Sonia McDonald* urges leaders not to allow their organisational culture to dissipate simply because many of their employees are working off their kitchen tables.
As a remote team member, when was the last time your manager did a culture check-in?
In times of intense pressure, sometimes culture is pushed to the bottom of the barrel.
However, culture is not and never should be a dirty word.
With the acceleration of remote work, some managers may have kept their culture in the bottom drawer of their remote office.
If you want to preserve and build your culture remotely, you’d better keep it in good shape and exercise it daily.
Successful organisations embrace the concept of ‘cultural contribution’.
Remote culture failure can occur when managers apply the same rules for virtual teams as well as face-to-face teams.
They don’t consider what’s different: A huge mistake.
Small teams, well led, act with autonomy, build trust and invest in leadership, accountability and culture.
Then, behaviour and attitudes align with this framework.
A May 2020 article, Working from Home the Future of Work? reveals that an increasing chorus of professionals are claiming that remote work is the future.
One of the main issues, however, is that more effort will be required to maintain culture.
Look at where your remote team is right now in relation to culture.
Are bad behaviour, misconduct and misalignment with values evident? Do you have a blame culture?
Spend some time asking the right questions. Courage, kindness, trust and culture are critical, ensuring a high performing organisation at every level.
My blog, Great Checklist for the Managers of Remote Workers, shows that the current pandemic adds a new layer of uncertainty to even the most seasoned remote workers, making managers feel uneasy.
They not only have to adapt to a new working style, but also try to help their staff cope as well.
If you’re managing a remote workforce, this checklist will help you make sure you have your bases covered overall including culture.
Get your technology in order;
Set goals;
Foster trust and engagement’
Promote and maintain healthy work and life practices;
Communication;
Encourage social interactions and fun.
Indie Bollman makes some pertinent comments in her article, Repairing & Rebuilding Company Culture in a Remote Work Environment.
She says that as remote work is suddenly thrust upon organisations, businesses at large scramble to keep their workflow and their culture moving along.
For many, this sudden shift to a more remote work environment highlighted culture issues and challenges that may have been hidden or not seen as important.
Issues with culture can reveal themselves in many ways, from how well employees get along and support each other, to how they take care of clients.
It also shows up in how disengaged employees are.
Whatever the symptoms of cultural ailments you may be experiencing, you’re not alone.
We all need to work at culture every day. Culture is not something you do once and it sticks. It’s never too late to start fixing it now.
The Coronavirus pandemic’s office exodus risks diminishing organisational culture unless leaders take action to support it.
The massive shift to remote work may change the office as we know it forever with some chief financial officers making plans to shed office real estate.
With such a swift and large-scale exodus, it’s no surprise that some feel nostalgic for even the mundane facets of office life: Cubicle mazes, bad coffee, water cooler conversations.
What makes office life meaningful for many is that it helps sustain organisational culture — the beliefs and practices that underpin how people work together.
These are harder to feel and maintain when so many of us are crouched at a kitchen table, growing exhausted with a constant stream of video conference meetings.
This is how managers can ensure that valued aspects of the culture endure:
Make culture visible by calling it out;
Welcome modifications to the cultural tool kit;
Use disruption to bolster the cultural core.
Culture is ultimately about the actions we take and make visible to others, and the meanings we invest in those.
It is harder, but not impossible, to maintain this from the kitchen table.
*Sonia McDonald is the Chief Executive and founder of Brisbane-based LeadershipHQ and McDonald Inc. She can be contacted at soniamcdonald.com.au.
This article first appeared on LinkedIn.
