Five Ways to Stimulate a Friendly Working Environment

A work environment ripe with creativity, where employees wake up every day wanting to go to the office is a hard thing to come by. You may think, “There’s no way to get that done. I run a serious business,” but the truth is you can stimulate a friendly working environment without sacrificing your company’s integrity and mission.

In this article, we’re sharing five of the best ways to create this kind of productive, friendly, and professional atmosphere.

1. Ensure your team leads are approachable and sociable

Just because you’re the boss doesn’t mean you have to act like one all the time.

If you’re approachable – even if that simply means scheduling weekly office hours where your employees can come in and chat about what they’re working on – your employees will want to please you instead of feeling like they have to please you. You don’t have to be everyone’s best friend but you don’t want to terrify your staff into thinking that if they make even the tiniest blunder they’ll be reprimanded.

2. Encourage teamwork

When you have larger, more demanding work with a strong deadline, divide your staff into teams and task each group with a different part of the project. An exercise like this promotes organization, listening skills and time management, and it also encourages creativity.

Before you assign the teams, review each employee’s strengths to avoid putting people in a group where they won’t flourish.

3. Schedule mandatory meetings

Don’t let the word “mandatory” fool you: In this case, it’s a good thing!

Schedule weekly meetings to discuss what everyone’s working on and how they’re doing. Give your meetings a fun name and communicate to your staff that these are just for catching up and sharing ideas.

4. Encourage a little R&R

Communicate to your employees how important taking breaks is. An office that only let’s their staff break at noon for a 30-minute lunch will not increase productivity. Your employees will loose concentration and get less done if they spend their mornings looking at the clock waiting for 12 to strike.
Instead, give your employees freedom to eat when they want and encourage them to take other breaks throughout the workday too. Giving your staff an extra 20 minutes in the afternoon to take a walk, grab a coffee or even steal a quick snooze is a surefire way to stimulate a friendly working environment.

5. Organize fun events
Group events are a great way to get your staff out of the office and show them that they’re valued. Take your team out to lunch or for a post-work dinner on a Friday afternoon. This will strengthen your company as a team and will encourage your employees to be more productive during the week.