The first working group meeting of the BM&As took place on January 8, 2020 from 3.00 to 5.45 p.m. with the virtual meeting of the Culture & Change working group. The aim was to find answers to a current question in a structured discussion:
DOES CORPORATE CULTURE HELP IN THE CORONA CRISIS?
The following points, among others, should be taken into account:
- CULTURAL PARAMETERS
- CHANGE CULTURE
- CRISIS AWARENESS
- COPING – CONSEQUENCES – CONSEQUENCES
And if possible, the following detailed questions should be answered:
- What are helpful parameters in the corporate culture?
- Which elements of corporate culture need to be refocused in the future?
- How can corporate culture be changed?
First, the participants’ initial ideas were collected virtually – as in traditional strategy moderation – and organized into clusters by the participants with virtual moderation: Headlines were then formulated from the clusters as operational questions. These cluster topics were then weighted by the participants.
We have identified and weighted the following topics as headlines (in brackets):
- What attitude/mindset are we using to shape our future? (13)
- How does the responsibility get to where the work is done? (6)
- What forms and values of cooperation do we need and how do we develop them? (10)
- How do we relearn? (6)
- How do we gain trust in the information we provide? (1)
- What structure, cooperation and leadership do we need? (3)
- What technology do we need? (10)
- What behaviors/rituals help us to be successful? (0)
- What management methods do we need? (0)
- How does the pandemic change the purpose of the company? (3)
- How do we make conflicts and how do we deal with them productively? (8)
After the discussion and weighting, it became clear that the underlying mindset and attitude will be decisive for cultural change to overcome the corona crisis! The discussion on new learning was interesting, which first requires unlearning old patterns and rules.
What we have learned:
In order to have an honest and open discussion, friendly interaction with one another is the ultimate prerequisite for the discussion to work. Without knowing each other personally, it is very difficult to take a closer look at conflicting points and develop solutions at a higher level of complexity.
Such an in-depth discussion works better if the participants have gotten to know each other personally and have had experiences in live encounters that build trust!
Another basic requirement is the technical functionality and the ability of the participants to operate the various software functions. 60 seconds of disruption due to technical faults or a participant not being able to use their computer means a loss of a quarter of an hour for the entire team. It puts a round of completely unknown participants to a great test of patience if microphones do not work and software is not mastered.
Based on our experience from the previous round, we decided not to use sophisticated participation and visualization software this time in order to improve the workflow. However, there were suggestions and the desire to use corresponding systems in the future.
The participants were so enthusiastic about this discussion round that they requested a further meeting to discuss the topics in greater depth. The group of participants unanimously preferred a virtual meeting to a face-to-face meeting.
From Bernhard & Petra Pelzer
