{"id":22461,"date":"2020-11-25T08:14:24","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T08:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/the-pandemic-permanently-shifted-culture-businesses-how\/"},"modified":"2023-10-04T13:35:21","modified_gmt":"2023-10-04T13:35:21","slug":"the-pandemic-permanently-shifted-culture-businesses-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/future-of-work\/the-pandemic-permanently-shifted-culture-businesses-how\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pandemic Has Permanently Shifted The Meaning Of Culture For Businesses: Here’s How"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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In the late afternoon in early-April, Eric Termuende sat down across the table from me at a small cafe on the jostling main drag of Vancouver\u2019s hip Yaletown district.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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We met in 2019 while I was spending a short sabbatical there, and we bonded over our shared fascination about how organisations work together.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Eric\u00a0is an international speaker<\/a>and best-selling author on the future of work. Given that 2020 has uncovered new terrain on this topic, we fired up Zoom to catch up and take a walk through what\u2019s changed.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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What emerged were three standout takeaways.<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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  1. How culture is now, more than ever, in the hands of team leaders, not the C-suite.<\/li>
  2. Why asking what you don\u2019t want in an employee might be a better way to find who you do.<\/li>
  3. Why judging your experience by what others have will always leave you dissatisfied.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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    Let\u2019s start with culture.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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    Along with seeing friends in person, going to concerts and eating in restaurants, another casualty of the pandemic is how organisations implement their \u2018culture\u2019 programs.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Our conversation started off with Eric\u2019s observation:\u00a0\u201cWhile perks and benefits may attract people, behaviours and interactions keep them. Culture, then, is the relationships between the team and not the games in between tasks.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    The sentiment is bang on, and exactly why the pandemic-induced shift in how cultures happen is an excellent thing. This change has been stripping away trappings, enabling businesses to get back to what culture always was: the collective expression of how we are together and the way we work.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    \u201cCulture lives in the leaders<\/a>\u2019 hands more so than it ever has before, simply because he or she will be leading their team now and creating that environment virtually, more so than any of the C-Suite will,\u201d Eric continued.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    There\u2019s no mission, vision, values on the wall, there\u2019s no cafeteria where we\u2019ll go get a coffee \u2026 many of those things that we called culture aren\u2019t here anymore.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    \u201cCulture then becomes the relationship between your team and the habits and behaviours when it comes to communication.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    And I\u2019d go a step further and say everyone has a part to play in the shift.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    When toddlers take over the call or everyone\u2019s dog barks, it reminds us that our whole selves come to work in a way no culture program to \u2018get to know your co-workers\u2019 ever could.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Next up is getting outside our \u2018fit\u2019 mantra when finding new hires. Spending too much time thinking and talking about \u2018the right person\u2019 means you\u2019ll miss the chance to get clear on which candidates are wrong.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Eric\u2019s advice to organisations is: \u201cAsk what qualities you don\u2019t want in an employee instead of what you do want.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    It is stellar advice that neatly dovetails with a question I suggest people use to understand what\u2019s important to them: \u2018Generally, when don\u2019t people work out around here?\u2019<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Eliminating or surfacing the things you don\u2019t want is a handy hack for finding the things that you do.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    The last observation zooms in on a one-size-fits-all approach to experience.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    \u201cOne of the biggest problems that I think we have with culture and with the workplace experience in the past decade is we think a universal best exists,\u201d Eric notes.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    \u201cYou can be working at home or in the office, reach the upper echelons of the C-suite or a teacher who takes six weeks off in the summer to go camping \u2026 there is no universal best, there is no right, no target to aspire to.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Layer this into organisations, and you can end up with a deep well of discontent that will handily undermine efforts to work together better.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    \u201cI think the issue isn\u2019t about what you wear to work, it\u2019s about how connected we are to work,\u201d Eric continued.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    \u201cIt\u2019s pride behind work being done.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    There\u2019s plenty of disagreement about how the future of work will look. However, amid the difference, there is an agreement that a new normal is coming.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Each of the ideas above can help you adapt and move forward.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    In conclusion<\/strong>, liberate culture from the confines of the \u2018people and culture\u2019 area and mandate leaders across the business to step up and show what they care about.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Take an in-depth look at the attributes you don\u2019t want in people you hire, then work like hell to avoid anyone who holds them.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    And close the \u2018us\u2019 versus \u2018them\u2019 gap by helping people see that their side of the fence is okay, just different, from the other side.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    See you next time.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Liberate culture from the confines of the \u2018people and culture\u2019 area and mandate leaders across the business to step up and show what they care about. Take an in-depth look at the attributes you don\u2019t want in people you hire, then work like hell to avoid anyone who holds them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":986,"featured_media":17998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[390,1047,108,237],"ppma_author":[3840],"class_list":["post-22461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-future-of-work","tag-businesses","tag-culture","tag-future-of-work","tag-pandemic"],"authors":[{"term_id":3840,"user_id":986,"is_guest":0,"slug":"michel-hogan","display_name":"Michel Hogan","avatar_url":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Michel-Hogan-150x150.jpeg","user_url":"https:\/\/www.michelhogan.com\/%20","last_name":"Hogan","first_name":"Michel","job_title":"","description":"Michel Hogan is an independent brand counsel advising organisations on the risk to their purpose and values of making promises they can\u2019t keep \u2014 with a strong, resilient organisation and brand as the result."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/986"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22461"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33229,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22461\/revisions\/33229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22461"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=22461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}