Author of
The Gauntlet
Emerging from months of virtual-only connectivity, many businesses are discovering that the long-term lack of in-person interaction among their staff has compromised their culture.
Control, dependence and short-term thinking have grown more dominant over collaboration, risk-taking, initiative and more strategic thinking.
Businesses are living entities, with cultures built and nurtured by all those whose energy and commitment have produced the company’s progress. Their culture is what binds them to one another, enabling their execution of strategy in pursuit of shared goals, and empowering them to create value for customers, the business and each other. The virtual-only experience has frayed this bond.
As part of their shift back towards normalcy, companies who have observed some culture deterioration are assessing its status with questions like these:
- What do you like most about the Company’s culture?
- What is the one thing you would most like to change about our Company?
- What are the characteristics of the people who are most successful in our organization?
- When people don’t succeed in our culture, what is the most common reason?
- How consistently do your associates and our leaders model our values?
- How much interaction do you have with your associates, and what’s the tone of these interactions (formal or informal, pleasant or harsh, energized or despondent, etc.)?
- What does the Company encourage more: learning from and engaging with one another, or conforming to established internal standards?
- What would you tell a friend about our Company if he or she was about to start working here?
How well is your culture positioned to produce greater prosperity
and sustainability for your business?
