CULTURE CHECK: Should Leadership Prioritize Business Culture?

Managers and supervisors definitely have challenges when it comes to their teams. Frontline and entry level workers are facing an unprecedented amount of stress and tension in both work and life environments. A disturbing statistic from Qureos suggests that only 45% of Gen Z’ers would describe their mental health as excellent or very good. Potentially more than half of the labor pool that would be filling these frontline and entry level positions consider themselves to be mentally unwell. This poses a major obstacle to business leadership, tasked with producing more with less resources. Traditional or ‘old school’ style of management may not get the best performance from today’s workforce but management and leadership can have significant impact on the bottom line by embracing and promoting certain business cultures within the workspace.

Defining Business Culture

The term culture can take on different meanings but in the business world, culture represents the ‘atmosphere’ of the work environment and can be defined  by any or all of the following elements:

  • Company values and beliefs
  • Leadership behaviors
  • Communication styles
  • Resources and support to employees
  • Policies on promotion and advancement

Most of the tangible items can be easily deployed but the real focus is on leadership and managerial behavior. Communication and leadership styles can establish and define an organization’s business culture which will greatly impact productivity and efficiency. When working with people, behaviors will always be contagious and leading by example is also a factor that will influence culture and individual job satisfaction. Business that embrace cultures that promote an environment of open communication, recognition, support and fairness are best positioned to get the most productivity out of Generation Z, the most likely generation to work along the frontline of the business.

Thoughts and Feelings From the Trenches

Finding and keeping quality talent has been small and medium sized businesses biggest challenge since the end of the pandemic and into 2024. Generation Z, the era that would most likely fill entry level and frontline positions has become much more sensitive to personal well-being and mental health. Negative influences inside and outside the business can create challenges for individual workers which will affect business productivity. Toxic or downtrodden work environments will increase the likelihood of staff turnover which is a costly expense in the current labor market. Lower motivated and lower producing employees may cause negative effects across the team as negative type behaviors are equally contagious. What are some of the core wants from employees that may result in higher job satisfaction?

  • Recognition for achievements, results or increased effort
  • Considerations for health, well-being and mental wellness
  • Training, development and upskilling
  • Clear paths for advancement
  • Open door communication policies

Today’s frontline employees can be as productive as past generations but creative and innovative strategies combined with modern approaches are needed to push this group to achieve its best possible output.

Best Practices for Managers and Supervisors

Managers and supervisors play a key role in determining the direction of the physical work environment. Managing from a list or by policy is unrealistic and will have little positive effect on today’s generation of entry level and frontline workers. Leaders who understand an individual employee’s strengths and weaknesses can adjust communication and management styles to get the best performance from that person. Fostering a culture of ownership will always start from the top and some best practices for leaders are:

  1. Engage employees by fully communicating goals and reasons why they are important
  2. Ensure individual performance is tracked and results acknowledged
  3. Interact with teams daily to keep lines of communication open and available
  4. Focus on development and upskilling and highlight advancement potential

Career Pathing is a recent trend in employee development and sets the tone for ownership early in a new hire’s career. Mapping out learning objectives and training routes to advancement can create that sense of ownership in the individual as they strive to learn more about the organization and how it works.

The Bottom Line

Businesses that are consumer facing depend on frontline teams to generate revenue and this era’s labor pool requires more finesse when it comes to leadership. Mental and emotional weaknesses among Generation Z means leadership should consider employing more innovative and inclusive management techniques to  drive productivity and control costs. Defining and creating a business culture within the workspace will promote employee engagement, increase job satisfaction and build a foundation of ownership within the team. Promoting business and position ownership will create stronger connections between the individual and the business. Highly engaged and empowered frontline staff are major contributors to long term business success and growth. By utilizing certain best practices, managers and supervisors can foster that inclusive business culture that drives employee happiness and well-being.