Is there a relationship between a positive work environment and business excellence? Christine Porath, an associate professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, delved into the positive work environment concept as a place where “people feel valued, supported, respected, and treated fairly; they’re inspired to do their best and they want to stay.”
From the above scholarly understanding, a positive work environment is a healthy work culture. Let us include more related ideas in connection to a positive work environment. We can safely say that a positive work environment may mean a supportive workplace, an engaging work atmosphere, a motivating work environment, an empowering workplace, a collaborative workplace culture, a fulfilling work environment, a respectful workplace culture, and a productive work setting and it is a nurturing workplace environment.
We, therefore, say a positive work environment is a place where the work partners are encouraged to unleash their optimum capabilities. Positive work has building blocks where workers are assisted to flourish.
Why do you and I work? We collectively because there is a sense of accomplishment, we work because we get opportunities for innovation and creativity. We exert our energies because we desire to access resources. At times we work because of personal development. Some work generates a sense of community impact and transformation.
Some employees feel compelled to excel to get leadership opportunities. Money is one of the principal sources of motivation so we get engaged so that we get remunerated to pay our bills.
In other instances, we want to be for reasons of continuous learning and growth. There are many reasons workers lend their expertise to the organisation.
Why do organisations exist? organisation exist because they want to maximise profit, they want to achieve specific goals, fulfil a purpose, create value for stakeholders, provide goods or services, innovate, grow and maintain sustainability.
How can organisations foster a positive work culture? How then do we create a win-win situation that will foster harmony? To stand above the crowd in matters of boosting a positive work environment the organization has to entrench a culture of professionalism.
Professionalism in promoting a positive work environment involves respect, integrity, reliability, effective communication, teamwork, adaptability, professional development, conflict resolution, appropriate appearance and behaviour, and customer focus.
Employees have to be equipped to work together for the common good of the organisation. They have to be trained to appreciate each other’s differences in age, education, gender and religion. That is why team-building abilities are vital in solidifying partnerships.
By investing in deliberate team building we foster essential soft skills like creativity, time management, delegation, active listening, trust-building, motivation, and decision-making.
The employer must develop gratitude for the employee in an altruistic sense and equally the employee has to appreciate the reasons why the investors started the organisation. This is a complimentary role.
The benefits of fostering positive work are countless. They require the conscientious involvement of all stakeholders.
Magoma is an award-winning HR trainer and conference [email protected]
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