Simple solutions to strengthen your team and culture
During the past few years organizations have been dealing with a lot of employee disconnect. Between the pandemic, remote work, turnover, and mental health, pressure points are arising everywhere. While much has been made of the Great Resignation, a term coined for the high number of employees resigning in the pandemic and post-pandemic workplace, organizations have been forced to look inward. One question we are starting to hear a lot is: "Is our turnover problem caused by our workplace culture?"
We believe that problematic culture certainly plays a part. But the problem goes deeper, and you can't just create a healthy culture reactively from the top-down. The process has to be visionary, inclusive, and engaging. Firms can take proactive and fun approaches to strengthen their teams. As younger generations value social causes, firms need to find ways to include this in their culture to help retain highly mobile millennials and Gen Zers. Adding simple gamification strategies to your company's values and responsibility is a strong start.
What does your team value?
The first step in implementing a new gamified system is getting to know what your team values most, such as spending quality time together, supporting environmental causes, or engaging with the broader community. One way to introduce conversations about team values is through games; games can ask questions and bring out responses that all parties are afraid to directly address and answer. Don't just assume or go by old company values from many years ago, ask today! The people in the workplace have changed, and maybe what they value has too.
Create a points or tracking system
Once you know what your team values create a points system that tracks cultural objectives. This system is a transparent and low-pressure way to create accountability among all. For example:
Did you take a strength assessment this month?
Did you give to a cause you like?
Did you have lunch with someone new?
This does not have to be a permanent implementation, but it gets the team moving in the right direction for building consensus around a culture. It adds some fun competition to making sure the team is all doing their part in maintaining values. Keep the tracking/game structure simple, so it does not confuse and overwhelm your team, the more visual or color-coded the better like a progress meter or wheel.
Follow up
The follow-up can be difficult for some, but the hope is that clean visualizations and the gamified format will make it easier to discuss agreed-upon values. Games and their mechanics can always be adjusted, so if something is not working with your team, you can experiment with different variations. Ask them what are their barriers and grievances, even if the new implementation appears successful. Some may not want it to be competitive, this could have slipped through in the values conversation, but the follow-up allows for this change. Asking the right questions will help lead to more effective gamified strategies.
Gamifying values can be a great incentive to increase engagement and reduce turnover. Employee engagement might be the most valuable asset companies have in these volatile times. Bad morale is contagious and can spread to engaged team members. Organizations that have values and social initiatives their employees fundamentally agree with will likely retain them. Simply try something new like a gamified strategy.
Need help in doing this? Reach out to us at info@barometerxp.com for help!