As many organizations have implemented mandatory work-from-home amid the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many leaders are asking “how can we keep our team engaged and maintain a culture?” This is the most common question we receive during training and coaching programs.
More now than ever, organizations need to focus on employee’s well-being and engagement. It’s tempting to push culture aside and focus on the immediate business needs, but we’ve noticed a trend that managers are expecting employees to be at their home office in front of the computer all the time. People are experiencing work-from-home burnout. The companies who are best positioned to come out of this pandemic in good shape are focused on their people. We see the top three practices are most effective maintaining culture as:
Continuity and Connection Plans – It’s important to maintain operations and continuity with your teams by instituting processes throughout the organization. In addition to defining goals and measuring goals, there needs to be a combination of daily check-ins, and weekly, monthly and other group meetings. Don't forget the Zoom meeting cameras should be turned on to see everyone’s faces!
Transparency – Keeping the lines of communications open is critical. Virtual town halls and quarterly meetings help extend the culture of transparency.
Fun – Gone are the days of on-site happy hours, birthday celebrations and other team-building experiences. How are you giving your team members something to look forward to besides their computer screens? Think about virtual ways to implement levity and fun in your workplace.
Team members want to to have connections with their colleagues. Even though we don’t have the shared physical workplace now, we can maintain and grow the workplace culture by staying connected using other venues.
The Bradley Partnerships (TBP) has worked with organizations to create workplace cultures. Contact us today so we can help your organization! We can be reached at 724-799-8170, email us at info@bradleypartnerships.com, or visit our website at: www.bradleypartnerships.com.