Get IT Done - Culture, Communication and Covid - Oh My

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Culture, Communication and Covid – Oh My!

By David Mammano, Entre Computer Services

The title of this article is a modern take on “Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My!” If you got it, congrats. If not, go re-watch the Wizard of Oz movie.

The real issue is bringing people back to work as Covid levels drop due to vaccinations and herd immunity and doing whatever you can to maximize internal communication and workplace culture strategies.

Assuming you had a good pre-Covid workplace culture, I’ll share some tips to give it the tune up it needs to be running smoothly again and even bring it to the next level.

If you did not have a good culture, then you’re in luck! You’ve been given a second chance to create some new DNA in your organization.

In either case, about a month in, most companies noticed:

• Poor Communication – It is amazing how many ways an email can be misread!

• Overload of Channels – “Do I email, text, call, Zoom, MS Teams? Maybe just a smoke signal?!”

• Feelings of Disconnection – Missing those water cooler and lunchtime chats…

• Decrease of Productivity – “The more time I have, the less I’ll get done.”

• Lack of Security – “I’ll just use my personal laptop. That’s ok, right?”

• Lack of Compliance – “It’s Covid time… they won’t notice.”

• Nosedive of Company Culture – “This whole “Together Apart” thing is NOT working for me.”

How can we harness all the amazing advances in today’s technology in order to maximize your company culture and internal communication?

With people coming back to the office, it’s time to reboot and refresh your internal communications strategies, which of course will lead to a fresh, new engaged workplace culture.

Here are 5 ways that technology can help:

1) Collect and share accurate, real-time data

With the right software, a department head can access usage data to instantly gain a better understanding of her team's work habits - where they work and their interactions with other teams, without having to go through HR or IT. Benefit: Greater transparency, efficiency, and evidencebased decisions

2) Increased Performance

The goal of technology should be to make work, frictionless. By reducing barriers, employees are empowered to work in the ways they are most effective and productive. Good software tools can reduce the time spent trying to locate a colleague, find a meeting space and more. One such empowering technology is TEAMS. Benefit: Increased communication and collaboration; employees feel supported and empowered

3) Get engaged

Survey and goal-tracking tools allow managers to quickly check in with employees more frequently, instead of waiting for an annual performance review. HR can use survey apps to capture employee sentiment or ask for feedback and suggestions. Benefit: Stronger communication; companies can coursecorrect and proactively address potential issues

4) Offer greater flexibility

Technology makes it easier for employees to work remotely. They can also “clock in” at more convenient hours if they are unable to be in the office during your working hours. Leverage the flexibility of Office 365 and integrate that with cloud-based line-of-business applications. Benefit: Flexible, family-friendly work policies without sacrificing performance; able to adapt and scale easily when technology itself is flexible.

5) Recognize and reward employees

Recognition and reward software can allow anyone to give a “shout out” to any employee who has done exceptional work. Products such as Slack or eScreenz™ can be used to create daily huddles, improve training, onboarding or to guide employees wanting to advance their careers. They will get a clear understanding of the skills to build or milestones they need to attain before their next promotion. Benefit: Boost employee engagement

These are just a few of the ways technology can help you improve workplace culture, communication, and engagement. While “old school” strategies still have their place, do not forget to put cutting edge technologies in the mix!

Think About IT

Host of Entre Computer Services, “The NEW IT” Podcast. www.entrecs.com

David Mammano, Entre Computer Services