Improve your workplace culture

Your chiropractic practice is a place of healing, but it is also a workplace, with its own workplace culture, the set of values and attitudes that define what it’s like to work there.

Some cultures are healthy…and some can become downright unhealthy.

If you’re struggling with the reality that you might need to change your workplace culture, you’ve likely encountered some resistance to that idea, either from your colleagues, employees or even within yourself.

Workplace culture can change, and that change starts with the attitude of you, the boss. Here are three common misconceptions about that change, and how you can get them out of the way and start growing a healthier place for you and your co-workers to spend your days.

Misconception #1: Workplace culture is so big and complex that it can’t be changed.

Individuals within a practice may feel overwhelmed with the complexity of what they feel is wrong, so they conclude the culture cannot change because they perceive the problem as too big to address. This is clearly not the case. Numerous practices have identified significant problems that require addressing — problems such as poor communication, excess friction between management and employees, overwhelming negativity and pessimism, or just unreasonably high or constant levels of pressure and stress — and embarked on a successful path to change.

Misconception #2: No one person can impact their workplace culture very much.

Some hold this belief due to the incredible “staying power” of an existing structure and way of being. Many cultures and communication patterns can feel almost immovable.

Individuals reach this conclusion because they believe that “culture” is an external entity that essentially happens to an organization. The reality is, workplace culture is the result of the interaction between how the practice is structured and the combination of thousands of individual interactions among all the individual employees and their supervisors.

Misconception #3: Culture is easy to change.

In opposition to the two misconceptions above, some people simplistically believe, “all we need to do is be more positive,” and a negative workplace will magically transform itself.

Culture is complex and, in many cases, difficult to change. But when the people within an organization understand what comprises culture and then start a systematic approach to revising those factors that help shape culture, transformation can happen. Not quickly, and probably not easily, but it can happen.

How do you change culture, then? 

The first step is to empower people to change their individual behavior. If each individual employee, supervisor, manager and professional takes responsibility for themselves to make small but consistent changes in their behavior over time, an organization’s culture can begin to morph into a healthier state of being.

Second, understand that structure highly influences organizational culture, encompassing communication patterns, decision-making styles and expectations for daily operations. Continuously articulating the organization’s mission, priorities and values plays a significant role.

Third, don’t forget critical elements. Traditions and habits, actions performed repeatedly without conscious thought, constitute the remaining components of a practice’s culture. For example:

• Community
• Visual symbols (such as signs and posters)
• Music, food and celebrating organizational successes

If you are interested in trying to reshape your organization’s way of operating, begin by reflecting on how your daily actions might impact the aspects of workplace interactions you find unfavorable. Next, explore resources to help change your team’s interactions to initiate a positive difference.

You can influence the communication and behavioral patterns around you, and ultimately, as you work on it you will begin to see a change in your overall workplace culture.

Final thoughts on changing workplace culture

Thinking your workplace culture is too big and immobile to change, or that you as one person can’t make a difference, or even dealing with people who think the change should be easy are all roadblocks to making change happen. Dispelling these misconceptions and helping your co-workers see they are untrue will unblock the way and let you start the hard work of rebuilding a workplace you all enjoy coming to every day.

PAUL WHITE, PHD, is a psychologist, speaker and leadership expert who “makes work relationships work.” He has been interviewed by the New York Times, BBC News and other international publications. He is the coauthor of the best-selling book The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, which has sold more than 550,000 copies (with Dr. Gary Chapman, author of The 5 Love Languages). For more information, go to appreciationatwork.com.