Speaker 1: In this video, I will discuss what a positive work culture is and provide some examples of how it can influence employee learning, development and performance. My name is Daniel Mills and I work as a Senior Learning Consultant at Valamis. I have over 20 years of experience in HR and L&D and throughout my career I have helped many organisations move away from the traditional classroom-based development method to online blended solutions by using technology as the enabler for learning. Everyone in the workplace plays their own part in forming a work culture, from frontline employees to the CEO. It is created from the beliefs, customs and our behaviour in the workplace. At its best, it creates a positive atmosphere that is noticeable to every person within the company or anyone who interacts with the company. Even though the building blocks for establishing work culture are pretty much the same, it is unique to each business. It is shaped by the interactions, attitudes, beliefs, traditions and values of its people. A study conducted in 2011 by the University of Michigan lists six elements that are linked to a positive work culture. 1. Treating colleagues as friends. 2. Being interested in their well-being. 3. Supporting colleagues, forgiving mistakes and not assigning blame. 4. Working to improve the quality of their work. 5. Finding meaning in work and prioritising trust. 6. Respect, gratitude and integrity. A positive work culture comes with many benefits. Studies have shown that positive social connections are very important for the mental and physical health of employees. By consistently demonstrating empathy, companies can reduce turnover and reduce the risk of injury. By consistently demonstrating empathy, companies can reduce turnover and gain more committed employees. Negative behaviours tend to reduce in a positive work environment. For example, a manager who is willing to go above and beyond can create a strong, trusted dynamic with their team, produce better results for the organisational goals and improve the well-being of the people they lead. On the contrary, in a toxic work culture, there is often low morale, lack of clarity and trust, interpersonal drama and fear of failure that leads to high employee turnover. A positive work culture is the sum of the environment, the people in it and structures created to support employee well-being, learning and job tasks. So let me share with you some tips on how to build a positive work culture. First, create and publish the vision for your organisation and make sure everyone is aware and aligned with it. Remember that famous story of President John F. Kennedy asking the janitor why they were working so late? The response was, I'm helping to put a man on the moon. Vision gives purpose to the work people do. It helps to paint a clear picture of why the company exists and what you are trying to achieve together. Next, establish company values and make them clear. If you don't have company values yet, you can include employees in the process of creating them. But don't just display them on walls or on mouse mats or screensavers. Be sure that the company and especially the leadership team are living by those values every day. Take the time to recognise employee behaviour that aligns with the value and offer corrective coaching and or feedback for behaviours that don't. Encourage trust, empathy and support in your organisation and be consistent with this. Be open to positive and negative feedback and participate in active listening. Trust your employees and help them create connections with each other. Have clearly defined policies for tasks including sick or mental health days. Encourage people to take care of themselves. Be sure that the policies are stored where they are easy to find for everyone. Make training and personal development available for all. Support people to develop in their roles and to advance their careers. Democratising learning not only makes the employer look fair and supportive but helps you to retain employees who are more resilient and ready to take on new challenges. So there we have it. There is some advice about creating or improving your work culture. If you are interested to learn more, check out the article about work culture on the Valamis website. And if you would like to learn more about learning culture and how that relates to the work culture there is a great workbook about that waiting to be downloaded. You can find the links in the description. I hope you have found this video useful. Let me know if there's anything important I missed and share your best tips for supporting learning culture. Many thanks.