retention is important and the first step in retaining good team members is to make sure you hire the best to begin with. Most businesses hire quickly and fire slowly. They need to do the opposite.

The opportunity to create an environment where your people say, “I’m looking forward to Monday,” is within your grasp. It all falls on you to make it happen.