Creating a Positive Work Climate

Just like weather climate impacts the quality of lives in an area, work climate impacts the quality of work life. A positive work climate leads to employee motivation, performance, retention, and engagement. What is your work climate like these days? Sunny, mild, partly cloudy, chilly, stormy? Managers have a big impact on creating a positive work climate..

Thinking about motivation in terms of “to move”, we’re always moving toward something we want and away from something we don’t. Having a motivational climate impacts whether someone feels successful on the job in terms of what they are doing and how they are doing it.

There is a lot of bad news these days. It may be more difficult to create a motivational climate during bad times, but it is much more important. The alternative is to worry, not be motivated and have it adversely impact productivity.

Here are a few tips for improving the motivational climate in your team:

• Set Goals – Create achievable goals so everyone is focused on moving in the same direction. Paint a clear vision on how everyone contributes to the goals and what it means for the company if everyone works at their productive best.
• Get to Know Your Team Members – People are motivated by different things. Some like detail and working alone, some like communicating with and influencing people, others like to solve problems and still others are caring and great listeners. Find out how to create a motivational climate for each of your team members.
• Celebrate Success – Success breeds success so celebrate even small victories to build motivation on your team. It doesn’t have to be an expensive celebration; if it’s sincere, people will appreciate the effort and then be ready to work towards the next milestone.

Participants who take the DiSC Management Profile receive feedback on how they create a motivational climate and how they need to adapt their natural style to create a climate where everyone feels motivated.