How has culture changed during COVID-19?
Adapting to working from home has been a smooth transition because of the digital structure we had in place. Yes, you may say there has been a lot of physical changes to the way Formation runs, but the fundamentals of our 4 core values within our #BleedGreen culture has remained the same.
- Revolution – Working in a digital landscape, we continue to revolutionise and digitise the processes of our clients.
- Agile – “Formation is proactive, not reactive. We continually find new ways to approach evolving issues. By taking a flexible approach, we are able to constantly improve”
- Integrity – Communication, honesty, mutual respect, trust and transparency are more important than ever during these times. We are also partnering with a number of charities including CRASAC and LWS Night Shelter (https://www.lwsnightshelter.org/)
- Aptitude – We are constantly analysing our processes in order to improve. The studio team have all conducted Accessibility training with EDX during the pandemic in line with WCAG 2.1 AA standards to enforce for our public sector clients
No doubt, there have been challenges along this journey. Our Managing Director, Martin, even took the decision to convert the loft within his house into his own office space!
It’s safe to say that working from home can often be a lonely place. The challenge is keeping the morale high and allowing the team to feel close together despite being so far apart physically.
Our daily scrum meetings are now digital. These offer a platform for each team to voice their opinions, ideas, frustrations, ask questions, share with each other and set the tone for the day and ensure nobody feels like they’re working on an island. This is in aid of combatting and feelings of isolation and to encourage inclusion. The days of gathering in the meeting room / UX factory over an 8am coffee are currently on hold!
We are holding a weekly quiz in which a different team member poses as the quiz master. This gives the team an opportunity to catch-up on a social level, is excellent for morale and is great fun (although I’m sure everyone is bored of me winning every week!) Our usual yearly ‘Christmas Jumper Day’ will also be incorporated into this social event on the 11th December.
Our usual tradition of a Christmas bash at the NEC in Birmingham may not be happening this year, but in the spirit of good morale, we are currently exploring ideas for a virtual Christmas party (which is all dependent on the tiering system for Warwick!)
So yeah, we were ready for you Covid-19, and you can’t stop us from bleeding green. #BleedGreen
Get in touch with our strategic digital account managers today and see how we can digitise your business to become pandemic-proof!
--------------------
This article is part of a 3-part series on our pro-active culture at Formation Media during COVID-19. They initiated after getting some great feedback from the team after an engagement session – a lunchtime online quiz which has now became a weekly occurrence! I thought initially the topic and theme would be about how difficult life has been during the pandemic, but I then realised that thanks to the digital structure, combined with an engrained culture of agility and learning, it has allowed us to thrive as an organisation.
