29 Jun Hybrid culture: how to stay connected

As remote work increases companies are tackling new challenges in maintaining their company culture. What can you do to move from an in-office defined culture to a hybrid culture that will increase your organization performance?

Here are some vital topics and relative actions that can be taken:

Shared purpose.
Purpose has always been important but with hybrid work it has become the key to organizational performance. Always discuss the big picture as it might not be clear for everyone, especially if people are not always present in the office, emphasize how the work of the team as a whole is vital for succeeding. All resources need to realize how their work connects and intersects with those of their colleagues. To achieve such result, always give people context for their actions and goals. If they understand why that task is important it will become more meaningful to them.

Employee Engagement.
Unlike in a traditional office environment, employees working remotely are not able to participate in a quick chat in the elevator or at the coffee machine. Such fewer opportunities for informal conversation and social interaction, make it harder for co-workers to connect, so we have to look at new ways to create them. For example:

• Make sure each vital meeting as both in person and virtual options so everyone can join
• Create moments for 1.1 talk during group online meetings so to enhance personal connections
• Use tools that allow the creation of channels for social interactions around specific interests and projects
• When onboarding, have different employees available from cross-functional teams to make contact with the new resources so that they can get a better idea of the network they will be working with both through in person and online meetings

Inclusion.
It is about how we make others feel. How much we care about those around us. Promote behaviours that make every employee feel responsible for the inclusiveness of your company as everyone plays a big role.  Inclusion starts with day-to-day interactions at an individual level between employees. Make every employee think about the actions that are performing towards their colleagues (in the office and in other locations) to make others feel at ease and included. Aside from business conversations, find the human in others and recognize their value. This will help developing personal relationships, build stronger teams and a stronger company based on ethic values.

Culture has always been a challenge to strengthen and sustain. With hybrid work models, the level of difficulty has increased but it has opened up many opportunities, especially to reconsider important human values such as trust and respect which are the foundation of a successful hybrid culture and are necessary to deliver the above-mentioned actions.

Gaia Urati