Can you take corporate culture home with you?

You may be reading this as a business leader who values the strength and impact of heritage on your corporate culture or you may be at the leading edge of entrepreneurship and change.  Either way, you’re likely to have encountered a few challenges recently, even sleepless nights wrestling with performance and productivity hacks.

So, what do you do when your heart wants you to get people back to their recognised workspace and your head tells you that productivity has improved while they’ve been working at home?  After all, we know that culture can be geographically dispersed through strong brands, don’t we? Think global logistics, travel, hospitality and so on.

Maybe it’s time to reflect on what business success really means to you and better understand what’s important to your employees and other stakeholders.  This is your opportunity to bank the synergies of collaboration and innovation to fund an even stronger business culture.  A culture which will further strengthen your brand and reputation.

I’m a longstanding fan of storytelling in the workplace to articulate business vision, corporate culture and change imperatives.  Whether you’re describing employment opportunities and evolving careers or discussing how to create an enviable employee value proposition, corporate stories connect people and organisations.  They bring concepts to life and make them somehow more accessible to your audience.  And just like a great novel, so many stories are timeless.

A few days ago, I came across a story I’d written previously to prompt debate around greater workplace flexibility.  My focus was a positive space where people would feel inspired – whatever their surroundings and wherever the location, “it’s the people who matter, not the property”. At that time, I was lobbying for links with the heart of the business through influential networks, outstanding communications and multi-media solutions.  I was promoting coaching, just in time learning and peer to peer support.

My suggestion was that people associate themselves with a particular way of working (collaboratively or independently) at a location which works for them, “we don’t make people work at home or cut them off from their colleagues and we don’t expect independent workers to conduct their business in the midst of congested workspaces”.  I didn’t rule out coffee shops as productive space, and I encouraged my audience to step into the future with “walk and talk” meetings or team jogs.

In some ways, I’m surprised that these concepts are still attracting debate (work from home, don’t work from home, etc.) although I’m even more surprised that some corporate cultures are being stifled by their own traditions - the leadership needs you back. Surely the benefits of increased engagement and improved productivity (derived from greater flexibility) are worthy contenders?  Why not grasp the nettle, restate your values and begin a new dialogue?  It’s time to rewrite the stories and begin new conversations - let’s chat about how I can help you.