Culture is THE Thing

You don’t have to go far or read very widely today to read about the future of the workplace – and if there will be a collective “place” at all.  Writing in this medium means that not all of those reading are in the same place with their personal thoughts and feelings about this future, or their specific reality.  To simplify, you fall into one of two big groups:

• The future for your work and workplace hasn’t been determined or announced
• The future of your work and workplace has been determined or announced

If you are in the first group, I urge you to watch my LinkedIn Learning course Planning for Your Hybrid Organization.  When you do, it will help you think about what the future of work could be, and more importantly, how to go about making that decision. How you go about making that decision will have long lasting implications, many unforeseen and unintentional for your organizational culture.

If you fall into the second group, you are in one of these situations:

• Everyone has returned/will be returning to the office (it’s 2019 again)
• Everyone is working/will remain working remotely permanently (it’s still 2020) 
• People will work in some sort of hybrid arrangement (it is all new, again)

Whichever describes your situation, the most important consideration for you today is your culture.

Your culture isn’t static, and it is always changing. As we as look at the changes swirling around us now, there are three cultures we need to consider:

• The culture we had
• The culture we have
• The culture we want (or aspire to)

Those who have chosen to bring everyone back to the office are expecting to have the culture they once had (which likely had some positives, but decidedly wasn’t perfect). That culture is, in at least some ways, gone.  Recapturing the pieces you long for will take work – and the realization that every person now has more than a year of new working experiences – meaning that they will never be, nor will they see work the way they did before.

Those who are creating some sort of flexible hybrid model are facing new uncertainties, different challenges, and greater complexities – and all of those have an impact on culture.

And even if you plan to leave things as they have been during the pandemic, the world will continue to change. And as the world changes, the environment changes, and as new people join your team, the culture will continue to change as well.

Here is my point: the most important thing for all of us to be thinking about and working on now is our organizational and team culture. It will change, whether we give it any thought or not.  It won’t automatically be 2019’s culture again.  It won’t stay how it was during the pandemic.  It will change.

The only question is will it change, adapt, and grow in ways that serves everyone – the organization, the leaders, the teams and every individual?

That will only happen with conscious thought and intentional effort.  And lest you think this belongs only to leaders, remember that culture is "the way we do things around here,” and everyone can and does impact that every day.

What are you doing to mold, and create the workplace culture you want and need?

Enjoy the rest of your week – and the links to the resources below that will support your exploration into your future of work.  One or more may be just what you need to help you create Remarkable Results.

You are Remarkable!

Kevin 😊

p.s.  Each week we produce the Remote Work Newsletter.  If you want practical ideas for remote and hybrid work, you can subscribe (for free!)

p.p.s. I’m trying something new today.  If you would rather listen to this article, you can listen to me reading it.

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