046: The Importance of Team Culture on Performance

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:07.290 --> 00:00:46.170
This week I am talking about the importance of team culture. How do you want your team to interact with each other? Do you want to be in business all the time, more relaxed, or something else. As the leader, you set the tone for the team's culture. The team's culture determines how well everyone respects each other and work together. Don't overlook the relationship of team culture, and its overall performance. Please enjoy the episode. This is episode number 46. And now we'll be talking about team culture. And we'll highlight the following topics.

00:00:42.119 --> 00:01:07.739
Number one, what is team culture? Number two, how team culture shapes output and productivity. Number three, your role as leader when it comes to culture. Number four, assessing your team's culture and five How can you adjust the team's culture? Andrew Carnegie said teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision.

00:01:08.040 --> 00:01:20.519
The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.

00:01:16.109 --> 00:01:40.739
First, I want to ask you about your goal accomplishment so far this year, we ended the first quarter of 2021 about two weeks ago, it's a great time to update your individual development plans with your accomplishments, and any other changes to your goals for this year. At the start of this year, in Episode 36, I talked about goal setting.

00:01:40.980 --> 00:02:25.500
So if you missed it, please go back and listen, it's never too late to get your goals written down and planned out. Last week on episode 45. I talked about recruiting and hiring new team members. We need to expand the pipeline to increase our chance to get better candidates. And it's critical to partner with HR so you can best influence the pipeline and the recruiting strategy. Being involved with HR on recruiting is important due to the topics we are covering in season six, and especially the topic this week. This week, I am talking about team culture. Why is team culture so important?

00:02:20.639 --> 00:03:29.580
Why as leaders do we need to pay attention to possible culture shifts? How will your team interact? All business fun and playful? Quiet? Do you celebrate wins together? Do you lift each other up? Or is everyone an individual team culture can take on different definitions. The team culture I want is one of mutual respect, free from harassment and bullying, pushing each other for excellence where we celebrate achievements and we support each other during tough times. Some of these elements are non negotiable, like no harassment or bullying. And that includes microaggressions and backhanded comments that appear to look like compliments. Some elements are optional, such as how you celebrate wins, I think you need to celebrate with each other. But not everyone likes social events. I understand this. And you need to feel out what types of celebrations will work within the team dynamic, you often have to deal with external forces that affects your team's culture that could be a leader higher on the chain.

00:03:29.909 --> 00:03:50.879
Other employees not on your team or other significant factor. Do your best to shield your team, no matter the source from undesirable influence. Now what happens when the culture you want doesn't fit the people you have due to changes in personnel? Here is an example.

00:03:46.259 --> 00:04:23.519
Maybe you had a very social team before and new people who have come in who are not social? How important is it to maintain the same social calendar going forward? Can you adjust your expectations? Are they still helping each other? Are they still respectful and cooperating with each other? You can be flexible on the how with some elements of the team's culture, finance and accounting work is complex, challenging and hectic at times, it will challenge your knowledge and your patience.

00:04:19.980 --> 00:05:25.829
You're trying to balance accounts or calculate a projection or even working on monthly close, which is a challenge on itself. Sometimes numbers aren't being generated as expected. And you have to figure out why. Some teams like to operate from an individual perspective only. You own a metric or process and you have to grind it out by yourself no matter what have you been in this situation before feeling alone and not sure where you have made an error? I do believe in group problem solving when it's necessary. different sets of eyes help to overcome blocks in the problem solving process. The best culture is when team members can rely on each other to overcome these kinds of challenges. How many times have you been working on a problem? And you just needed a little help to see where it's not balancing? Or some other issue that just wasn't making sense? Wouldn't it be a relief if your team had a culture of cooperation and mutual support?

00:05:26.189 --> 00:05:29.220
You helped me today, and I'm going to help you tomorrow.

00:05:29.670 --> 00:05:43.230
That's the culture that works best. And it takes work to build a team culture of trust, and mutual support. Let's talk about the importance of team culture.

00:05:39.540 --> 00:06:13.800
Number one, what is team culture, it's a combination of values, beliefs, and attitudes on the team that affects how the team operates, and how the team completes requirements. Team culture affects everything. It establishes the norms of the group, what is acceptable and what isn't. This is why you have to monitor the present state of the culture. Sometimes it shifts due to some influence, it could be inside the team or outside.

00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:58.740
If there is a detrimental shift and you don't address it, everything will begin to change to the negative, including the level of trust, respect, how everyone works together, and everything you have been trying to build. That is why team culture is so important. Number two, how team culture shapes output and productivity. Team culture comes down to trust always. If your team members do not trust each other, then it will affect how they interact, and how they share information, and the level to which they help each other on work tasks. If there is unresolved conflict, team cohesion will start to wither away, you'll have to address unresolved conflict.

00:06:54.930 --> 00:07:02.040
Like any other slips in team culture right away before it completely destroys your team.

00:07:02.519 --> 00:07:06.480
Get in front of it immediately.

00:07:02.519 --> 00:07:28.949
I believe in the output of the team. While in the army, it was very common to complete projects together, you are definitely responsible for your individual contribution. But the success of the project relied upon trust and respect to exchanges by each team member. That is why team culture is so important to the team's productivity and output.

00:07:29.519 --> 00:08:42.000
The team's culture depends on the level of excellence. Number three, your role as leader when it comes to culture. As leader, you set the tone for the culture. What is your vision for how the team operates, how everyone interacts? And how people are respected? And the level of fun? What is critical to how the team can succeed? Is the team still successful in what it is required to do? And does the team still support the organization's vision and mission successfully, you must monitor how the team is interacting and how they respect each other. Ask your team what is important to them. Ask them what needs to change. Your team wants an environment where they can thrive and grow. And it's up to you as leader to make that happen. Number four assessing your team's culture. Here are a few questions to ask yourself to judge the current state of your team's culture. Number one, what is the level of respect between team members? Number two, are people cooperating on projects and work tasks? Number three, have we changed our behavior as a group? Number Four? Are we still accomplishing the work to a high degree of excellence?

00:08:37.620 --> 00:08:45.570
Number five, is there anyone actively trying to negatively affect the team's performance?

00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:50.879
Number six, do team members see each other while off duty?

00:08:51.600 --> 00:09:17.070
Number seven, is there a friendly atmosphere You can also engage with your team members during one on ones about how they feel about the culture. So make sure you are assessing your team's culture and I would do it regularly. Find out what's going on. Find out how people are reacting to each other and cooperating with each other and to see if there's still a friendly tone within the group.

00:09:12.870 --> 00:09:49.710
Number five, how you can adjust the culture. If the environment on the team has shifted to an undesirable result. It is up to you to shift the balance back to your vision. It's your team. You are responsible for the results of your team, you are responsible for the development of your team. So I'll go through the next couple of steps to address the culture if you need to shift it. Number one, communicate expectations to your team members at every opportunity that includes one on one sessions, team meetings, and another times when discussing the work output.

00:09:50.129 --> 00:11:13.950
Number two, and share you a setting a positive example for others to follow. Never forget that your own attitude and behavior sets the tone for the group number Three create a shared purpose to show that the team is working toward the same goal. This shared purpose encourages the team to succeed together, to share information and to cooperate together when someone is having difficulty solving a problem. Number four, correct behavior when you see it. When you don't correct a behavior that is contrary to the team's values, then you have created a new standard of behavior. This will not go unnoticed, you're expected to correct undesirable behavior and attitude. Number five, be encouraging and empower your team members to act. Reward great performance. Number six, you are responsible for the team's culture. Always set the right example, communicate clearly expectations and correct undesirable behavior. And finally, we want to continually be on the watch for toxic behavior. So it stops before the team becomes toxic. And now for an easy one today, I recommend that you perform an assessment of your team's culture and ask yourself a few questions. Number one, where do you want your team to be in terms of team culture that is values, beliefs and attitudes? What do you want?

00:11:09.750 --> 00:11:25.500
Number two, where are you all now? assess how people treat each other? How do you all perform together? Is your team social or not? How do you celebrate wins and achievements?

00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:33.539
Number three, does your team mostly act like individuals? Or is there truly a sense of team do you solve problems as a team?

00:11:29.309 --> 00:12:09.330
Now develop a plan to shift the culture if necessary, you need to achieve by in not a forced way except for the non negotiables like respect and no harassment and bullying. Don't overlook the importance of team culture and how it affects the team's performance. If there is an unresolved conflict on a team, it will affect how you get things done, and will definitely affect trust. And once trust is lost, it takes a long time to earn it back. I have a free guide for you. It's called the leadership growth blueprint for finance and accounting managers.

00:12:05.460 --> 00:12:23.879
In the guide I talked about three leadership areas communication, team growth, and empowerment. Plus a few recommendations around challenges with the systems you are probably using to complete your work. The link to the guide is in the episode description.

00:12:24.210 --> 00:12:35.129
Or you can go to Stephen McLain calm. Please use it to help you with a few leadership wins today. Thank you. This episode is sponsored by my course through finance leader Academy.

00:12:35.399 --> 00:13:41.700
It's called adventure finance and accounting career developing a promotion strategy that will set you apart. To advance your career you must set yourself apart from your peers, finance and accounting professionals are already expected to be technically competent. This course helps you establish your professional Foundation, and how you can set yourself apart from your peers by growing your leadership skills and developing your executive presence. You can go Stephen McLain calm for more details on this career advancement course. The link is also in the show notes with this episode. Thank you today I talked about the importance of team culture and highlighted the following points. Number one, what is team culture number two, how team culture shapes output and productivity. Number three, your role as leader when it comes to culture. Number four, assessing your team's culture and five how you can adjust the culture. Team culture is critical to the team's performance. As a leader you must monitor any possible negative shifts in the values and beliefs of the team.

00:13:42.059 --> 00:13:57.299
Continue to communicate expectations and hold your team members accountable. Maintaining the vision will help to keep the team culture on track with what you desire. Next week, I will discuss setting expectations for your team, especially new hires.

00:13:57.480 --> 00:14:21.629
I hope you enjoyed the finance leader podcast. I'm dedicated to helping you grow your leadership, because it is leadership that will set you apart from your peers. You can get this episode wherever you find podcasts. Until next time, you can check out more resources@stephen.com and sign up for my updates. Don't miss an episode of the show. And now go with your team and I'll see you next time. Thank you

046: The Importance of Team Culture on Performance

Listen On

Recent Episodes