This document discusses the importance of maintaining a professional workplace culture through healthy work relationships, increased productivity, and employee well-being and safety. It provides strategies for effective communication, resolving conflicts respectfully, addressing barriers to professionalism, and creating a supportive work environment. The overall message is that applying principles of respect, active listening, understanding different perspectives, and addressing issues constructively helps foster a positive professional culture.

1. Professional Workplace Culture
For Employees
Presented by:
ESI Employee Services Inc.

2. Why is Creating a
Professional Workplace Culture
Important?

3. A Professional Workplace Culture Includes:
 Healthy Work Relationships
 Increased Productivity
 A Sense of Safety and Well-being

4. How is it helpful?
 Reduces stress
 Promotes better teamwork
 Enhances job satisfaction

5. Professional vs. Unprofessional
• People enjoy working together
• Changes can be made with full
cooperation
• Employees and managers are
willing to help wherever needed
• Customers report high marks for
service
• Problems and issues are discussed
openly
• When something doesn’t work,
the focus is on identifying issues
not blaming
• People form cliques and gossip
• Employees resist change or
undermine it
• Employees and managers stick
to “it’s not my job” attitude
• Customers complain about service
• Problems aren’t discussed even
though everyone knows about
them
• When something doesn’t work,
the focus is on blaming people or
each other

6. Respect
In a respectful, caring, and responsible work
environment:
• Employees feel valued
• Communication is polite and courteous
• People treat each other as they want to be treated
• Conflict is addressed in a positive and respectful manner
• Harassment and disrespectful behavior are not tolerated

7. You may NOT like someone or choose them
as a friend, but it is your responsibility to
figure out how to have a courteous and
professional work relationship.
EVERYONE deserves to be treated respectfully at work.

8. What are the Barriers to a
Professional Work Environment?
• Job-related stressors
• Issues with co-workers and/or supervisors
• Difficulty managing responsibilities or tasks
• Personal issues or problems
• Past experiences
• Health issues

9. Strategies for a Positive Work Environment
• Try to understand the other person’s point of view
• Accept values and opinions that are different from
your own (or agree to disagree)
• Identify your own feelings before you share your
concerns with another person
• Do not blame, threaten, or name call even if you
are angry or hurt
• Report harassment, discrimination, or abuse

10. “No matter what your line of work, your degree
of success depends on your ability to interact
effectively with other people.”
From “The 5 Essential People Skills” by Dale Carnegie

11. Methods of Communication
Sometimes it is not WHAT
you say, but HOW you say it.

12. Verbal Communication
It involves words,
tone,and pace.

13. Non-Verbal Communication
• Body language (arms crossed, sitting, relaxed, tense, etc…)
• Emotion of the sender and receiver (anxious, angry, upset,
stressed, etc…)
• Similarities or differences between the people (friends,
adversaries, age, profession, etc…)

14. Communication – The Process
• In any communication at least some of the
“meaning” is lost
• The message that is heard is often far different
than the one intended, due to a variety of factors.

15. Some Barriers of Effective Communication
• Misreading body language, tone, and other
non-verbal forms of communication
• Selective hearing or distractions
• Defensiveness
• Assumptions
• Judgments (e.g., stereotyping)
• Cultural differences
• Stress

16. Barriers to Active Listening
• Mind Reading
• Interrupting
• Filtering
• Rehearsing

17. Effective Communication
• Maintain a positive and concerned attitude
• Be aware of your audience
• Use approachable language
- Say: “Lets see what we can do,” instead of automatically
saying, “No”

18. Effective Communication
• Be direct and specific
• Utilize assertive communication skills
- Assumes that I have the right to express myself and be
heard and so do you, even if we do not agree
- Talk about actions not character
- Take responsibility for your own thoughts and feelings
- Use direct statements to express thoughts, feelings, and
ideas

19. Words that Promote Conflict
• “You must…”
• “This is so typical of you…”
• “You always / you never”
• “The problem is…”
• “If you don’t do this, then…”
• “You’ll never change”
• “You’re being hysterical”
• “What is the matter with you?”

20. Issue
Personality
Emotions
Interests, Needs
and Desires
Self-Perceptions
and Self-Esteem
Hidden Expectations
Unresolved Issues from the Past
The Iceberg of Conflict

21. Additional Strategies
• Respect each other’s boundaries
• Acknowledge and solve problems
- Acknowledge the other person’s needs
- Listen patiently and repeat back what you think you heard
- Use empathy
- Ask questions that will provide you with information
- Give each other the benefit of the doubt
- Offer a choice of solutions

22. Additional Strategies
Try to get along with difficult people
• Remember, difficult people often come into a situation
with their own set of problems we may be unaware of
• Focus on the facts not on their emotions
• Try not to take it personally and focus on the whole person
• Listen patiently and let the person express him/herself
• Acknowledge the other person’s feelings or pain
• Show that you really heard and understand by clarifying
their words

23. Additional Strategies
• Balance family and work life
• Create a supportive network of co-workers
and friends

24. Conclusion
A professional work culture is enhanced if
employees continually use effective strategies to
actively listen to one another and work together
to resolve differences in a healthy way.

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