Positive Workplace Culture: Why Trust and Leadership Matter

In the post-Covid world, businesses need to focus on cultivating positive workplace cultures and microcultures

“Culture is what happens when the CEO leaves the room.”

-          John Collison

Culture is more than a ping pong table and bean bags. It's an ineffable concept, but we know it's what makes or breaks a company and even a team. So how can businesses foster a positive work culture if we can’t easily define what culture is and how to generate an attractive work culture?

Toxic leaders are easily identifiable, but we can also identify positive leaders and the qualities that set them apart. Trust is the trait that has the largest impact on culture. When leaders within a business foster trust between themselves and their teams, nurturing that sought-after positive workplace culture, teams feel at ease with themselves and within the businesses they work for.

Harvard Business review discusses how “Managers are in a prime position to see and understand both sides of the equation, but all that insight doesn’t add up to much if they’re not empowered to act. With 74% of managers saying they don’t have the influence or resources they need to make changes on behalf of their team, there’s a clear gap that needs to be addressed.” –(Jared Spataro, corporate vice president of modern work – Hybrid work) This highlights the disconnect often seen between management and senior leadership, and how the distribution of power and issues around communication can quickly create a chaotic and even toxic environment for employees. Empowering our leaders and trusting them to deliver the right way for their team will create separate but congruent positive teams, forming microcultures that come together to form a positive work culture.

A current example of this gap is the discussion of returning to the office in a post-covid world. There is a disconnect between senior leaders (50%) wanting staff in office, while (80%) of gen Z and millennial (50% of the workforce) want the option to work hybrid or full remote. Senior leaders are displaying their distrust of staff to deliver results and this creates a divide. Its down to unconscious bias, that feeling that people will work ‘properly’ when they are in the office - but it's not borne out by evidence.

What to do:

-Empower managers and trust leaders. Assess your business’ distribution of power and give management the ability to make decisions for themselves.

-This creates positive staff engagement where employees as well as management feel valued and that what they are doing is impactful, which is the main driver behind staff retention.