There are certain work environments that encourage production and others that simply don’t. Getting your office in unison will increase the teamwork, and output. So, what are these characteristics and how can we implement them? How can we get the staff to all work together and get along? Here are six characteristics to consider.

“Honesty is the best policy.” – Aesop

Having an honest staff will bring trust into your office. It is normal that things will go wrong at some point: copy machines will break, orders won’t be completed on time, and someone will be late to work. These things happen, but the tool that will overcome these challenges is honesty. Encourage your staff to speak in a respectful manner about issues without delay.

Albert Einstein said, “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” When the staff is honest, you have something to work with, but when the staff is not, it’s chaos.

“Take the bull by the horns.” – North American Saying

Encouraging your office staff to be productive is a great characteristic. This will help them be more self-motivated, and accomplish things without you having to push them. It can also increase teamwork. Give your employees the green light to be responsible, to take on challenges, and to achieve goals.

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” – Ben Franklin

Review with your staff the office goals, the current projects, and even the company mission statement. Don’t expect the staff to read your mind. Keeping everyone on the same page will build unity. Unity builds production, and production builds income. Train your staff regularly for customer focused selling as this can truly take your business to new heights.

“The heaviest thing I can carry is a grudge.” – author unknown

Encouraging your staff to forgive each other is pertinent to a positive work environment. Anywhere people are, there will be differences. Learning to work through these differences, and forgive each other is crucial. “A man who never made a mistake never made anything” – author unknown. The best way to express this idea is for the leadership to forgive when a staff member fails.

“Even a fish wouldn’t get into trouble if it kept it’s mouth shut.” – Korean Proverb

Gossip is the death of a positive working space! This is something that must not be tolerated. Gossiping hurts co-workers, kills production, and in the long run, can cost the business money. Leadership needs to encourage the staff to support each other. Individual’s lives are bound to come into the office space from time to time; there are deaths, divorces, hospital stays, and regular life dramas. Having a staff that thinks as a team, a work family, will help reduce gossip.

“A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience” – American Proverb.

The wealth from old adages is still true today. Learning from others is the best and shortest way to avoid mistakes. Honesty, self-motivation, good communication, forgiveness, and gossip control are several ways you can create a positive workspace for your staff.