Tons of research demonstrates that a healthy culture is important for high performance in a team and an organization.
Following are ideas you can use to influence your team or organization culture to make it more productive. These are based on a recent article in Harvard Business Review.
When we talk about the “culture” of your team, we are talking about “the way we do things around here.” When you take a collective look at the structures, procedures, systems, policies, & processes your team uses, as well as the behaviors you exhibit, this is your culture. If you want to change the culture, then you need to change these things. Once you change “the way you do things,” the result will be a change in culture.
Step 1: Identify the structures, procedures, systems, policies, processes, and behaviors you would like to see change and why – list the benefits of the change.
Step 2: Recruit a small group of people who you think will support your ideas. Update your list based on their input.
Step 3: Reach out to the rest of your team and suggest that you set up a meeting to write a Team Charter. A Team Charter is essentially a document that lists the structures, procedures, systems, policies, processes, and behaviors your team commits to following. Read more at this link from the Center for Creative Leadership.
Step 4: Review and update your Team Charter. Challenge your team to live up to the ideals you created in the charter. Update it as you come up with better ideas.
A Team Charter can be used at the team or even the organization level. It can be an excellent document to use during interviews: “this is our culture; this is the kind of team you would be joining.” And it can be further reinforced during onboarding.
Of course, what is written on a piece of paper does not matter nearly as much as the role modeling of the culture by leaders. If you really want your culture to be a powerful driver of performance, make sure that all leaders exemplify it.
*Ideas for this blog taken from: Chilazi, S. & Bohnet, I. “To Make Your Workplace Fairer, Take Charge of It’s Norms,” Harvard Business Review online, May 2, 2025.
