Preserving Your Company Culture During Difficult Times
- Veronica O'Sullivan
- May 2, 2020
- 2 min read
Due to the dangerous, unpredictable threat of the COVID-19 virus, almost overnight, businesses have had to redefine their operations. Employees are forced to use new technology, remain out of the professional office environment, juggle kids and barking dogs between (sometimes during) work tasks and deal with other complications of a remote work life. Whether your current state of mind loves the changes or hates them, there is no denying that people are very much out of their comfort zone.
An employee’s comfort zone is nurtured within your company’s culture. Right now, it’s hard to sustain a culture in a remote environment and you risk losing your most loyal and valuable players, just when they might be the ones you need the most.
Companies have worked very hard over the last few years to build their unique cultures. When times are good, jobs are plentiful and talent scarce, recruiting, engaging and retaining talent depends heavily on the attractiveness of the company culture. Think of that culture as a solid and powerful ship forging through a rocky sea.
Suddenly, there is very little time, and even fewer resources, to devote to nurturing that culture and the people it carries. It’s “all hands on deck.” Decisions have to be made quickly, some are unpleasant. Your people are vulnerable and for many business leaders, it is the first time their business decisions could be “a matter of life and death.”
If your business involves people, (and whose doesn’t?), now is a time to embrace the culture you have worked so hard to build, fortify your “ship”, by keeping focus. Take a look at your core values and choose the one that will be your driving force through your contingency planning.
If health and wellness is your core value, you may have to sacrifice potential business.
If business development is your core value, you may have to sacrifice some comforts to ensure adequate margin.
If agility is your core value, let people know that they will have to pivot together in order to accept change faster than usual.
Let the core values that set the tone for your company culture guide you through these uncharted waters. Be clear in communicating the focus to your people. We don’t know how long this health and economic crisis might last, so if it becomes necessary to transition your focus from one core value to another, be transparent. Educate and communicate to your teams. Let the culture you worked so hard to build, carry your organization through the storm. Your ship may look different when it comes out on the other side, but it will emerge.
20 years in the same industry, yet I never felt like an "expert" qualified to write an article. Truth is, I always want to keep learning but opening myself up to criticism is hard. Regardless, 2020 will be a year of personal and professional growth, no matter what obstacles lie ahead.
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