Let me ask you a couple of questions…
Have you held a recent Zoom or Teams call where there was an atmosphere?
Did it feel like tension was controlling the call?
Did a seemingly trivial question create a ripple throughout your business?
If the answer to those questions is yes: you’re not alone. In today’s chaotic workplace, the feeling of a business – the company’s interactions and behaviours – have never been as important.
If the answer is no: believe me, think again.
I’m willing to bet you have experienced these situations.
Maybe you’re just not seeing it or know what is happening within your business. You could be too disconnected from the business – running through obstacles versus tackling them.
These are the feeling of a business.
And these feelings, or senses, are just a layer of what Company Culture is. Often high performing businesses have a healthy and guiding company culture where everyone can add value.
Company Culture is co-created, not dictated by the leadership.
But Company Culture is more than the feeling.
It includes the vibe, the connections between colleagues, the frictions, the unexplainable that makes the teams click.
It includes unwritten expectations, cross-functional collaboration, the reduction of egos, and work pride.
Company Culture has several important components.
It encompasses…
- The environment you set
- The workplace (including remote working spaces)
- The connections between the teams
- The chemistry your colleagues have
- The acceptable and unacceptable behaviours
The workplace is now more than ‘the place we all use to perform our work tasks’.
There is an updated version that must include working from home and remotely.
We need to know work can happen anywhere, that we are still the same company with the same objectives, and we can grow personally and professionally.
The way we work is shifting.
The world is shifting, and so too is the workplace.
In this move towards a successful hybrid workplace, the right Company Culture becomes an unfair advantage for those who have embraced Emotional Intelligence (EQ) as much as IQ.
So take it! It will help you hire the best employees, retain your best performers and develop an award-winning business.
Here is a list of actions you can take to make your workplace and Company Culture work for the next three to five years:
- Co-create guiding principles that everyone signs up to; these will act as pillars and guide your decision making
- Create a company compass to help guide every decision, especially when you’re unavailable
- Enable personal development plans and have direct and actionable steps to take to let your team know how to be successful
- Build psychological safety by connecting colleagues
- Develop your employees’ EQ as much as IQ – the more compassion you build, the better
- Have an updated knowledge centre to keep everyone up to date on the what and the why
- Build a hybrid workplace where you book in and book out of the office – knowing where and when people will be working helps reduce stress and improve trust
- If there are issues, create ‘power half hours’ to clear the air and remove stumbling blocks. Healthy debate leads to more open and honest conversation, reduces problems and reconnects people
- Leverage asynchronous communications – be more deliberate in written communications vs having too many face-to-face or online meetings
- Build separate spaces for collaboration, for heads down (concentration), and to eat together
This article was supplied to The Business Clubhouse magazine supporting Hitting The Wall Podcast I appeared on.
Listen To The Supporting Podcast:
