What is work culture and how to improve it

In a recent webinar, we welcomed Arianne Cesar, consultant and CEO of Childcare Provider Services! Arianne joined us to discuss how we can create a more positive work culture within our centers and make sure our educators are feeling valued and recognized for their work. Through quality leadership, effective communication, staff incentives, and investing in the growth and development of ourselves and our educators, we can increase positivity at work! 

Watch the webinar that inspired this blog post here! 

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Work culture is what your business encompasses as the grounds it stands for. It includes values, beliefs, and attitudes. It is very important to spend time thinking about and developing the culture that you want to incorporate into your workplace. 

Positive work culture 

• Promotes growth
• Offers consistent training
• Promotes teamwork
• Acknowledges strong work
• Has clear communication
• Respects individual boundaries 

Negative work culture

• Lacks respect 
• Doesn’t give employees space to grow
• Promotes gossip and can feel like a toxic environment 
• No clear steps to grow in the company
• None or very little communication

Positive workplace culture promotes the values that a business is built on. For example, if a workplace has a family culture it would represent things such as respect, communication, working together, and uplifting each other. These values would be strongly felt and carry over from educators to the children and then to the parents. 

How do you build positive work culture? 

Become very clear on what your vision is. If you don’t know exactly what you want for your center it will be very hard to create a plan of action. Once you know what it is, you can sit down to create it. 

As you do that, ask yourself these questions:

1. On a scale of 1-5, how pleased are you with the team you have right now? (If you are not pleased, you will need to explore why). 
2. Does my team embody the qualities I need to create a nurturing environment?
3. How many complaints am I receiving due to my team? It is important to know what they are and use this data to tell a story and then create new policies/procedures. 
4. In a perfect world, how does my center operate? (This is if money was not an issue and everything was in alignment!)
5. Is my team in alignment with my vision?

When you keep one bad apple, it can ruin the bunch.

Arianne Cesar

Strategies to build a culture

Figure out what your work culture will be built on and how you will achieve it. Think, how will you create an environment that screams the culture that you are trying to embody?

Childcare centers run smoothly when there is a sense of togetherness. For example, when teachers feel like they are a part of something they will coordinate their appointments so they are not out at the same time. They will respect their job, their co-workers, and the children in their classrooms. This is when they will work together. 

10 ways to improve your company culture

1. Encourage creativity 
2. Acknowledge good deeds
3. Give bonuses/raises or days off as possible 
4. Acknowledge birthdays 
5. Participate in team-building exercises 
6. Acknowledge diversity 
7. Tell everyone your vision
8. Have regular staff meetings
9. Let your team assist with social media posting
10. Professional development
11. Get input about the curriculum 
12. Set individual goals per classroom
13. Offer incentives

Incentives encourage or motivate your staff to keep doing their best. 

Examples of incentives 

• Money (for example giving bonuses for tours that convert) 
• Food
• Paid days off
• Gifts/gift cards
• Dress down day
• Certificates/awards/plaques 
• Parking spot
• Send to a conference (paid) 

Incentives are most effective if you know what encourages a person and match the offering to their personality. Team members that are happy and engaged will naturally give off positive, contagious energy and promote a positive work environment. 

Watch the webinar that inspired this blog post here!

Want to learn more about important topics in early education such as hiring and retaining educators? Sign up for the next webinar below, it is FREE! Even if you can’t join live, you will be emailed the recording and slides just for registering!