Recording: Fireside chat, Establishing a New Normal in Corporate Culture

By Ben Weger

As companies slowly return to the office, they’re faced with a number of challenges to returning to a new normal. The world is looking to community leaders to help rebuild our culture and sense of belonging. Join Meetup CEO David Siegel for a conversation on re-establishing team dynamics, creating manager alignment around a new company vision, and forging a new community in the workplace.

Moderated by Marty Katz (Branding and messaging consultant) and Raphi Salem (President and founder of SalemGlobal). Marty and Raphi are Co-Organizers of the BizDev Leaders Meetup group. 

Main Takeaways:

• After months apart, many people are exhausted and confused by often contradictory messages from the government, public health officials, and the medical and scientific community. How can leaders forge a consistent and reliable message for their teams?
  • Messaging and communication always start with pre-work. Here are 5 points to keep in mind:
    1. Listening: Listen to your members’ concerns. You can use tools like polls.
    2. Collaboration: Work with your leadership team and members.
    3. Flexibility: Try to figure out how to build flexibility into the program. For example, at Meetup, we will provide physical workstations in different locations in NY for employees that want it, but it’s not mandatory.
    4. Over-communication: Keep everyone updated.
    5. The message: The way to be successful with messaging is not so much focused on the message itself. Think about all of the previous steps as you come up with your message. 
• How can leaders assure their members that management is providing the safest environments?
  • I think the first step is acknowledging that you can’t fully assure 100% of the people. Focus on individual needs, ensure flexibility, understand that it’s not just about rational decisions and it’s important to err on the side of caution.
• Here are ideas and resources that Meetup is using to build communication among employees:
  • Slack apps like Donut randomly pairs people for a 30-minute weekly coffee buddy.
  • Icebreaker is another service that’s good for people to get to know each other. 
  • Game nights and scavenger hunts that are larger online group activities.
  • Optional in-person outdoor local park gatherings for employees to see one another while practicing social distancing. 

Top Q&A Questions:

• How should we be more present in an online environment?
  • I think it’s acceptable and important for a Meetup organizer to say “please show your faces” in a conference call. Another thing I recommend is to have a designated person looking at who is talking and how much. Assigning roles is very important in Zoom meetings 
• How do you spread the word about our Meetup outside the local area?
  • When you have an event, and if you’re able to share it on social media and tag influencers, do it. Also, if you find other Meetup group organizers outside of your area who are organizing a group with a similar topic, you can reach out to plan co-events together.
    Meetup has also released an update to our search algorithm so that members have an easier time finding online events outside of their account location.

Meetup Team

Last modified on June 23, 2021