It’s the new year. A new beginning, right? But is it? It sure doesn’t feel new. We’re carrying most of the same pandemic baggage of 2020 right into 2021. And we’re carrying it right alongside our personal and professional hopes and dreams – sparkling business plans, revenue goals, and workout aspirations (put down the spoon and peanut butter, Nicole).
And it has me feeling anxious.
And I know a lot of you are anxious, too.
With vaccinations on the horizon, many companies who have been operating remotely are making plans to head back into the office. And that feels really daunting. In a recent New York Times article, Harvard University polled C.E.O.s to find out that their top worry is corporate culture – how culture has shifted as a result of working from home for nearly a year, and how to get employees back to the office safely.
When I feel overwhelmed I find comfort in asking questions to help me get out of my head and get unstuck.
If you are a leader tackling the evolution of your corporate culture, start with your vision. And it’s okay if your vision looks different today than it did a year or more ago. To identify the purpose of your corporate culture, start by asking yourself questions like:
- What goals would you like your culture to accomplish this year?
- What’s been on your mind? Why?
- What parts of your culture worked well before the pandemic? What are the current challenges?
- How do you want your employees to feel when they return?
- What would you like to see differently in your corporate culture?
- If you had unlimited budget and support, what would your culture accomplish?
Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ve got a lot of ideas in front of you from which to jumpstart your vision by turning it into a challenge. You and your leadership team can use these to evaluate which goals or opportunities are worth spending your time to address. To do this you will examine the three “I”s (influence, importance, and imagination)* to determine which challenges make sense to address.
- Do you or your team have influence over the challenge? If the challenge is completely out of your control, you may not want to spin your wheels on it.
- Is the challenge of importance to you or your team? Are you motivated to address it, and will you have the energy to carry out your solution?
- Does the challenge require imagination? Will it call for new thinking or an innovative solution?
As you look at which challenges to address so that your corporate culture will evolve to best serve the needs of your employees, you want them to meet these three criteria. If your answer to any of these is “no”, you may want to look at how to redefine your challenge in a way that does meet the three “I”s criteria.
Despite the hurdles, there’s no reason 2021 can’t be your company’s best year yet. At Artworks, we apply thinking like the Three “I”s to help businesses of all shapes and sizes transform their company’s culture and goals through the lens of creativity, inclusivity, and innovation. Want to learn more? Click here to book a quick introductory chat.