Strategies for Building a Modern High-Performance Workplace
25 November, 2024A high-performance workplace is crucial for employee and organizational success. In fact, work environments where employees thrive in and outside work are more likely to see better performance, engagement, and retention outcomes. But what does it take to build such a workplace, and how can organizations ensure they’re setting the right foundation?
Developing a high-performance workplace is not about setting high expectations. It’s about providing the leadership, communication, and talent management strategies that help employees excel. It’s also about building a strong connection between employees and your cultural values. However, Gallup research shows that only 23% of employees feel connected to their company’s culture.
In this blog post, we’ll explore actionable steps and effective tools you can use to create an environment where employees are connected to your organization’s culture and empowered to thrive.
What is a High-Performance Workplace?
A high-performance workplace naturally develops when you provide an environment that enables employees to achieve their goals and reach their fullest potential. It’s a workplace where:
- Teams are efficient and innovative, even amid volatility and uncertainty
- Employees trust and are inspired by company leaders to perform at their best
- Communication is honest, transparent, and collaborative
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion are part of the organization’s competitive advantage
- Employees are open to change and regularly seek opportunities for continuous learning and improvement
- Employees are encouraged to take measured risks and innovate within a nurturing and supportive environment
Put simply, high-performance teams win. Studies have found that they deliver the following benefits:
- Stronger financial performance: Companies with a high-performance workplace achieve higher revenue growth, shareholder returns, and earnings before taxes than companies with a poor culture.
- Employee retention: 90% of employees experiencing a poor work environment have thought about quitting, while just 32% in a positive work environment said they’ve considered it.
- Employee engagement: Employees who report a positive work environment are nearly four times more likely to be engaged, a crucial finding considering that engaged employees are generally more enthusiastic and motivated to give their best effort.
- Customer satisfaction: Organizations with a workplace based on core values, innovation, and customer orientation have more favorable customer service outcomes.
Strategies for Cultivating a High-Performance Workplace
Though a high-performance workplace brings several potential benefits to your organization, it requires a careful and deliberate approach to make it a reality.
Here are four critical ways to develop a workplace that helps employees feel connected to your culture and equipped to achieve high performance:
1. Establish cultural values employees can see and feel every day
Communicating company values early and often, and incorporating those values into everyday actions, helps employees see the connection between their contributions and the company’s mission and purpose. As company leaders reinforce these messages, you also build trust, signaling to employees that your company values are more than words and aspirations — they are an authentic representation of how work gets done and how people work together.
Living your company values can take several forms. It can be incorporated into company hiring practices, communication strategies, and employee rewards and recognition, to name a few.
2. Build a sense of connection and belonging
When employees feel they belong, they also tend to feel comfortable contributing their ideas and full effort at work. A study featured in the Harvard Business Review found that high employee belonging was linked to a 56% increase in job performance, 50% less turnover, and 75% fewer sick days.
Ultimately, fostering employee belonging hinges on creating a diverse and inclusive workforce where employees enjoy these benefits:
- Their experiences, perspectives, and ways of thinking are respected and valued
- They feel connected to their manager, coworkers, and senior leaders
- They are rewarded and recognized fairly
- They feel welcomed and heard in team discussions and decision-making
3. Provide transparent and unifying communication
While email, company newsletters, and intranet all serve a purpose in keeping employees informed, they often fall short in building a sense of community and driving engagement. Empyrean Connect, our mobile-first employee communications platform, helps companies energize employees and empower them to interact with their work life in an entirely new way. It delivers content covering the entire employee experience—from onboarding and training to benefits, critical leadership updates, and much more.
Empyrean Connect gives employees 24/7 access to company messages and resources personalized to them, whether they’re newly hired or being recognized for their latest team win. As Angel Seufert, Empyrean’s EVP of Human Resources, describes, “The Connect app enhances communication transparency between leaders and employees, fostering a stronger sense of connection and engagement. It meets employees where they are and delivers the right message at the right time.”
4. Prioritize individual growth and development
A key element of any high-performance workplace is having employees who are enthusiastic about their potential and feel supported in taking risks as they grow. Therefore, experiences such as training, coaching, mentorship, and job rotations are essential. They not only aid skill development, but they also demonstrate the company’s dedication to each employee’s development and long-term success. By seamlessly integrating these programs into a communications platform like Empyrean Connect, you can expand their reach, improve employee understanding, and boost the likelihood of program adoption across your organization.
Connection is Vital to Achieving Peak Team Performance
Cultivating a workplace where employees perform at the highest levels requires strategies that encourage trust, meaningful connections, and belonging. With innovative tools and creative strategies that help make this happen, you can empower your people to face the challenges of today and tomorrow.
Learn more about how Empyrean Connect can help you enhance workforce communications, drive meaningful engagement, and create an environment that helps every employee thrive.
