In the August 2022 Newsletter
  Strengthen Culture during Remote Work / Good News / Events

Yes, remote and hybrid work settings provide many benefits and for most organizations are here to stay. Yet they also have their challenges. How do you maintain and strengthen your corporate culture when people are electronically connected and not seeing each other in face-to-face meetings? Folks do not bump into each other in the halls or drop into someone’s cubicle. Communications have changed. Yet the need to connect has not. People still need interactions.

Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast!

There is a famous Peter Drucker quote that says, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” According to The Alternative Board, “The culture of your company always determines success regardless of how effective your strategy may be. Culture isn’t about comfy chairs and happy hours at the office. Rather, it’s more about the ways your employees act in critical situations, how they manage pressure and respond to various challenges, and how they treat partners and customers, and each other.”

What is Organizational Culture? According to SHRM, the Society of Human Resource Management, “An organization’s culture is based on values derived from basic assumptions about the following:

	HUMAN NATURE. Are people inherently good or bad, mutable or immutable, proactive or reactive?
	THE ORGANIZATION’S RELATIONSHIP to its environment. How does the organization define its business and its constituencies?
	APPROPRIATE EMOTIONS. Which emotions should people be encouraged to express, and which ones should be suppressed?
	EFFECTIVENESS. What metrics show whether the organization and its individual components are doing well?

Culture is a nebulous concept and is often an undefined aspect of an organization. SHRM states that “Organizational culture can manifest itself in a variety of ways, including leadership behaviors, communication styles, internally distributed messages and corporate celebrations.”

Practical Pointers for Strengthening Culture

Here are tips for maintaining culture even with remote and hybrid work arrangements. I have used these in my public and private sector organizations. Other ideas have come from my “CIO Roundtable” group. When I was the State of Colorado CIO and Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT), we moved 95% of our 1000 OIT employees to remote work when the pandemic hit. We followed many of these approaches. As CEO of Radish Systems, a virtual entrepreneurial venture, we did the same. Here are five suggestions.

1. COMMUNICATE OFTEN. It’s important to create many ways and places for people to communicate. Encourage managers to do this also. Hold ‘All Hands’ meetings regularly. These may be 1x/week or 1x/month as needed. Things change quickly so it’s important to reaffirm the company’s direction and the importance of the work. Vary the format and agenda. We sometimes use audio conferences, where employees can speak up and share. Other times we use a combination of video and audio meetings, so folks can both see and hear. These are recorded so everyone can review later. Have break-out rooms so people can interact virtually in smaller groups.

2. INTERACT IN MANY WAYS. Encourage managers to hold regular meetings with their teams and one-on-one with their staff members. Make sure everyone is clear on priorities and progress. Check in on how people are doing. Managers should spend a lot of time with their staff and have a lot of interaction. Provide virtual connections for all using audio, web, and video conferencing. Other means are internal organizational chats, texts, emails, and plain old phone calls. Promote drop-in office hours. Invite a dozen staff members to “coffee or tea with me.” Have fun. We have theme days where we wear hats, cool sunglasses, or school colors. Written words are valuable. Distribute a newsletter on a regular basis.

3. ASK FOR FEEDBACK. Conduct weekly surveys. These can be short written online questionnaires asking employees how they’re doing, if they have the equipment and support they need, what additional information could be useful, and what else can be done to help. Ask questions and analyze responses. Make changes from this feedback. You can also consider a Feedback portal. It’s a place where staff can easily and confidentially submit suggestions and ideas. Establish a cash reward for ideas that deliver results. Make sure someone reviews and responds.

4. HAVE IN-PERSON ENCOUNTERS. People appreciate having a chance to still meet face-to-face at on-site meetings, especially if they are scheduled to minimize commute time. Quarterly Happy Hours and/or an Annual Picnic can further strengthen in-person time. Have a professional photographer take head shots so people can use those with their virtual meetings. Have a theme. Provide a small gift like a T-shirt or water bottle with your logo. At Radish, we held quarterly in-person happy hours for those in Colorado.

5. CELEBRATE. Recognition goes a long way. Set up ‘culture’ or ‘values’ awards. At OIT, we gave quarterly values awards to employees who worked according to our values of Integrity, Innovation, Teamwork, Service, Respect, Courage. Find ways to recognize people. Even a thank-you goes a long way. Mention that you saw someone doing something good. Spread the word about who is doing what.

Summary

Remote and hybrid work environments are here to stay. Pay attention and strengthen the company culture. How? Continue to communicate. Interact in many ways. Ask for feedback. Hold in-person gatherings at times. Celebrate and reward progress. Why? Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Good News

ChoiceView Live Agent is getting attention. It allows business representatives to send a wide variety of visual information to callers WITHOUT forcing them to set up a video session or deviate from their existing call. It’s totally compatible with business phone systems and voice telephony and can seamlessly receive voice-and-visual calls transferred from a visual IVR.

Learn more about the benefits of ChoiceView for visual bots and live agents at the Radish Blog.

Selected Events

September 15, 2022. Boardbound graduation in Denver. 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM MT. Theresa is a 2021 graduate of this exclusive program from Women’s Leadership Foundation. Learn more and register.

September 20, 2022. Diversity Initiative Forum of the New York Stock Exchange. New York City. Theresa has been invited to participate in this event. Are you in the NYC area and interested in meeting? Let me know.

September 27, 2022. Statewide Internet Portal Authority holds its annual conference and grant awards ceremony. Colorado government representatives and selected SIPA vendors are invited. If you are attending, let’s schedule a time to meet.

Theresa M. Szczurek, Ph.D.
C-Level Executive, Corporate Director, Consultant, and Colorado CIO of the Year

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