We know that in the rush to respond quickly to the pandemic and associated rules and regulations, business operations have been greatly disrupted. We’ve also seen organisational cultures respond with unprecedented levels of agility, creativity and adaptability.
Interestingly, the Barrett Values Centre Covid research has found that company cultures are now healthier than prior to the pandemic. The organisational values that are now a new part of the colleague experience (because of Covid-19), indicate a desire to continue being responsive to the environment and finding better ways of working together. The research results also indicate that colleagues want this way of being and doing to become the new normal.
As colleagues start transitioning back to work from furlough, and many return to their offices, this is an opportune time for leaders to capitalise on this threshold moment.
Clash or Collaboration
I’ve been having interesting conversations with a lot of people recently, some of whom have been put on furlough and recently returned to work, whilst others have continued working throughout as part of a skeleton staff, juggling multiple workloads.
The conversations have been fascinating and demonstrate the need for companies to understand the sentiment of the various groups as this transition begins.
Here’s two of these conversations that brings this need to life:
Rachel: “Even though to start with I felt overwhelmed with the additional workload, I had to dig deep and really think about how to do things in different ways. Being solution-focused, I worked this through and adapted some of my ways of working. That, together with less meetings and emails to deal with, enabled me to make it work.
“Now colleagues are coming back from furlough, my workload seems to have increased, as I’m having to cope with more emails, more meetings and there’s more people to take into account when decisions need to be made. It’s quite frustrating, and someone else who was in the same boat as me, feels exactly the same. Now I’m contemplating how we can keep the effective ways of working that I’ve introduced, and encourage others to take them up.”
She likened the situation to this analogy “It feels like you’re on a long car journey going at a steady speed, and then you’ve hit a long queue, and you’re having to slow down.”
Flip to the other side of the coin and those returning from furlough are having a very different experience:
Martin: “I’ve just returned to work after three months of furlough, and currently feel like a rabbit in headlights. Things have moved on a lot. It’s been quite a stressful time coming back, because I’m also having to go back into the office and commute. I’m feeling quite frustrated as although I’m grateful to my colleagues for holding the fort, they’ve introduced some new ways of working, and I don’t know why things have had to change.”
As you read this, you can already see that this is a real crunch time for organisations. If leaders don’t understand the collective sentiment of the differing groups, and they don’t make a concerted effort to bring these groups together to create new and better ways of working, then there will be rifts, and dysfunctional behaviours will start to come into play, and an unhealthy culture will start to develop.
This is an opportunity for leaders to jump on. It’s a time to bring people together effectively, whilst demonstrating a culture of care, value and inclusion. Once understanding is gleaned from these different groups, leaders can then act to avoid inevitable clashes, and introduce new ways of working that will benefit everyone.
Prioritising colleagues and really listening to what they need to be able to be at their best in this new climate is critical. As research shows us again and again, creating healthy organisational cultures and an environment in which people feel they belong, are valued and can flourish, leads to a more resilient, effective organisation with more engaged and productive colleagues.
The question is are you a aware of the potential incoming clashes, and can you envisage the negative impact these will have?
Why not use this threshold moment to carry out a culture values assessment to understand what colleagues want moving forward? You’ll get some invaluable insight and understanding and at the same time, colleagues will feel valued. The results will enable you to prioritise what must change to enable the business, colleagues and ultimately customers to collectively thrive. It will also give you a cultural benchmark against which to measure future success as you focus on enabling and driving the desired culture that colleagues have helped to identify.
If you’d like to find out more about our culture work and how we can help at this important time, click here.