A healthy team atmosphere - tips for creating, tools

A business starts with a worthy idea. But how it will develop depends on many additional factors. The atmosphere in the team is decisive.

When staff work as one well-coordinated team, striving for high common goals, the company progresses, grows stronger and prospers. If employees are irritable, hostile towards each other, often conflict, and do not want to invest effort in achieving joint tasks, this will inevitably affect the results and worsen the company’s KPIs. To prevent this from happening, the manager is obliged to build and maintain a healthy internal atmosphere . We will tell you what needs to be done and what measures to take in our article.

Microclimate assessment and main influencing factors

First, you should find out what is happening in your team at the moment: what prevailing emotions, experiences and moods, whether conflicts occur, whether there is an understanding of the common goal of the company and the desire to realize it.

You can obtain information in several ways:

At general meetings.
During personal conversations with individual employees.
Using an anonymous survey.

It is advisable to perform the analysis regularly, since many factors can dramatically change the current situation. The work environment is affected by:

group compatibility. Employees operate with their own basic concepts and general ideas and perform a specific task. However, well-coordinated teamwork is built on emotional unity and sharing of company values. If the staff speaks different languages, does not reach a compromise on simple issues, does not understand the main goals, the situation will not allow them to do the work effectively;
Nature of activity. Each position in the company has its own characteristics - emotional intensity, monotony, increased responsibility, and the presence of stress factors. All this affects the socio-psychological microclimate;
level of job satisfaction. Ideally, work arouses interest, brings a sense of satisfaction, self-worth, and provides the opportunity for professional development. To maintain a favorable atmosphere, it is necessary to respond to the needs of the team in a timely manner: introduce effective systems of material and non-material motivation, pay attention to training, encourage initiative, and the desire for career growth. Otherwise, enthusiasm in the team will quickly subside;
working conditions. To get maximum results, it is worth providing employees with a comfortable, specially equipped workplace. Poor lighting, extraneous noise, and stuffiness are a source of stress and irritability for employees. This is incompatible with the concept of a healthy atmosphere;
leadership style. The formation of a normal microclimate is facilitated by a democratic management style, in which there is no imposition of decisions, friendly, trusting relationships prevail, and team members are equally valued. Permissive and authoritarian styles lead to low productivity, the emergence of hostility, envy, and mistrust;

HR management styles chart

nuances of the global and local microenvironment. Additionally, the situation is influenced by stability in the political and economic spheres of society, the social and psychological well-being of team members. The structure of the organization, the opportunity to participate in planning and decision-making, and the elimination of functional-role contradictions play a role.

With a normal internal microclimate, employees are satisfied with working conditions and the amount of material remuneration, are focused on results, share common goals, support and respect colleagues, notice prospects for growth, and make long-term plans. Problems on any of the points are a sign that it is time to take appropriate action.

Favorable and unfavorable psychological climate

HeadHunter analysts found that most employees value a healthy atmosphere in the team more than salary. The survey was conducted in 2021 among 2,418 employees of Russian companies. Inconsistency in work between departments and colleagues was cited by 54% of respondents as the main reason for decreased motivation. The second place in the anti-rating is low wages, the third is the lack of realization of the company's potential, the fourth and fifth are the lack of incentives and the disdainful attitude of management towards subordinates.

Signs of a Healthy Team

Positive emotional background, positive attitude.
Proper distribution of working time, formation of self-discipline.
Opportunity for professional and intellectual growth.
Relations between team members are built on the principles of cooperation, mutual assistance, and goodwill.
Each employee feels part of the whole and feels valued.
Friendly attitude towards beginners. More experienced colleagues share their knowledge and warn about possible mistakes so that the new employee quickly gets up to speed and begins to benefit the company.
The leader creates a friendly atmosphere in the team, resolves conflicts in a timely manner, and does not let the situation take its course.
Employees have the right to their own opinion, to make mistakes without fear of punishment, and to constructively criticize the activities of colleagues and bosses.
Relationships at work give a feeling of security and self-confidence. Colleagues enjoy spending time together.
Microgroups in a team are aimed at cooperation, they feel mutual affection and sympathy.

Signs of an unhealthy atmosphere in a team

Decadent moods and boredom prevail in the team; an atmosphere of aggressiveness and hostility towards each other reigns.
Colleagues criticize each other's work, getting personal, using open insults and passive aggression.
There is no equality or fairness in relations between team members. This is reflected in the distribution of job responsibilities and wages. Employees are divided into favorites and outcasts, and it comes down to mobbing (bullying).
It is customary to treat newcomers with disdain and hostility.
Mistakes and successes are perceived by colleagues indifferently or as a reason for envy, gossip, and gloating.
Employees are afraid of making mistakes and try to keep a low profile, so as not to run into a fine or reprimand.
It is very difficult to mobilize team members to solve common problems. Employees are inert, passive, everyone works “for themselves.” There is confusion and misunderstanding of each other.

Additional tools for influencing the microclimate

In addition to the proposed methods, it is worth implementing the following principles in the company:

Information openness. Eliminate secrets, secrecy and vague formulations that create a tense, oppressive environment in the team. Do not leave room for gossip: discuss the current situation, plans and innovations honestly and openly. Engage staff in dialogue.
Finger on the pulse of the team. Maintain feedback with staff, ask about working conditions and desired changes, and be interested in emerging difficulties and problems.
Adaptation to current reality. Take into account current events in the world, look for ways to support the team in a crisis situation. Provide the opportunity to work remotely, pay for online training sessions, and issue wages and bonuses on a timely basis.

Characteristics of the term

Each person interacting with other people creates an objective and subjective reflection of the situation. Objective situations include awareness of social relations: hierarchy, tasks of an individual representative of society, level of responsibility. The socio-psychological climate in a team is a subjective concept that depends on a number of factors, including:

group interaction style;
perception of urgent work, ways to achieve specific goals;
level of complexity of the presented tasks;
degree of emotional stability of team members;
compatibility of team representatives in terms of psychological qualities;
customs, affairs, general thinking.

Psychologists classify 2 components of the concept of socio-psychological climate:

Social aspect. Interpersonal relationships in the professional field, the difficulty of work, the scheme of rewards and punishments.
Moral aspect. Consonance of moral standards, group community, the possibility of informal communication, team relationships.

The combination of these components determines the overall climate and its impact on team members. Due to the combination of subjective perceptions, it is subject to influence - change, improvement.

Holy cow (or just a good person)

Everyone knows that a good person is not a profession. However, in almost every large organization there are people who do not perform any special functions, except that they are somehow dear to management. These are not necessarily attached relatives. More often there are “veterans” who did a lot of useful things for the company... about 20 years ago. And the leaders simply do not have the courage to part with them.

Why are they dangerous?

In communication, “sacred cows” can be anything - depending on your luck. But they clearly cannot cope with their daily responsibilities. This means that others regularly have to do their work, as well as clean up the consequences of their mistakes. Their idleness often demoralizes the team, because what’s the point of trying “for that guy”?

How to neutralize. No matter how righteous anger torments you, it is unlikely that you will be able to get rid of this colleague (since no one has succeeded in this over the previous 20 years). Direct confrontation will hurt you, not him. Most likely, you will have to come to terms with this state of affairs and try not to end up with the “sacred cow” on the same team.

We are constantly monitoring the situation

The climate within the same team changes over time. This may be due to the external environment - for example, during a crisis, all relationships become strained, much more effort is required from the team, and fear of dismissal arises.

The situation within the team can also change, since the emotional background directly depends both on the leader, who may have different periods in his life, and on the team members, whose life situation, emotional background, roles and positions, goals and priorities may also change. .

Read also: ;dusty; purple Color Palette Ideas

It is important for a manager to constantly keep his finger on the pulse, communicate with the team, receive feedback and be ready for changes.

In any case, every person should look for a team in which he will feel comfortable and direct all his energy to achieving results. And the leader needs to spend time to form a team in which all participants will complement each other and will be able to maintain a creative rather than destructive climate.

Work strategies

Preventive methods

It is important to take into account the psychological characteristics of each person when hiring. Therefore, if during the interview some points made you wary, think carefully about whether it is worth letting such a person into your company. Objectively evaluate all the consequences of the manifestation of her character, no matter how professional in her field or close relative she may be.
Certification of employees should be periodically carried out, especially those who have even a minimum number of people subordinate to them.
Strict control of the number of employees and vacancies. If there is a shortage, some of the responsibilities have to be distributed among all members of the group, or assigned to one person. And this always threatens the emergence of anger and irritation, which not everyone has the opportunity to express, which is why a tense atmosphere arises. And when there are extra workers, conflicts between them will inevitably arise against the backdrop of competition and clarification of which of them is more important and more valuable.
One manager should not have more than 6-7 people subordinate to him, otherwise he will not be able to keep track of everyone, and also notice the brewing of a conflict.
You already know about the value of boundaries from the article about personal space. With their help, the image of another person becomes clearer, what he likes or does not accept, how one can behave with him, and what is best not to do, and so on. The same is true in the work process, if people do not understand what values exist in their company, norms, traditions, plans and attitudes, they may experience anxiety, which will provoke conflicts and feelings of dissatisfaction. Therefore, creating a healthy atmosphere must begin with defining the boundaries of the company.

Conflict situations

They are inevitable, since different people, with different opinions, life and professional experiences, moods and general well-being, are in a single process and space. Are you quarreling with your family members?

This means that you have noticed a difference in something, and do not yet know how to deal with it. It is not the conflict itself that is scary, but what it “results into,” especially if it is hidden.

Measures to improve climate

Organize a joint vacation , and not only on official holidays. This will not only improve the microclimate, but will also help bring all group members closer together, and possibly create more informal relationships.

Collective celebration will help relieve unnecessary stress, improve emotional well-being, perhaps clarify some of the nuances and difficulties in relationships, as well as create common impressions and memories, returning to which over time, employees will feel closeness and unity. The main thing is that they are positive.

And you shouldn’t be forced to attend such events, it can cause a storm of anger. Over time, they themselves will join, as there will be a desire to participate in the general discussion and celebration.

Trainings . Often, various corporations practice the involvement of coaches and psychologists in order to create a harmonious atmosphere in which there will be a desire to work and give all the best. Some trainings allow you to achieve not only professional, but also personal growth. They allow you, for example, to increase your self-esteem, learn to make decisions, cope with tension and aggression, and improve your communication skills.