Culture is Key for Remote & Hybrid Work environments
In today’s “flexible” environments, organizations are facing countless cultural challenges. Disparate teams, decreased engagement and productivity, acquisition/retention/attrition, and managers and leaders unequipped and unprepared to navigate these uncharted waters. Although the challenge is significant, it’s not impossible.
Here are a few tips on how to build and maintain a strong culture in remote and hybrid work environments.
Encourage communication and collaboration: This can be done in several ways utilizing the various online tools, but one of the most important indicators is flexibility. Something simple, yet often overlooked, is asking “what will be the most effective way for us to stay connected?” Yes, just ask your employees/team how they would like to communicate; frequency, platform, formal/informal, etc.
Make sure managers and leaders are set up for success: Gone (minimized) are the days of the informal conversation. For many leaders, some of the most valuable and rich conversations happened in these impromptu conversations. For many, remote/hybrid work environments are new. Managers are challenged and struggling to keep themselves engaged and productive, let alone a team who is experiencing the same challenges. Have you tried to video call someone without having something on the calendar? Take the time to train and coach your leaders, clarify expectations...they are struggling too.
Foster a sense of belonging: A sense of belonging is essential for any team, but it can be especially difficult to achieve in remote and hybrid work environments. To foster a sense of belonging, create opportunities for social interaction, such as virtual happy hours or coffee breaks....be creative. You can also encourage team members to share their hobbies and interests outside of work. For those on global teams, timing is essential.
As organizations continue to wrestle with the various “return to work” options, two things remain clear – employees want, even demand, flexibility AND regardless of your organization’s return to work strategy – culture is key. It has been proven repeatedly that organizations with strong cultures outperform organizations that struggle with culture and with the uncertainties facing organizations today, culture will be more significant than ever. Is your organization’s culture as strong as it needs to be?
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