Wells Fargo just announced its post-pandemic plans to return employees to the office, but they admitted they don’t know what it looks like, yet.
How remote will we be? How flexible can we be?
Like it is with our clients, the discussion probably centers on culture. How will we continue to be who we are when a portion of our workforce is somewhere else at any given time?
We all want our employees to drink our Kool-Aid. We believe that they will engage with customers, collaborate with coworkers, and put in extra effort the way we want them to if they have Grape (or Cherry or Tropical Punch…) coursing through their veins.
Leaders need to consider what that actually means. People are attracted to and stay with companies that align with their values and where they feel like they belong. As employees, we come to understand this through the myriad of interactions one has with the company and those connected with it.
Each employee takes a sip every time they are helped (or not) by a coworker. Or, when all hands come together to help a customer. Or, when the boss greets them in the morning. Or, when they contribute to a project meeting. Or, when they stop by a colleague’s desk to chat about life and the latest office happenings.
Remote work disrupts this chain of Kool-Aid consumption. The richness of in-person interaction, which engages every human sense to convey meaning, is boiled down to the flatness of just a voice on a phone call or the black and white of a hastily crafted email.
It can help to remember that Kool-Aid is made by adding water and sugar to a powder. A concentrate.
Think about how you can create concentrated culture experiences. Many companies are landing on a hybrid model – less remote work than during the pandemic, but more than before it, with new policies to determine who and when employees work remotely. So, when people are together in the office, be intentional about how they spend time together.
Build in activities that reconnect acquaintances, restore the deeper bonds of friendships, and accelerate trust with new team members. Make meeting time even more productive by hard facilitating to get deeper faster into the meat of the discussion and drive to tangible outcomes. Celebrate at the leader board. Hold a birthday party for every March birthday employee. Have the company meeting on that day.
When remote, leaders need to find new ways to replace what is being lost from in-person interactions. That’s a topic that has been well addressed over the past year.
The pandemic has revealed new truths about how we work that employers must understand and embrace. Employees saw what is possible, and many of them liked it. The Kool-Aid is the same, but how it’s consumed must change. The talent magnet companies are figuring it out.