COVID-19 has caught the world off-guard. The virus has given no reaction time to people to understand the gravity of this pandemic.
Man, in the face of adversity, has always been an adaptable species. In times of crisis, our survival instincts recognize the urgency to change and adapt to it. And, just like humans, most businesses around the world have been trying to adapt.
Work from home is one such survival strategy that businesses are trying to adapt to. Even though it has its own set of perks, they can wear off in the absence of office camaraderie.
Focus, commitment, productivity, and impetus to work hard can wane without a cohesive network. That is why an internal community, focused on employees, is the need of the hour when everyone is working from home.
Here’s how an internal community can help your organization:
Get Acquainted With Everyone
The biggest challenge to get everyone ready for remote work is for people to actually know each other. This is where an internal community is immensely helpful. Not only does it make for a common platform to bring everyone together, but it also helps cultivate camaraderie, and heightens a sense of awareness.
Establish Company Values
Apart from core values defined by the management, an internal community enables employees to share their thoughts and feedback. Thus, helping you to incorporate their belief system into your culture.
An internal community encourages a robust sense of commitment, ownership, and accountability. Hybridizing these values helps in continuing the seamless functioning of employees with the same work velocity, despite the current turbulent time.
Plug the Collaboration Gap
Most people are of the opinion that the time spent collaborating increases when people are working home. An internal community plugs this collaboration gap and fosters a collaborative work ecosystem. Communities are the best medium to capture, share, and take feedback on various topics.
Moreover, an internal community is your true north during a global pandemic. To resolve problems and dilemmas faced by teams, cross-functional groups can be created to support collective efforts. Communities can be a tool to break silos and allow people and teams to collaborate.
An internal community blurs the boundaries of physical proximity and encourages a feeling of cohesiveness whilst maintaining social distancing.
Enhance Internal Communication
An internal community serves as the best platform to share knowledge, common skills, and interests. If done right, an internal community has the surprising advantage of increasing engagement and communication amongst employees.
Having different sections ranging from knowledge reads to fun and activities, enables employees to connect with each other more.
Talent Development and Innovation
Vibrant internal communities play an important role when it comes to talent development. Since everyone is working from home, it becomes imperative to focus attention on upskilling and keeping employees engaged.
Internal communities promote cross-departmental groups where employees from diverse backgrounds come together and interact. Such diversity nurtures innovation and ideas.
A community is a place where employees come out of their silos and express freely and debate without fear. Thus it keeps employees connected to the pulse of the organization.
Leading From The Distance
The global outbreak of coronavirus is creating significant challenges at all levels and organizations. Leading from a distance is a new kind of leadership that demands managing teams from home, scattered geographically, and separated culturally.
An internal community gives a much needed tactical direction to teams. Moreover, communities are a great way to address requirements and needs.
In these testing times, virtual communities play a significant role in setting a direction for your team, coordinating alignment, and supplementing the needs.
Overall, communities harness higher employee satisfaction levels.
Conclusion
Implementing internal communication ideas amongst employees through an internal community can help improve engagement. Moreover, a lucid understanding of what is working well and where to put extra effort with remote workers is very critical. This is where the internal community plays a significant role.
Do you want to build an internal community that caters to the demands of your employees? Do not let the pandemic overwhelm you. Grazitti can help you build an internal community so that your teams can work efficiently.
Help your people manage remote employees more effectively with an internal community during COVID-19. Contact us.
