Why COVID-19 is an accelerator for building a strong company culture
Let’s face it, COVID-19 has totally disrupted our way of working. Whereas the media are mostly focusing on the bad news show, especially when it comes to worldwide health and financial impact, we tend to forget that every crisis also provides businesses with new opportunities: More than ever, COVID-19 is an excellent accelerator for building a strong company culture!
Let’s take a look at some of these opportunities:
1. Due to COVID-19 we're working remotely one hundred percent of our time
In less than one month most organizations have adapted 100% to the new ways of virtual working, including those that were always critical about working remotely. This is the ultimate proof that, when change is forced upon us, people can adapt and learn in no time. As the famous biologist Charles Darwin once wrote: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” In this sense COVID-19 has been an enormous change accelerator for contemporary businesses!
2. COVID-19 creates more agile and connected teams
Whereas the impact on revenue will probably be negative for most of our contemporary businesses, there is no doubt that COVID-19 also brings out the best in people. Forced to work from the home office day in day out, teams feel more connected to each other than ever and have never operated in a more creative way. The bear fact that we are not able to meet up physically has encouraged people to get in touch daily, not only to discuss about work-related topics, but also to connect more on a personal level. The numerous charity actions set up by employees only add up to that.
3. COVID-19 provides an opportunity for organizations to keep on investing in people development
Especially in a context where most employees only have two social activities to engage in, which are spending time with family or work/colleagues, companies should more than ever to keep on focusing on employee engagement in order to be able to move forward after the crisis. Because face it, COVID-19, as any other crisis in the past, shall pass too, and as an organization you will be judged based on how you approached your employees during COVID-19. To make sure your valued employees will remain loyal after the crisis, continue investing in their development.
4. COVID-19 constitutes an opportunity to go more mindful and conscious through life
The current lockdown situation encouraged people to reconnect with nature again. Most of us are currently saying goodbye to our usual routine of “métro, boulot, dodo” as the French saying goes. Breaking habits makes new room for creating new ones. For many people this is going for a morning / evening walk outside to reconnect with nature (and themselves). In times like these we are more thankful for the little things in life like the beauty of nature. It constitutes an opportunity to go more mindful and conscious through life. Inevitably spending more time with yourself (in nature) provokes more thoughts and sets you of to engaging in reflection towards your goals and achievements (small and big ones), both from a personal and professional point of view. Organizations with a strong purpose will therefore be much more effective in retaining talent after COVID-19.
5. COVID-19 increases durability
COVID-19 resulted in the biggest drop in CO2 emissions since World War II! If climate change was not yet an important topic before the virus arrived, it definitely is now. This should encourage companies even more to create / sustain a more durable vision regarding mobility and the environment.
Do you as a leader feel ready to address the current challenges? Let us discover together the opportunities COVID-19 offers to your organization and create a stronger company culture. We at Beopledd are more than happy to help you in these disruptive times. With our online NWOW survey we can measure how well you score on the new ways of working topic making it easier for you to effectively address your biggest challenges. If you’d like to take things further, we can offer several formats such as a virtual teams workshop to get the basics right by reflecting and working on the degree of trust, communication, productivity, leadership and use of technology in your team. Or maybe you prefer focusing on leadership? In that case we can offer you a tailor-made mindful leadership trajectory accompanied, if necessary, by additional individual coaching. Contact Raf Vanzeer for more information.