Shape a Work Environment Where Employees Can Thrive

As a leader, you have the power and opportunity to shape your workplace environment in a way that inspires employees and helps to ensure they can do their very best work.

David Deacon, in his book The Self-Determined Manager, explains that if you do the following consistently, you will foster an environment where employees can reach their full potential.

See shaping your environment as part of your job

“Recognize this is not accidental, that team culture is not random,” he says.

Set the right example

“Your words and actions are amplified. Every pronouncement you make may be repeated, every action emulated, and every expectation reflected in the work of your team,” Deacon warns.

Choose the environment you hope to create

The process most be active and deliberate. Deacon’s checklist for the best kind of environment to create is as follows:

• Positive. Help the team keep a positive view on what they are doing and why.
• Purposeful. Know what it is all for; this makes the work and effort worthwhile.
• Ambitious. Have something to work for and toward.
• Supportive. Create a supportive environment.
• Professional. Help the team do the best possible job, in the right way.
• Honest. Be honest with each other about what’s good and bad, what’s working and what isn’t.
• Grown-up. Avoid bullying, inappropriate aggression, shouting, patronizing, condescending, game-playing, name-calling, belittling, and playing favorite.

Build employees’ self-confidence

Offer them a chance to win, and their self-esteem will rise, as will their performance. Find ways to challenge them, but offer them the tools, training and resources they need to succeed.

Make “right” clear

“In a pressure-filled work environment, the best managers make choices about whether to push their people harder, or adapt the task to make it achievable, or use shortcuts to achieve an all-important endpoint. When making these choices, they are consistent in application of their core values. They never stray from doing the right thing. This means honesty is never compromised, false promises are never made, people are never deliberately harmed, client trust is never abused, and customers are never misled,” Deacon writes.

About the Author: 

David Deacon is the author of The Self-Determined Manager: A Manifesto for Exceptional People Managers. He has been a human resources professional for over thirty years and passionate about how managers manage for almost as long. He has worked for a variety of the world’s leading companies, including Credit Suisse and MasterCard, and has lived and worked in the US, the UK, and Asia.