Culture is built in stressful moments

Last week, Heinrich talked about keeping your long term strategy top of mind when times are stressful (Long term thinking during Covid)… and that got me thinking about culture during that time as well. Culture is built in stressful situations, especially for companies who are trying to create or change their culture.

For small business owners, this is especially important, and hard. Small businesses don’t typically have a special budget just for “culture initiatives” that larger corporations do, nor do they have a specialized manager for this effort. It’s typically someone’s second (or third) job to spearhead a culture engagement effort.

But what you do in stressful times – like the one we are all in now – speaks volumes about who you are as a business, who you aspire to be, and how you will treat each other. Under stress, many of us revert to our more base behaviors…. Anger, sharp tongues, little patience.

“The culture of a company is the sum of the behaviors of all its people” (Jack Ma)

As a change agent, you must be the one to address these behaviors. In a one-on-one setting, perhaps by checking in with the person, reinforce the culture you are trying to create. The power of direct communication is so important in this moment. If you are creating a culture of support and family, reinforce that purpose. Remind the person that we are all trying to do our best, including them. Lead with empathy and compassion, and you will find your culture can come out stronger on the other end.

#Culture #Stress #Empathy #GrumpyLemon