Professor Sally Eaves: In a Crisis, Reinforce Your Culture and Values

Sally Eaves advises business leaders to focus on culture and shared values when navigating major work disruptions. “There has been so much change in such a short period, and we need to help people be resilient through that. Companies must double down on their culture. They must give people support and confidence to make the unfamiliar familiar,” she says.
When adapting to market changes in the wake of a crisis, center your approach on three categories of stakeholders: employees, customers, and audiences. Now that so many employees are working from home, for example, enterprise collaboration platforms can help you create and share digital resources to help make the adjustment. “I’m creating inclusive forums, such as informal communities of practice, around key themes to share knowledge and experience. I want to provide a safe place where people can access information and resources about distributed work going digital, where they can look at real case studies. You can provide resources to improve skills or even build resilience and emotional intelligence, as well. Everyone can follow the company’s progress together: It’s transparent,” she says. This approach builds trust and cultivates belonging, which is critical in periods of organizational transition and beyond.

This is an excerpt from 8 Experts on Navigating Work Disruption. The eBook was generously sponsored by Workfront.