Culture Matters!

Although we are still dealing with the lingering reality of COVID, I’m starting to feel like we are beginning to get back to some form of “normal” life.  However, I believe the pandemic has forever changed how our organizations fundamentally operate and interact with our clients but especially our employees.

I recently read an article written by Abhinav Chugh from the World Economic Forum that discussed what we’ve been hearing as “The Great Resignation”. As you probably already know, The Great Resignation (TGR) is being described as a phenomenon where great numbers of employees are leaving their jobs either during or after the COVID-19 pandemic ends. Chugh interviewed university professor Dr. Isabell Welpe for the article and a lot of good points were made about what’s causing TGR. However, it should be no surprise that the overwhelming cause of TGR is that most workers would like to work remotely, and they are willing to quit their jobs in order to do so.

In response to the above, most of our organizations have created opportunities for staff to work a more flexible and often remote work schedule. No matter what your personal thoughts are on this, some amount of virtual and remote work is here to stay. However, our industry is so collaborative and very few of us work in a silo, therefore there is still the need to come together, connect and coordinate with each other. The following statement by Dr. Welpe illustrates what will be needed in our industry’s evolving work culture:

“The use of office buildings will change as they become cultural touchstones and meetings places for recruiting, meeting customers, and holding bootcamps to facilitate interpersonal exchange. This new way of organizing work requires a different leadership style and also demands new skills from workers. Self-leadership will gradually replace leadership through leaders and control. Workers who are able, willing, and motivated to take on responsibility will thrive and enable greater agility in their organizations. Managing the transition to this new way of functioning organizations requires two measures: Selecting the right talents and socializing them in the right way.”

What hits home for me in the above statement (but is not really emphasized in the article) is this: Company culture (values, purpose, vision, norms that drive action, behaviors and results) still matters regardless of where our employees perform their work and is critical if they are going to thrive in this new work environment.

Why is culture so important?

• It supports work relationships and team health
• People love being part of great organizations
• Great cultures have great impact
• It makes our work life more fulfilling and fun

Even in a virtual work environment we all still need connection in some way to our fellow team members and being a part of something bigger than ourselves. How successful are we at creating great company culture makes all the difference in employee satisfaction, which leads to client satisfaction and then ultimately how profitable we will be.

Stepping down off of my soapbox now…

As always, I look forward to seeing you all at an upcoming membership meeting and let’s continue to build a better California!