Keeping Culture in the Year of the Pandemic

Like every small business owner, this year has been like no other. The challenges of maintaining partnerships, clients and work streams have been extraordinary. Meetings that would occur over coffees, dinners and lunches stopped completely and everything that was engrained in me about connecting with the outside world was completely thrown out the window. But the greatest challenge of the pandemic was about how to maintain the most important part of our business when no one physically shows up: our culture. Culture is one of our greatest assets a company has. I recall living through building a business during the dotcom bust of 2000 and the economic disaster of 2008. This of course is a year I’ll never forget.

On March 13th of this year, we were all sitting at our desks in an office on Market street. The office was special: We bought all the desks, arranged the space, and held our holiday parties, painted the walls, and hosted celebrations and meetups. It was ours and a physical manifestation of everything that made us, us. The announcements that went out from our State's leadership that afternoon changed that (for good cause). While we sat at our desks, our distance had already started with the lack of handshakes, hugs, or high fives. We started wearing masks that concealed our true emotions and had the feeling that it would be a long hall. As time progressed, one of the greatest fears of mine was how to keep it all together. Here are five things I have learned or contemplated throughout the pandemic. Only time will create the true learnings but after 8 months, there is some clarity:

1. It's not all up to you.

There are some things we as individuals are responsible for - but the culture of a company does not ride on the shoulders of one person - even the founder. It comes from the fabric of each individual that makes up the company. Each one of us has the responsibility to push the company forward. Whether it be an online game of Skribbl.io, an outdoor bike trip, a Friday afternoon happy hour on Zoom, or even a reach out to others with "Here's what I'm learning", each one of us has a responsibility to push forward what it means to be CompassRed.

2. You're going to be a different company - everything has changed, and don’t try to come back.

We all wish for the days before. All the great things we remembered from the years past are very much missed, but there are great things to come. We can't kid ourselves to think that this will all just go away in a month or two (or twelve). Our habits of communication have slowly taken root in our daily routines and some of it will stay. We are not going to try and fight them, but we will definitely analyze what's working and what's not and embrace those that do.

3. Active Listening is key at every meeting.

We meet as a team every morning at 9:30 to kick the day off. We go around explaining what we are focused on, perhaps even what we are learning at that time. When we are not making fun of each other - we are actually getting work done. We met twice a day in the early days, but that seemed to be overload. It becomes very easy during these calls to fall into mind numbing routines. The act of active listening, something I'm still learning to do, becomes very important. Without the lack of physical social queues, one has to lean in, really understand what's being said, and make sure empathy is at the highest possible level. Everyone is struggling in some way - and that includes your own team. Try as hard as you can to listen.

4. Care. Don’t just say it.

You have to make sure others know what you’re trying to do to make the workplace safe. Each day you should bring something you're doing - or others are doing - to keep the physical and virtual workplace safe. There are very legitimate reasons people are concerned and some not-so very illegitimate reasons. Perception, however, does not distinguish between the two and perception is what drives culture. Constantly repeating what you or your team are working on to make the workplace better should be part of your weekly list.

5. Finally, we did not grow our company from home.

Recently, I read that maintaining companies can be done from home - but growth and innovation need to be in person as much as possible. As safely as humanly possible, we will push for in person meetings - even if they are outside a hundred feet a part. There is just something that's not possibly done on video. We are even exploring the Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality world to see what we can do to get closer in that medium. For us to continue to grow - we will need to have that connection - but with safety as a priority.

Company culture is worth more than any item on a balance sheet. I am convinced it can be used to overcome any obstacle. We will always strive at having it as a priority on our task list. I’m still learning - but I’m confident of our team to get us through this.

CompassRed is a full-service data agency that specializes in providing data strategy for clients across multiple industries.