Listen up bosses.

• Author: Sims, Bill, Jr.
• Position: DOLLARS & SENSE

THE QUALITY OF WORK we do depends on the quality of our workplace culture. When the environment we work in is positive, we become more engaged and committed employees. By definition, workplace culture is a pattern of behaviors that are supported by a management system over time. Harnessing the power of positive reinforcement is the quickest and most efficient way to a better workplace culture.

The first step in creating a more positive workplace culture is recognizing that your current culture is not where you want it to be. It can be difficult to define your culture--almost like nailing Jell-0 to a wall--because it is made up of many small behaviors, but it starts at the top with company leaders. The way they act and behave will be mirrored by employees. So, if you want to change the behavior of your employees, start by changing the behavior of your leaders.

Leaders can start doing this by listening to their employees and understanding what motivates them. Get to know them, ask them their opinions, and share yours in return. I think the most powerful things that bosses can do are communicate, be transparent, and tell people where the ship is headed. Bosses should be asking questions like, "What are we doing that we could be doing better? What is broken, and how can we fix it?" Ask those questions; listen to the employees; and, most importantly, empower the employees to go fix the problems.

Research tells us that that, more than money, employees want to feel like they are making a difference at work and getting recognized by their boss for making that difference. As employees, we want the ability to do things, to change things. So often employees' ideas are not listened to or acted upon. It is the boss' responsibility to provide the money, time, and resources for employees to complete tasks and make improvements, and then to celebrate and recognize those people for their contributions.

Now, this goes against many traditional management styles, the command-in-control, my-way-or-the-highway mindsets of old. The majority of bosses do what I call "Leave Alone/Zap" management. Simply put, it means that we leave employees alone and say nothing when they do something right, but are quick to "zap," or punish them when they make a mistake. This kind of aggressive management style might get the job done temporarily, but it does not foster an environment where employees will take the initiative to do things when their supervisor is not watching--and...