At the time, finance professionals’ influence extended only to accounting statements and number crunching. That’s no longer the case. Today, controllers and chief financial officers directly impact the corporate culture. Are you using your influence to create a positive environment within the finance department?
A positive culture boosts employee engagement and helps each team member reach their full potential. Talented professionals want to work in an atmosphere where they are frequently challenged, treated with respect, and allowed to develop. Here’s everything you need to know about building a magnetic culture within finance.
Why Culture Matters
Organizational culture can feel like a buzzword. To be fair, it gets tossed around a lot these days, but that doesn’t make the concept any less important.
Culture defines the values, beliefs, and behaviors within your finance department. A positive culture encourages your team to take ownership of their work and promotes continuous improvement. If you create a place where people love to work, you’ll find that talented employees gravitate toward your organization and department.
There’s no denying that culture has a direct impact on performance. Once you realize this, you can use company culture as a lever to unlock each person’s full potential and transform the finance department into an efficient, dynamic team.
5 Ways to Ensure Positivity Permeates the Finance Department
What constitutes positive organizational culture? Does that mean everyone is respectful and polite? No. Your employees should already be acting that way.
Positive culture means a whole lot more than formal greetings and mere politeness. A positive work environment is where you and your team members genuinely value and respect one another while taking pride in what you achieve together. Here are five ways to create a finance department that everyone wants to be a part of:
1. Lead With Empathy and Emotional Intelligence
Change starts at the top. To drive change, you must lead your team with empathy and showcase a high level of emotional intelligence. This begins on day one.
When you meet your employees, you should show them that you genuinely care about their personal well-being and professional growth. Be cordial and polite. More importantly, demonstrate empathy when asking about their career goals, assisting them with challenging assignments, or teaching them new skills.
2. Promote an Inclusive Workplace
A positive workplace culture includes people from all backgrounds and walks of life. You need to cultivate a department that realizes the value of inclusivity and diversity. All viewpoints and backgrounds add value to the finance function.
Make sure everyone understands that the company values diversity and inclusivity. Ingrain these concepts at onboarding and ensure that these values are evident in how you treat your team, assign projects, and hold meetings. Everyone needs a voice. Ensure they have one.
3. Encourage Collaboration at a Meaningful Level
Finance professionals are going to work together to achieve critical tasks and projects. However, you should encourage your team to move beyond surface-level collaboration.
Organize team-building activities so you and your employees can get to know one another. There are multiple ways to promote closer collaboration and chemistry development. Host a luncheon, bring in team-building experts, or organize a workplace contest.
4. Give Your Team a Chance to Grow
People want to be challenged. Give your employees opportunities to take educational or upskilling courses.
Periodically talk to each employee about their long-term goals, strengths, and weaknesses. Discuss the opportunity for training and education. Personalize training opportunities so that courses are relevant and valuable to the participants.
5. Recognize and Reward Top Performers
Recognition can be a powerful motivator. Acknowledging your team members’ hard work and achievements boosts morale and reinforces positive behaviors. Recognition can take many forms, from a simple thank you to more formal rewards like bonuses, portions, or public acknowledgment during meetings.
A culture of recognition involves celebrating both individual and team successes. This makes employees feel valued and encourages a sense of camaraderie and shared purpose. If employees know their efforts will be recognized, they are likelier to put in the effort needed to achieve excellence.
Implement a peer recognition program. Allowing team members to recognize each other’s contributions fosters a culture of mutual respect and appreciation.
Open the Door for Strategic Finance With Cultural Change
The finance department has morphed into a strategic asset to modern businesses. For your team to step into this role, they must be given a positive environment to thrive. That’s where you come in.
Invest in a positive culture to bring out your team’s full potential and create an environment that attracts top talent. This will benefit your employees and position the finance department as a cornerstone of the organization’s success.
