It is not easy to develop corporate culture under the current conditions. However, if a company wants to emerge from the crisis even stronger, and plans to return to its previous and even higher positions, it should still cultivate its own values.
The time it takes for employees to get to the offices is very vague. Business is shackled in the home mode and continues to look for ways to survive and return to a competitive level. It's time to remember Nietzsche: "It doesn't kill us, it makes us stronger". Once the situation has stabilized, the company will either not go back to the market or will come out with more prospects and opportunities, having learned to work under stress.
One of the indicators of the company's strength, its formation as a single organism, all cells of which move in synergy, is corporate culture. Remote work will reveal at once whether companies "cared" formally about their employees, whether the staff is so loyal to the employer, whether all business processes and communications between employees can be preserved.
It's not about some technical issues, but rather about the psychological climate in the team. It is important for a person to be involved and to understand that even if he is far away from the team, it does not mean that the team is not there or he is outside. This is especially true for guys who have just joined the team, have not yet adapted, but already work in certain uncomfortable conditions.
When switching to a remote work format, try moving your entire office life online: jokes, communication, discussion outside the office life, even tea/coffee. Even remotely.
1. Keep Transparency
Do not promise a mountains of gold after quarantine or early entry into the office, do not hide the problems encountered in the way of the company. Be honest and honest with your employees, everyone will appreciate it. Try to create a separate chat room or channel in the corporate messenger, where only news, important announcements or FAQs will be placed. Alternatively, create a separate document or page on the internal portal, which will be constantly updated and will be visible to employees.
2. Build Activity
If a company had any traditions or events on a permanent basis, remote work is not a reason to give them up. Video lectures with guest speakers. For sure, there is a cool speaker in the team who is able to unusually and interestingly reveal a certain topic. If you want to distract yourself, you don't have to take working questions as a basis. There are many formats:
• Discussion club;
• Brainstorms;
• Theme nights (from psychology to the discussion of favorite cat).
3. Challenges And Domestic Competitions
A quick and effective way to set the right mood and support the team. Even a simple photo of your workplace can shake up the atmosphere and trigger a chain reaction from such photos. Invited his colleagues to participate in a general competition for a small prize. The idea was enthusiastically supported, almost half of the guys sent photos and expressed willingness to participate. Children, cats, musical toys, specially created installations - everything went into action.
4. New Challenges
Online meet-ups, video lectures - this is interesting, but what about the practical application of the acquired skills? Many companies have emphasized this and are developing not only soft skills and hard skills, but also help maintain the health of the employee. The easiest and most elementary way is to conduct daily exercises. Invited coach or employee enthusiast in 20 minutes in the morning will help to cheer up to the beginning of the day and not lose physical shape. Yes, at first they may not support the idea, but as practice has shown, the example is contagious. To keep all the activities within work time you can use employee monitoring software.
5. General Assemblies
The easiest way not to get discouraged within the four walls is simply to continue communication, not limited to formal frames. Try to implement evening or weekly co-productions of movies or TV series with discussions, hold tournaments for online games.
Keep Your Corporate Culture In Place During Crisis Conditions
It is not easy to develop corporate culture under the current conditions. However, if a company wants to emerge from the crisis even stronger and plans to return to its previous and even higher positions, it should make efforts and continue to cultivate its own values. Even if it is in online format. In the end, this will make your company stronger and your team even more cohesive.
