Recently, Project Resource Partners, were excited to have Sharon Griffin, Amrop Carmichael Fisher’s Leadership Advisory Partner present our Zoom workshop on People and Culture Considerations for Our ‘Next Normal’. 

Sharon expertly facilitated a wide ranging discussion that focused on recent findings around the cultural implications of COVID-19 and what this means for employees and leaders; what considerations do we need to take into account around values and behaviors as we move toward our ‘Next Normal’; and how this will mean people engagement strategies need to evolve.

The data that Sharon shared brought up some interesting and thought provoking findings, and reaffirmed to me the importance of knowing our people, what is important to them, and understanding that big enough events can change what people and companies prioritise. 

This is potentially even more pertinent for Melbournians as we re enter a lock-down that will impact our people in different ways, meaning they need different levels of support and have different requirements of the companies for whom they work.

With that in mind, and before announcing our next workshop which will take place on Thursday 23 July at 1pm, I wanted to share my top 10 takeaways from Sharon’s discussion. 

1. Take the time to understand how our current situation has impacted our workplaces and people, and that there have been cultural benefits to come from a challenging set of circumstances
2. Personal vales such as making a difference, adaptability, well being and caring are more prevalent in what people are prioritising
3. This has impacted how they experience their workplace culture, with a move from command and control type values to ones that are more related to adaptability and collaboration
4. The values that potentially limit our people have changed in priority as well, away from things like bureaucracy and hierarchy to, what I would call more personal points such as caution, confusion, and job insecurity
5. Employee engagement and teamwork will be essential to our ability to emerge and thrive, and these are unchanged from pre COVID-19 times
6. Achieving engagement and teamwork, not to mention collaboration and adaptability is made easier by a business having a well-defined purpose as their anchor. Companies need to ask themselves if their purpose, priorities, and values still hold true to the current world and what lies beyond
7. As a business how are we communicating to our people and is what we want to communicate done with clarity and transparency 
8. Some teams and individuals will have performed better than others, what can we learn from them to ensure others are able to be set up for success
9. People in your organisation will have learnt or displayed new skills, think about how these can be used to further engage people and to help drive your business
10. As was also discussed in John Chambers from IE Group workshop; understand what you need to do for a blended workplace and what is right for your business and people

This list could have been 20 takeaways, but these were the ones that most resonated with me. There are numerous positives that have come out of our current challenges, particularly as they relate to our people and culture. We need to ensure we embrace these and use them for the betterment of our businesses, and in driving engaged cultures where people want to work and thrive in a way that is mutually beneficial.