With Covid-19 presenting arguably the greatest test of organisational resilience for generations, companies across the globe are battling to weather the storm, and having a strong and resilient company culture in place will be a defining internal factor of the businesses that succeed.

I’ve recently taken part in a podcast exploring leadership in a time of crisis – joining HR expert Beth Parsons, and company director, Karen Swan to look at how a focus on company culture can help teams to continue to thrive during lockdown and the importance of culture in companies’ response to change and challenges. It’s a great listen and you can hear our opinion from 17.30. You can listen to the podcast by clicking here.

As a ‘people-first’ organisation with a core value to Make a Positive Difference, lockdown has definitely shown us the power of culture and the strength that having positive personal relationships within a team and across our organisational network, can bring to an organisation during a time of crisis.

Our directors have also re-emphasised the importance of vulnerable and empathetic leadership at all levels of the organisation – letting people know it’s ok not to be ok, and sharing our own personal challenges during this time.

Personal connection has also been hugely important in ensuring people are supported, from regular personal calls from our senior directors to all our team, to the introduction of social and digital channels, which provide a platform for sharing and encouraging one another.

We’ve really loved the way that the platform Workplace has provided a space for our people to share their experiences with each other through blogs, TikTok videos, or just sharing inspiration and encouragement, which has been brilliant for keeping people in touch.

In terms of deepening client relationships and providing outstanding support and advice to our clients remotely, we’ve found technology to be key in enabling our team to provide a seamless service. Video meetings, in particular, have been brilliant in allowing us to reach out and really engage with our clients, where we can’t meet face to face.

Going forward, we’ll continue to embrace the power of technology to enable our team and clients to stay connected, supported, and engaged. Platforms like Zoom and Teams have a really important role to play in our new working world and we look forward to seeing these channels enable people to work much more flexibly, while keeping in touch with colleagues, and providing outstanding support to clients wherever they are.

It’s not often that you have the opportunity to ‘stress-test’ your organisation’s resilience and culture in the manner that Covid:19 has offered businesses. For all its devastation, the pandemic will provide hugely valuable insights and learnings for organisations about the level or resilience and flexibility within their businesses - providing a hopefully not-to-be-repeated litmus test of operational and cultural performance in a global crisis scenario.

Listen to the Leadership in a Time of Crisis podcast here.