Innovative Concepts for Working Together in a Post-Pandemic World
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MHRC – Define the culture you want
We were maybe better positioned than others because we are in our formative years
compared to an established organization that has been operating a certain way. We
created an HR and Organizational Culture Committee because we felt it was important
to talk about the key elements of the culture we wanted to develop and nurture. We
wanted our culture to include responsible risk taking – we felt it was important that we
take reasonable and strategic risks to establish ourselves in a busy sector on a crowded
national stage. Collaboration, flexibility and support have also been a big part of who we
are from day one.
Now on days I'm in the office, I enter it in my calendar in advance, and I tag everyone
as an optional attendee. Some come in every week, others once a month, but it's
optional, for the most part. Not all our team members are in Toronto (some are in
other provinces) so we are cautious about lunches and after work gatherings in relation
to an "us" and "them" optic where geographically close colleagues have a different
experience. This can be a challenge. But we now bring people together from across
Canada more regularly for "all hands" meetings to facilitate important relationship
building. Since the start of the pandemic, I have asked staff to hold one-on-one "coffee
meetings" with each other and the only rule is you can't talk about work. This helps build
social connections. We have continued these now that we are remote, and we also plan
other engagement activities such as lunch time trivia sessions. Building a sense of team
is different in a remote workplace but even more important as natural socialization does
not occur through a screen.
I am not saying we're doing enough, but this is clearly in our line of sight. This needs
regular monitoring and reassessment as the team grows and evolves. Needs change
and we need to adapt and evolve our cultures accordingly.
What type of culture do you have?
This article by the Niagara Institute outlines the four
main workplace cultures that exist today and offers
a quiz that you can take to assess which one best
describes your organizational culture.
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