The PeopleAlchemist Edit: change & transformation, business & lifestyle experimentation for TheWomanAlchemist

Working from home and flexibly became necessary for the survival of businesses during the pandemic; now, fostering strong company culture is essential for the future of work.

On 19th July, all Covid related restrictions will disappear here in the UK (fingers crossed). More than ever, the big challenge for leaders is how hybrid working and the “new normal” will work long term.

Blending the old with the new way of working whilst getting the best of both worlds presents challenges. And in businesses without a strong culture, results may be hampered and impact effective customer service and business success.

But how can you have a strong company culture that is sustainable remotely? And are there any commons grounds?

FOSTERING STRONG COMPANY CULTURE

Every organisation has a culture unique to its history, values, behaviours and practices that make up that specific organisational identity. 

As a base, successful company cultures have a few things in common: 

• trust
• transparency
• agility

TRUST, TRANSPARENCY & AGILITY

Trust is an essential component of any employer-employee relationship and is necessary to foster a healthy company culture. Meaning enabling (and trusting) employees to do their jobs well and deliver results without micro-management. And empowering them to deliver with space and autonomy.

Of course, with autonomy comes accountability for the results.

Trust, however, is a two-way thing. It requires transparency in communication and decision-making from leaders who must earn their employees’ trust. This way, employees can see and understand how their work aligns with outcomes and company results.

When it comes to agility, which is not the same as working agile, I’m talking about the ability of the organisation (and employees) to pivot—both to the business and customer needs. And proactively work together to identify opportunities and solutions for continuous improvement.

All this is great, but to work, it needs to be operationalised in every single aspect of the employee journey, including for employees working remotely.

Values, practices, and so on can be communicated effectively in interactions, formal and informal, and how all work is carried out within the business and with customers.

Additionally, the right tools are necessary (after all, you can’t communicate remotely using pigeons …) to make it easy for everyone to work together. 

And enable “virtual” versions of the casual “coffee machine-type” conversations.

The future of work with ways of working that are suitable for both the needs of businesses and employees is possible. And it is much easier than it looks.

What are your views? What is your employer ( or you as a leader) do in your workplace to foster strong culture?

Please do share; it’s good to talk.

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