What's Your Work-From-Home Forecast?

With winter fast approaching, everyone wants to know the weather forecast.

But now comes the ultimate storm, COVID. Leaders are left to ponder:

• How big is it really going to get?
• What do we do now as an organization?
• How do we move ahead, when it seems wise to pause--but for how long?
• Are there any reliable markers to quickly gauge how fit and ready our workplace really is to handle COVID’s growing onslaught? (Answer: Yes. See the 3-minute checklist, below).

With covid cases climbing to new record levels, an immediate question remains, What becomes of our workplace? What’s best for our people moving forward? Actual offices? Remote workplaces?

The answer might rest somewhere between two different outlooks:

On November 11, CNN reported:

“Following weeks of rapid climbs in Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations, more state leaders have begun asking residents to stay at home in hopes of helping curb an already rampant spread of the virus. The announcements also come as Texas became the first US state to surpass a million cases.

‘We have to go back to the basics,’ the governor said, encouraging businesses to return to telecommuting as much as possible.”

 Still, on the same day, Forbes announced:

“With the growing pandemic and the United States reporting a 64% increase in new cases over the past two weeks, you might think working at home would be growing.  But the reverse seems to be true—homework is gradually declining and offices are slowly reopening across the country.

“So, don’t count on staying home and keeping your job—your employer may well have different plans, and other options given continuing high unemployment and a supply of workers.”

At the moment, hopes for a vaccine are still 92 degrees below zero, the prescribed temperature of vaccine-maker Pfizer. (United States government health officials are tentatively forecasting public vaccinations by Spring 2021.)

Predicting your future workplace layout based on covid’s current spread is about as easy as trying to successfully onboard a 120-mile hurricane.

What’s the alternative? Leaders already on the road to creating a better, healthier workplace culture have returned to the basic, highly-practical exercise. They’re intentionally carving out time in their schedule to pause and ask themselves, “How healthy are we as a culture, at this moment?"

The answer, confirmed by more than 1,100 Christian organizations that have surveyed their employees and their leaders ties directly to these eight proven indicators.

Take 3 minutes and rate the health of your current workplace? With a 1/🙁 , 5/😐 , or 10/🙂  . Go!..

1. Fantastic Teams. Fantastic teams are those that are effective, engage in passionate dialogue around issues, resolve conflict, and strive for excellence in what they do. They are competent in their work areas and across department lines.  Effective, cohesive teams remain the sustainable advantage, according to Patrick Lencioni.
2. Life-Giving Work. Work is inspirational when staff is devoted to their role, are able to utilize their skills and spiritual gifts to their fullest, and as a result, love working in the organization.
3. Outstanding Talent.  Flourishing organizations recruit and retain high-quality talent, promote those who are most capable and reward their top performers.
4. Uplifting Growth and Development.  This element measures supervisory competence and compassion, the quality of performance feedback, recognition, and the opportunity to learn and grow.
5. Rewarding Compensation. This factor includes fair compensation and employee satisfaction with their medical, retirement, and paid-time-off benefits.
6. Inspirational Leadership.  This dimension measures the authenticity of the leaders’ Christian faith in action.  Leadership is seen as credible when leaders demonstrate the fruit of the Holy Spirit, live with integrity, exhibit humility and compassion, are transparent, and create high levels of trust in the organization.
7. Sustainable Strategy. These organizations have an effective or winning strategy for meeting the needs of those they serve in a high-quality way.  There is consensus on the organization’s goals, and they meet their goals while nourishing long-term loyal relationships.  In fact, staff recommends their services to their friends and family.
8. Healthy Communication. This is active communication and employee involvement.  Communication is “real” when staff experience managers listening to their suggestions and acting on them.  Where staff feels free to voice their opinions, diversity is evident and they are encouraged to innovate. These organizations are well run and achieve work/life balance.

Completed all eight? How did you do? If you scored 70 or below, keep reading.

Creating a flourishing culture takes time and effort. Yet be encouraged: Each of these factors is accessible and attainable for every organization that seeks to be more effective and committed to being their best.

Which factors are your organization’s strengths? What about your weaknesses? Are you ready to cultivate your flourishing culture? Let us show you how. Discover the health of your organization with our easy online Employee Engagement Survey.