To shape a healthy company culture, you need to determine what type of organizational culture you are striving to create. What values, attitudes, ideals, and goals do you hope will characterize your organization?

For instance, if you plan to foster a culture that values innovation, consider how to create an environment that encourages curiosity and exploration. How will you promote new ideas, incentivize experimentation, and create a safe space for employees to challenge the status quo?

Many leaders aspire to create an inclusive culture where diversity can thrive. These organizations need to take steps toward behavior change to develop an environment in which colleagues delegate equitably, resolve conflict fairly, and have empathy for one another.

5 Key Leader Behaviors to Build a Positive Workplace Culture

In our 2021 Global Leadership Forecast (GLF), we identified five key behaviors that leaders should strengthen and apply to be part of an organization that’s considered a “best place to work.”

1. Support the development of team members. Leaders should help their team members define development goals and create a plan for development. The plan should include leader check-ins to ensure healthy accountability for development and allow leaders to offer support to team members without removing responsibility. Leaders also should ensure team members have time to dedicate to their development.

2. Provide opportunities to gain visibility. Leaders should offer development that includes stretch assignments with opportunities to work with other leaders and teams across the organization, so team members can gain visibility. Leaders at “best places to work” organizations spend more time attending group meetings than others. This provides opportunities to foster relationships, share openly about experiences, and allow leaders to provide opportunities for team members to gain visibility.

3. Celebrate team member success. Leaders should applaud team members who excel and recognize achievements in front of the entire team. If the success was a team effort, celebrating with lunches or sharing the team’s success with high-level leaders can help team members feel appreciated and proud of their work.