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Corporate Beliefs: A Trusted Companion In Times Of Change

Forbes Human Resources Council

Anne Krog Iversen built, implemented and manages corporate mindfulness as Co-Founder; Chief DNA, People and Culture Officer at TimeXtender.

Our ways of living and working have been greatly impacted by Covid-19. Changes are being implemented at all levels of our lives, and we need to learn how to adapt as we go along. Along with the changes in our personal lives, the corporate world has been undergoing and executing change as well, namely by building a work-from-home workforce.

Too much change in a short period of time can be stressful, and all this fear can cause us to easily lose our heads and our ability to think rationally. However, having well-established beliefs in place can be a terrific asset to help us move on, keep our feet on the ground and adapt. This is where corporate beliefs come into play.

Corporate beliefs are the steady anchor for a company’s culture, a driving force with its own intuitive and strong-gripping sentiment that helps us act and move on under pressure. When sudden change occurs, such as this global pandemic, the first activity that the human mind tries to activate is to revert to its norm and its embedded belief system, or what it knows best. The same can be said for an organization as a whole: When it too faces a wave of change, everybody within the corporation tries to go back to basics. In other words, they go back to their “core,” their beliefs.

It’s times like these when it is important for organizations to have the type of HR infrastructure in place that rests on corporate beliefs, deeply rooted throughout the company. As we know, change is constant, even if we don’t choose change. Change lives and breathes in all of us, and impacts all of us, but so too do our corporate beliefs. Having these beliefs solidly in place is a business mechanism that helps us all keep calm and action-oriented when faced with change. They aid us in being successful despite a major environmental shakeup.

Over the last few months of dealing with the pandemic, many moving stories have been shared by our employees at TimeXtender, as they, like so many of you, continue to work from home from various locations around the world. It’s our view that our corporate beliefs have been the glue that has bonded us together through these times of change.

A time of change can be frustrating because it disrupts and messes with what we know, and it may require a call for unknown measures. But facing the unknown and facing times of change can be an opportunity for times of learning — and the bigger change, the greater the opportunity for learning.

Learning new skills and facing new challenges can push us outside our personal boundaries and move us to a higher level of consciousness and self-awareness, which is beneficial for times like these and for new, unforeseen change that we might face in the future. This is healthy and fosters personal growth and innovation. There’s a quote that I’ve heard some people say that rings true to me: “You’ll find happiness on the other side of your comfort zone.” What better time than now to travel along this journey?

A key component to this is the communication of a shared set of core beliefs and purpose. Communication of corporate beliefs during times of change is so important because it assists employees in finding connection and calm, both at work and in their personal lives. It helps them stay grounded and delivers an understanding of what’s next. It’s essential to have your core beliefs firmly established within your company so your employees will have something known, familiar and comforting to lean on when everything else around them feels unstable.

Furthermore, I encourage corporate management to find new ways to communicate their core beliefs with the intent to give their company staff a fresh, needed direction that ultimately provides some sort of stability and a safe way back to shore. The message can get lost when it’s always communicated the same way. The company core beliefs should be incorporated in all our work to let them live, breathe and be present at any time in business. You should also regularly highlight and reinforce your corporate traditions because consistency creates reassurance.

For those of you who have your core beliefs solidly in place, you've taken a great step. For others, now might be the perfect time to use the power of communication to emphasize your corporate beliefs for your specific organizational purpose.


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