Creating a Winning Team Culture

There are many factors that makeup a successful company culture that include leadership, communication, values, vision, mission, goal achievement, business planning and growth, analytics and data, learning & development, career pathing, retention and remuneration, to name a few. I have had the privilege to lead and build teams since 1996, and along that journey, I have found that ten areas stood out in creating a winning team culture.

The Top Ten Factors in Building a Winning Team Culture:

1. Professional: This is focused on what you do and say, not what you wear to work. Being professional includes possessing consistent integrity; respecting other thoughts, experience, background and ideas; having a high level of emotional intelligence; and following through on your commitments. As my Mother taught me long ago, if you don't have anything nice to say, say nothing at all.
2. Collaborative: The sharing of knowledge, expertise and wisdom to drive the team forward and work together in a team-based approach joins everyone together and brings purpose to the team.
3. Competitive: Wanting to take your performance to the next level, drive positive change and striving for excellence are all factors in winning. Random contests with prizes bring instant gratification to your team. Having a leader board or stack ranking performance may initiate that competitive spirit.
4. Accountable: Drive awareness around each person's contributions, expectations and responsibilities. Celebrate the wins, learn from the failures or mistakes, and have each person participate in weekly learnings to drive a greater understanding around the organizations vision, mission and objectives and how them being accountable leads to the success of the team.
5. Fun: You need to love what you do and who you do it with in order to develop a winning team culture. Enjoying what you do, taking on assignments that challenge you, and loving the impact that you make brings joy and happiness to your work life. Let's have some fun.
6. Inclusionary: Bringing people together from different backgrounds and experiences, listening proactively to the ideas that they bring, and delegating key projects or tasks to drive growth in their skill development are keys to being a cohesive team.
7. Transparent: There are confidential topics that are exempt from this idea, however, by providing an open communication model to your team, you build trust and satisfaction with your team. This also breeds confidence as executive messages become consistent and trustworthy. A hidden agenda drives a cloak and dagger approach that brings distance between the team and the leadership. This non-transparent method, that is often times discovered later, breeds resentment, mistrust and disloyalty. Avoid the hidden agenda approach at all costs.
8. Consistent: Mostly from a leadership perspective, you must be consistent in how you treat others, how you communicate, how you motivate and how you delegate. Providing a consistent work environment where each member of the team knows what to expect , what is expected, and understands how to get ahead in their own customized career path brings engagement and loyalty.
9. Motivational: People need constant motivation. Whether it is in a conversation with their leader or peer, or a team-wide message, people need to stay engaged and motivated to achieve their best performance. You are either internally or externally motivated. If your are internally motivated, you strive to be the best. You have an unrelenting work ethic. You want to have your name in lights as a top performer. If you are externally motivated, you require a prize at the end of the journey; a day off, early leave, gift card, travel. Either way, it is up to the leadership to discover what works for each person and bring that specific motivation in focus. Motivating others takes effort, consistency and customization.
10. Retention-focused: People are the most important investment any organization makes, yet a focus on retention seems to be a forgotten process. In order to build a winning team culture, you must focus on what keeps your team happy, motivated and growing in their career. Too often, the team is taken for granted. The once coveted one-on-one conversations fall way to other, 'more important' meetings. The promotion opportunities get covered in red tape and get kicked down the road. Compensation increases are nominal or non-existent. Benefits rarely change to keep up to date with the times. Learning & development to drive new skills, enhance existing skills or provide depth in specific areas of interest become a non-priority. STOP! Change your thinking to make retention the most important part of building a winning team culture. Look at specific training and career pathing to enhance each person's career on your team. Pay them what they are worth. Consistently make your one-on-one meetings the top priority each week and listen proactively to each person in order to gain insight in to their goals, needs and challenges.

When I started building teams, I only focused on professional, collaborative, competitive, accountable and fun. I always bring respect, am very competitive and really enjoy levity. It was only through years of practice and evolution that this top ten list was created. By applying the above list of ten areas to focus around in building a winning team culture, you are well on your way to providing the best possible team experience available in today's marketplace.

Mark Krajnik, Chief Executive Officer with Performance Mindset Associates (PMA), is a successful talent strategist with over 30 years of success at top-ranked, global organizations. Mark brings demonstrated skills and a positive impact around retention, behavioral-based interview preparation, performance mindset coaching, mentoring, performance development, change management, team building and streamlined talent acquisition processes. He has also created talent management models that simplify and create a positive difference on your culture and team's performance. Mark will enable and inspire you. If you want to take your organization to the next level, please contact Mark Krajnik at mark@performancemindset.co.