Rethinking Leadership And Culture In The New World Of Work

7 pillars of culture success

If the trendy phrase "the future of work" refers to a time of significant change, then the future is now. A huge number of employees continue to work remotely and, even when it is safe to return to the office; most companies will offer remote or hybrid options. Those who don't, risk losing good people to their competitors. But this sea change is about much more than just working from a home office. Remote and hybrid models require changes in culture and changes in leadership.

In The Power of Company Culture: How Any Business Can Build a Culture that Improves Productivity, Performance and Profits (2018), I describe seven pillars of culture success, which can apply to both on-site and remote models. I'll summarize each pillar here, with suggestions specific to applying them in a remote/hybrid world. In addition, I'll include suggestions for changing your leadership approach accordingly.

Transparency refers to an organization's willingness to share relevant information with employees. Doing so helps enhance team cohesiveness, promotes a sense of ownership, encourages employees to share ideas and insights, and supports retention.

Being transparent doesn't necessarily mean holding a lot of meetings -- in remote/hybrid models, people can burn out on meeting overload.

You can use email and platforms like Slack or Teams to share information such as company financials, staff roles and goals, business challenges and opportunities and more. Include context so that employees understand how it is relevant to them.

In terms of leadership, promoting transparency will encourage employees to be transparent with you. This is especially important in remote work, as employees are dealing with different challenges than they did in the onsite model. Your leadership approach should include supporting employees in the transition, and you can't visit each one at home. Encourage them to come to you with issues. A great way to start is by opening up yourself and sharing some of the challenges you've been dealing with.

Research has shown that positive thoughts, words and actions elevate work performance. A great way to promote positivity is to change your approach to problem-solving. In fact, throw the word "problem" out the window. When we focus on problems, our thoughts, words and actions can create a negative mindset that makes navigating around obstacles more difficult. Instead of solving problems, explore solutions. Focus on what works well, and then build on that.

As a leader of remote/hybrid teams, you probably already know that stress levels are higher because of the pandemic and the adjustment to remote work. Engage your teams in exploring solutions to those challenges. Encourage people to share what works, and how they stay positive and focused. Be sure to share your own successes. In a remote model you can't put up one of those "hang in there" cat posters, but you could create a room in your communication platform (Slack, Teams, etc.) where people can share upbeat stories.

In addition to the widely known benefits of using metrics, measurement lends integrity to your culture by providing objectivity, and brings teams together by minimizing blame. When you share results with your team, it encourages people to be accountable for their own performance while also recognizing success. Choose KPIs that are directly relevant to company success, monitor them frequently and keep your team updated through regular meetings and other communication channels.

Leaders should consider incorporating metrics that are specific to remote work, such as employee satisfaction, retention, and hours/overtime worked. Look for trends and correlations. For example, if employees are working more overtime now that they are remote (which is very common), is there a commensurate increase in productivity? Since increased overtime can lead to burnout, are the rewards worth the risk? In remote leadership, compassion and emotional intelligence are much more important than they are in an onsite model.

When you acknowledge or recognize employees, particularly in front of the team, you help them meet basic human needs like gaining trust and improving self-esteem. This helps motivate employees and teams. Kudos and recognition can be in the form of tangible rewards, like gift cards or the use of the choice parking spot for a week, but verbal accolades can be just as effective. You can say, "great job" in a one-on-one situation, but make a point of reiterating it in a meeting or via newsletter, chat room or other group channels.

In the remote world, leaders need to be deliberate about bolstering the connections between and among team members. Acknowledgement and recognition are great ways to do that. You might even implement a program where employees can nominate one another for "star performer," "employee of the month" or other honors. Getting employees involved will give them a greater sense of ownership and may make the honors more meaningful.

Unique shared experiences and attitudes bring employees together and contribute to a welcoming, positive culture. In turn, that helps you attract and retain top talent. Think about your culture in the same way your marketing team thinks about products -- what makes your culture different and desirable? For example, Trader Joe's has a reputation for being very laid back, while Apple is known for holding employees to very high expectations. There's no right or wrong culture, but you need to cultivate what is unique for your company and share it with your team.

A strong, cohesive culture is essential in a remote or hybrid model and emphasizing the culture's unique facets helps you promote that. When people work alone day after day, they need to feel that they are part of the team and contributing to something that is bigger than themselves. One way to highlight the uniqueness is to use "insider" vocabulary. This could be acronyms or phrases that only an employee would know, but you also can create words or phrases. At PeopleG2, I borrowed an idea that my colleague Kim Shepherd used at Decision Toolbox: the green flag.

When team members want to acknowledge a colleague, we send a "green flag" message via our online "water cooler" chat room. We created a green flag emoji so that when someone shares kudos, they include the emoji and a message like "A big green flag to Bryan for helping with a client question I didn’t know how to answer." Not only is "green flag" a unique bit of PeopleG2 vocabulary, but it's also associated with successes and accomplishments.

Our world is full of distractions, and this is especially true when working from home. Other family members, TVs, smartphones -- even the computer you're working on -- all vie for your attention. There are internal challenges to effective listening as well, including being tired or hungry, and the unconscious biases we all have.

Some ways to ensure you are truly listening to employees, clients and others:
 

The best way for you, as a leader, to promote good listening habits in employees is to practice them yourself. There are also resources you can share with your team to help them develop this valuable skill. Listening well minimizes errors (see the next topic), enhances efficiency, and fosters trust.

Let's differentiate between mistakes and errors. Honest mistakes happen despite someone’s best intentions and judgement, and they often offer an opportunity for learning and improvement. Errors show careless practices that typically violate correct procedures and have few positive consequences. At PeopleG2, we have a stigma-free "Oops -- my bad" room on Slack where people can post mistakes. The team will joke about a mistake and, if necessary, call a meeting to deal with it.

Leaders can encourage employees to "own up" to mistakes by setting the example. Share your own mistakes and be sure to show how you used the mistake to course correct. Make sure your senior leadership team does the same. This will help stimulate trust and security in your culture and also may turn up some great ideas.

Success in remote or hybrid models requires an investment in time and effort. In Remote Work: Redesign Processes, Practices and Strategies to Engage a Remote Workforce, my co-author Kim Shepherd and I emphasize the importance of careful thought, planning and execution in developing not only processes and systems, but also culture.

The grand experiment is just starting, and I am looking forward to the new ideas that will continue to emerge.

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