The most effective ways in which employers can move their business forward during challenging times

Cate Murden, Founder of PUSH – a business consultancy grounded in human behaviour, shares her advice around the most effective ways in which employers can move their business forward during such challenging times.

As the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic seems to be taking hold across the country, we can only wonder at what might be in store for us in the coming months.

The changes to the workplace brought about by Covid-19 are unprecedented. With varying degrees of success, we have adapted to homeworking and running our organisations remotely.

It seems that fewer of us are creeping back to commuting than expected. Many cite continuing fears over Covid, whilst others believe we have adapted astonishingly quickly to the new norm and, having done so, are reluctant (to say the least) to return to the past.

At PUSH Cate is wholly focused on effective communication and ‘work-life brilliance’ in a human environment. Having supported her clients through this challenging time, Cate has listened carefully to the myriad of challenges that they are facing and has identified key insights and actions that will help to streamline companies and their teams towards a more exciting, energetic, and highly entrepreneurial future.

• Nourish a growth mindset: Perhaps one of the most important factors to consider when it comes to every stakeholder within an organisation is the mindset. A strong and positive mindset is essential to developing healthy self-esteem. It is an important tool that affects our daily self-dialogue and reinforces our most intimate beliefs, attitudes and feelings about ourselves. Investing in staff and supporting them towards not only a healthy mindset but taking that one step further and investing in them to nurture a growth mindset is key. With challenge, comes opportunity and organisations with the right positive entrepreneurial mindset will be able to adapt and capitalise on all of the new opportunities available to them.
• Culture and community: There’s no communal water cooler or coffee machine to huddle around when there’s something to chew the fat about and whilst this type of behaviours may in the first instance seem a little unproductive, it all plays an important role in weaving the fabric that creates the culture and community in every organisation. We spend a lot of time with our colleagues and for the most part, they become family! New work from home measures have disrupted this element of organisations enormously and we need to find new and innovative ways to overcome this. Don’t be afraid to put this problem out to your team as well, ask them what they want? How can they connect and communicate better with one another? Instead of Friday drinks, could you send them a care package full of motivational goodies each month?
• Certainty – Familiar ways of working and common organisational practices have been completely thrown up into the air and with this level of disruption has come an enormous amount of anxiety. Employees have feared for their jobs, missed their old working environments and in some instances, struggled to adjust to what is fast becoming a much more sustained ‘new normal.’ A strong and loyal workforce is the lifeblood of any organisations so it’s really important as a management team to think long and hard about ways that they can instil confidence and certainty in their team. To do this successfully, organisations must demonstrate a sustained level of transparency and trust with their team. Don’t be afraid to open up major discussions with them and allow them to become part of the new framework for success. Everyone solves problems differently so chances are you will learn a thing or two from them yourselves.

Covid-19 might have brought disruption to the way you operate your business but shoots of a new, more dynamic and highly-focused way of working are emerging, and the results will be long-lived.

For more information visit www.pushmindbody.com