Sustaining ‘CultureFlow’ in Diverse & Dispersed Teams
Sustaining CultureFlow in Diverse & Dispersed Teams, by Drew Bartkiewicz of CulturePop
Traditional leadership and management principles were created for a world that no longer exists. Never before have our teams been so distributed and yet so diverse.
So how does one maintain a culture flow when people from so many backgrounds are working on projects from so many different places?
Gone are the days when organizational culture was based on proximity and co-location. People now work from disparate offices that range from their living room, to a cubicle, to their smart phone, and to wherever their daily life takes them. In this environment, the need to foster continuous learning and sustained connection has never been greater.
As a Gen-X veteran and business professional, the military and work cultures that I used to experience have shifted from being present to making everyone on the team feel present and part of the team. This is a new kind of remote leadership that calls upon a more human and consistent approach to progress than the in-person leadership styles that dominated before it.
Research shows that a sense of belonging and presence is driven by two primary factors:
1. LEARNING. Do people feel like they are continuously learning new things? and,
2. ENGAGEMENT. Do people feel part of a regular flow of communication, which includes the reinforcement of the culture’s values, goals, and strategy?
Most technologies in the market favor one track or the other. They are either a learning platform or they are an engagement system. There is no technology in the world that combines the two aspects of culture flow into a mobile experience that is simple, easy, and always available on a smart phone.
That is the premise of CulturePop, to grow the creative flow of any organization that requires motivated employees, who want to continually learn and sustain their team participation no matter where they are.
The distribution of leadership and the management of culture have moved from proximity to accessibility, so ask yourself, is your culture ready for this new world of distributed and diverse employees? If not, then you better get back into the Scranton office space where Michael Scott and Dwight Shrutt will be waiting for you.
Drew Bartkiewicz
Co-Founder, CulturePop