Thriving In a Community Workplace Culture, Not Just Surviving

Eunice Z Clements-Tweedie, Global Vice President, Strategic HR Business Partnering & Global Talent Acquisition, IHG Hotels & Resorts

Organizational culture can accelerate or drag a company’s growth and trajectory and the more innovative organisations with well-honed leaders can often move beyond a classical culture to a “community” based culture & environment where everyone has room to be their true selves and where discretionary personal investment can be seen in abundance. It’s in the top 3 Questions I often get asked from prospective candidates – alongside development and hybrid working patterns so it’s on people’s minds and even more so post-pandemic.

I truly believe that a workplace environment that can nurture and foster deep relationships with their employees, promote meaningful connections that foster and form communities that folks can network within, and find daily satisfaction in order to find their place can drive and deliver a high rate of trust, mutual respect and collaboration with one another. During COVID and post-pandemic – re-connection and the connection itself were of the utmost importance to stave off both loneliness, depression, isolation, and safeguarding mental well-being. The organisations that have been agile to adapt and have driven a more compassionate and connected culture and organisational workplace are those who will see their retention rise in their loyal employees but are also viewed as talent magnets for new employees.

Let’s explore this a little bit further:

Workplace Rituals and Habits

For many years, the workplace has been viewed as just that – a place to work with rare spontaneity and in-the-moment connections difficult to find amidst daily walls of Zoom or Team meetings. Consistent workplace rituals – whatever these are, Gratitude Mondays – when colleagues share what they have been grateful for from the previous week, Focus Fridays to focus on your development where meetings are banned, Check In or Check Outs in daily meetings to promote connection, a moment of mindfulness at the start of your day to clear your mind, journalling to wrap the end of the day with to help settle your thoughts, fosters belonging and makes people feel safe when practiced regularly.

Networks & Networking

A natural area to establish and grow is ERG (Employee Resource Groups) internally – which have sprung up like wildfire since post-pandemic times. These groups have historically been weighted towards DE&I but latterly have broadened out to encompass early careers, female-only groups, etc. An easy way to plug into a group that feels right for you to foster shared interests with like-minded individuals outside of their everyday working group really drives a feeling of workplace belonging to another level.

Communication That Matters

Harnessing the power of communication that resonates with diverse audiences is a tough call, so what truly matters is offering different mediums in which to communicate – Townhalls, Hands, Newsletters, Blogs, Vlogs, Panel Q&A and simple email messaging tend to cover the myriad ways that employees can assimilate information and ensure the connection through information. If everyone feels connected on the same journey, movements are formed and that’s how cultural connection and transformation can occur.

Events That Engage

Team building, hosting lunches, competitions, speaker events sports day in the summer… whatever is right for your team, or business-planned events that enable social interaction outside of daily office hours can create deeper anchors and drive high engagement that in turn deepen loyalty and connection in a workforce. For organisations that inject a balance into focused work and some play are often those that can see their happiness index factor in annual company surveys increase where recognition is appreciated through the value of these workplace moments of joy.

Wellbeing That Makes A Difference

For employees to regard their workplace as a valuable place to invest their time and energy and a place where they wish to be happy to be returning to the office more, they need to feel cared for and listened to. Paying close attention to how employees feel and the feedback that they share will help organisations know what matters to their workforce from simple things like complementary fruit and snacks in the office, work-free or focus hours, to more comprehensive benefits such as enhanced healthcare, access to mental first aiders, employee assistance line, or extra wellbeing day for self-care.

Professional Development That Counts

Most organisations offer training and development – to elevate this to another level is where is customised and tailored to group or individual needs, linked to personal goals and accountabilities and where career pathing is also clear. This drives a more holistic investment that employees can benefit from more deeply which in turn can promote the natural desire to keep going in the one organisation and where personal development is seen as gratifying rather than a chore.

We are all leaders in today’s workplace, some more than others and we all have a responsibility to not only augment a culture that we want to contribute to and belong to but enable the continued building of a great place work to work where people thrive, not just survive, where people feel a sense of community and belonging and ultimately a shared sense of collective purpose, contributing towards a healthier, happier society that feels resilient, connected and fulfilled.