2. About positive cultures

What does a positive culture look like?

People told us a positive culture is one where:

• everyone feels listened to, valued and heard
• organisations acknowledge, accept and respect difference and diversity
• leaders and managers focus on recruiting, nurturing, challenging and supporting the behaviours and values they want to see
• national and local organisations work together and support each other to understand what matters to people and their communities
• leaders and managers, at all levels, understand why it’s important for their organisation to have a positive culture
• national and local organisations work together to promote people’s rights
• the organisation, its systems and processes all support staff to do what matters for people
• organisations that design and deliver services involve the people they care for and support in those processes
• organisations look outwards, are inclusive, and build working partnerships with their communities to support people’s well-being outcomes.

It’s important to make sure social care is anti-discriminatory and anti-racist. 

We should also recognise that anti-discrimination supports good quality care. 

Positive cultures are inclusive, fair and equitable and proactively promote and value diversity.

Social care organisations grow and thrive when they recognise how diversity benefits their workplace. 

We can tell a lot about an organisation’s culture by looking at:

• how the organisation treats the people and communities it cares for or supports
• how the organisation does its work
• what people say about the care and support they receive
• how staff members feel about working there
• what other people think and say about the organisation
• how it receives and responds to complaints and feedback. 

These are usually affected by:

• the people who lead and guide others (including managers and team or community leaders), and their leadership style
• the organisation’s values principles and policies, and how it puts these into practice
• team values and behaviours.