A Positive Product of the Pandemic: Culture
This article was originally published on Human Resource Executive’s website.
“Our engagement results are so much higher … than they were just day to day,” said one of the members of our Employee Experience Exchange group via Zoom recently, echoing the sentiments other participants had written in the chat section. “I feel like we have always really cared about our employees a lot, but we just say it more, we’re so much more demonstrative about it now. We really care about our employees and … we’re showing it more.”
That may be one of the ultimate silver linings of the COVID-19 crisis—and hopefully also in the events following George Floyd’s death—true leaders have stepped up, and companies have exhibited a level of empathy the workforce has never seen before. Examples are everywhere, from heartfelt and frequent communication to additional pay, relaxation of working hours, additional benefits and more vacation. Many companies have gone the extra mile to help their employees cope with levels of crisis most have never experienced in their lifetimes.
And for those companies, while that reaction is heartwarming, it’s also strategic. As Mark Cuban said in relation to the pandemic a few weeks ago, “How companies respond … is going to define their brand for decades. How you treat your employees today will have more impact on your brand in future years than any amount of advertising, any amount of anything you literally could do.”
Actions during trying times are amplified. With the confluence of crises, an organization’s consumer brand and employer brand are, for good or bad, being determined now. As we’ve outlined in the New Corporate Currency, the interconnectedness of Purpose, Culture and Brand has always existed but is much more pronounced during this pandemic than it ever was in the past.
Kevin is CEO and co-founder of the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), the world’s leading human capital research firm focusing on people practices that drive high performance. i4cp conducts more research in the field of HR than any other organization on the planet, highlighting next practices that organizations and HR executives should consider adopting.
Kevin is also the author of Culture Renovation®, an Amazon bestseller which debuted as the #1 new release in a dozen Amazon book categories. Drawing on data from one of the largest studies ever conducted on corporate culture, Culture Renovation™ details how high-performance organizations such as Microsoft, T-Mobile, 3M, AbbVie, Mastercard and many more have successfully changed organizational culture.
Kevin is currently on the board of Performitiv, and on the advisory boards of Guild Education and Sanctuary. Kevin was previously on the board of directors of KnowledgeAdvisors, a provider of human capital analytics software, which was purchased by Corporate Executive Board in March of 2014. Kevin was also the Chairman of Jambok, a social learning start-up company which was founded at Sun Microsystems and was purchased by SuccessFactors in March 2011. Additionally, Kevin served on the boards of Workforce Insight and Koru prior to their sales.
Kevin is on the board of Best Buddies Washington and helped establish the first office for Best Buddies in the state in 2019. Best Buddies is a nonprofit organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, leadership development, and inclusive living for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).
Kevin was previously the Founder and the President of SumTotal Systems (NASDAQ: SUMT) which he helped create in 2003 by merging Click2learn (NASDAQ: CLKS) with Docent (NASDAQ: DCNT). The merger won Frost & Sullivan's Competitive Strategy Award in 2004.
Prior to the formation of SumTotal, Kevin was the Chairman & CEO of Click2learn, which was founded by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. Kevin helped take Click2learn public and engineered over a dozen acquisitions post-IPO. Prior to joining Click2learn, Kevin was president and founder of Oakes Interactive in Needham, MA. Oakes Interactive was purchased by Click2learn (then called Asymetrix) in 1997, prior to going public a year later.