7 Ways to Build Company Culture When So Much Has Changed

How can you build company culture when it feels like so much has changed?

It’s a challenge for HR leaders and executives around the world since the pandemic changed everything – especially how and where we work.

Many leaders feel like their companies lost some identity when they dropped social and professional interactions. Some companies still don’t have all employees on-site – and never will. Companies shrank, while others expanded.

Company Culture not the Same

And many realized the culture isn’t the same when the crowd isn’t the same. Our founder at SuccessFuel, the parent company of HRMorning, Ed Satell has often said, “Change the people, change the company.” It’s no more true than now.

Not surprisingly, many companies still find it difficult to build, maintain or rebuild their cultures. But it’s critical: Almost 70% of employees and leaders say culture is more important to business success than strategy and operations, according to a Quantum Workplace study.

“So now senior leadership will want to articulate the culture, and model it, as well,” says Tim Rowley, COO & CTO at PeopleCaddie.

Fortunately, HR leaders can work with employees to build or regain company culture – or even create a new one more fitting to their new working norms.

Here are seven ideas to try.

1. Recognize New Norms

At most companies, the work norms changed in recent years as employees transitioned to remote or hybrid work. If people don’t understand the emerging norms and values – whether they’re formal or organic changes – they can’t adapt to the culture.

Management researchers Erin Makarius and Barbara Larson suggest a planned approach to help everyone learn what’s new, clarify assumptions and dispel rumors. For example, IBM created a “work from home pledge” that specified emerging norms such as how to communicate and treat each other well regardless of where they worked.

Culture tip: Host town halls where employees can join in virtually or on-site. Update them on new policies and practices. Talk about emerging norms and find out if those are things they like. Also, survey employees to find out if they recognize, embrace and celebrate shared values. If employees aren’t happy with cultural shifts, make changes.

2. Reverse Course

Many employees – and entire workforces – have never set foot back in the office again. As organizations become remote and hybrid, maintaining culture might has taken extra efforts.

“It used to be ‘off-sites’ to build teams,” Rowley says. “Now we need to do the absolute opposite. Do ‘on-sites.'”

It’s be increasingly important to bring teams together for professional and social reasons.

Culture tip: Rowley suggests you plan regular group events in your office space or at a conference center where people can be face-to-face to learn, socialize and engage.

3. Strike the Right Balance

You can teach and preach culture all you want. But people working together toward goals, guided by corporate and personal values, will be your culture in action.

So if you work in a hybrid work environment, it’s important to make sure people are together at the most opportune times. They can work distanced at other times.

Culture tip: Share guidelines on how to meet. For instance, encourage leaders and employees to get together to brainstorm and be creative, which experts say is better done in groups. Remind leaders to give sensitive feedback face-to-face. But everyone might want to share data and information via email when they’re working alone.

4. Rebuild Connections

Fewer people than ever say they have a friend or someone who cares about them at work, according to a Gallup study. People don’t talk and laugh with co-workers like they used to – and it’s taken a toll on relationships. Plus, they’ve missed out on daily interactions that often help alleviate unprecedented stress.

The depth of employee relationships affects company culture. When employees interact and socialize with colleagues they’re almost always more engaged with their work.

Culture tip: Reintroduce or increase the social side of work. The best bet is to host events that employees can participate in comfortably — whether it’s onsite or at an off-site location — and at their convenience. For instance, host a coffee chat during work hours to include those who don’t want to spend time outside of work with colleagues, but enjoy socializing. Offer other opportunities — happy hours, volunteering and/or sports and cultural events — outside of work for employees who want to bond that way.

5. Expand Your Reach

Many companies aren’t a reflection of what they were just a few years ago. Their workforce changed. And it’s likely their company culture needs to reflect that.

Rowley says nearly 40% of workers participate in the gig economy in some form. So many organizations have “talent clouds” – a mix of employees, freelancers and contractors, some of whom weave in and out of the company.

Culture tip: “Now employers want to consider all of these people as part of the company culture,” Rowley suggests. Ask everyone for opinions on how to embrace and cultivate the company culture.

6. Focus on Team Culture

Harvard Business School researchers Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall found employees often care more about their team than their company.

This is particularly important to overall company culture because many people migrate from team to team. One good culture can spread to the next. And those good, team cultures can potentially mitigate negative cultures that might have developed over time.

Culture tip: The researchers suggested groups create team charters when they come together. It’s a roadmap and agreement for how they’ll schedule and conduct meetings, distribute the workload, make decisions, give feedback and respectfully interact. They essentially build their team culture from the ground up.

7. Be Ready to Start Over

Now that so much has changed, be prepared – or prepare colleagues and employees – for a new view on company culture.

“Rearticulate the culture of the company,” says Rowley, “and then you might need to devise a new strategy for it.”

Remember, people changed: Many have shifted priorities. Others have changed jobs. Policies changed: People work in different places and in different ways now. Processes changed: They might have sped up, slowed down, stopped or turned upside down to meet vastly changing demands in recent years.

Culture tip: Perhaps the most important thing about company culture is it can – and maybe should – be fluid. Let employees be part of recognizing needs for change and adapting to the times.