How do you foster the right culture in a remote hybrid model?

Answering the big questions from our Work Reimagined festival

Continuing on our mission to answer all of your questions from our Fluxx Work Reimagined festival, next up we’re focusing on culture and how you foster the right culture in a remote hybrid model. The way we keep our teams motivated, inspired and connected have a huge part to play in this.

My top tips to keep your team motivated:

One. Recreate those spontaneous moments when you used to bump into someone in the office by hosting Zoom Roulette. Schedule random 15mins sessions during the week and send whoever turns up into breakout group pairs to chat about the weather, discuss the latest news, gather thoughts on a business idea, or even make a quick decision about something.

Two. An old-fashioned phone call can surprise and delight. Rich Poole is so good at this. Beat Zoom fatigue and combat the increase of “formal” meetings by CALLING someone. It feels less intense, more spontaneous and it saves time.

Three. Host a digital festival to reconnect. Social interactions on a personal level and connectivity with a business purpose can be lost when everyone is working from different places, so having a well organised and well-designed digital experience hosted over a few days, sprinkled with some fun activities, can really lift spirits and prevent people from feeling isolated or concerned.

Four. People need recognition more than ever and there’s nothing more powerful than peer-to-peer gratitude. We host HeartBeat on Fridays with the prime purpose of spending 30mins sharing love or what we call, “shout outs”. It’s a real boost at the end of an intensive week.

Five. Check-in on your team and co-workers. Ask people how they are and don’t simply accept the traditional British response — “I’m fine”. Delve a little deeper to see how people really are. The HBR led a recent study on belonging at work; the surprising power of asking someone how they’re doing.. They found that when people feel like they belong at work, they are more productive, motivated and engaged — and those small, considered and thoughtful check-ins are key to this.

Fluxxer Natalia Waters, has been supporting one of the world’s largest FMCG companies to build a purposeful workplace strategy for the future, and also has some thoughts on the topic:

I think the most important thing is not losing sight of who you are and where you came from pre-pandemic. We’ve seen companies who had a really strong purpose and whose employees felt a strong connection to the business pre-pandemic thrive; their people have been more resilient and so have come out the otherside better and stronger. On the other side, companies who didn’t have a clearly defined purpose have struggled.

One of things to be mindful of is what you used to do offline doesn’t always translate online.

For a lot of people Friday night after-work-drinks have moved to Thursday or Friday after-work-zoom meetings. It’s simply not the same — it’s almost seen as forced fun, something scheduled in the diary. Some see it as an additional burden that’s increasing screen time and burn out, rather than an important way to connect. At Fluxx we run regular all company meetings twice a week to connect and it’s a great example of how to do this well. The sessions are short and you can be as active and vocal as you please. As Jenny mentioned — we spend time recognising each other and ‘Shout outs’ are a great way for Fluxxers to recognise colleagues. The meetings help us stay connected to the business and people and know what’s going on. There’s some organised fun too — the Friday night Glad pub meet-ups have been replaced by cook-a-longs and makers clubs. It’s the simple things that make a difference — like making sure the first 5–10 minutes of a meeting is reserved for general chit chat — it helps bring everyone into the room and head space of the next meeting.

Next week, we’ll be answering more of your questions from the Work Reimagined festival. If you have any to add please get in touch — would love to hear your questions, thoughts and experiences. If you’re interested in reading more of the big questions, take a look at our first question; “While the future of work will be different for every business, are there some fundamental truths that apply across the board?” Read more >>

Jenny Burns is an Executive Partner at Fluxx. For more info on the work we’re doing to reimagine the workplace check out these links or get in touch at Jenny.burns@fluxx.uk.com.