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How useful is an office motto or slogan?
I am the manager of a state agency. My particular unit is housed in 3 different counties. It's hard enough for the staff in all 3 offices to feel a part of 1 single unit, especially now that we are teleworking.
Best ways to create unity? And is it really a substantial way to develop teamwork?
Chloe Nguyen
Digital Marketing Strategist
31
06/30/20 at 10:17PM UTC
I think an internal slogan will help get everyone on the same page and have a common goal. My team was split into two physical locations prior to COVID as well: product marketing was in one office and developers were in another. I think that language has a large role in how unified people feel. I had to get one of my reports to stop calling some of us "Marketing" to the development team when he referred to the product marketing side. We are all on the Marketing team and I felt that it contributed to a "them vs us" mindset. I wonder if you could assign tasks in a way that has people from one office work with another; everyone is remote now anyway, so it's not like the convenience of walking to someone else's desk exists anymore. The strength of teamwork could be seen and felt by the individuals contributing to projects, together.
LEANNE TOBIASInvestment real estate/sustainability
4.07k
06/25/20 at 7:09PM UTC
The motto or slogan can be useful if it reflects shared, core values of your agency. I think that the suggestions on this thread (ask employees to participate in creating motto/slogan; create cross-county teams) are excellent.
In addition: can your agency use Zoom or a similar teleconferencing service to promote unity during the pandemic? If your agency can’t establish a professional-level Zoom account, you might want to use the free service to form smaller cross-county teams that would do a call every week or two to discuss shared issues and proposed solutions. The free Zoom service would be a great way to pilot this idea at no cost.
You could also use smaller cross-county Zoom groups to identify shared values and develop potential slogan or mottos. The entire staff could vote on which slogan/motto should be adopted.
Aly BrineHelping Corporate Hippies thrive on LinkedIn!
1.59k
06/25/20 at 6:32PM UTC
What if the slogan or motto was approached in more of a culture statement kind way and instead of your creating it and pushing it forward, you looked to the employees to submit their ideas?
Rachel MinnickInnovative Nonprofit Professional/California
946
06/25/20 at 5:27PM UTC
I feel like mottos or slogans only work when they come from an authentic, shared place. If you create one to try to move people toward that mindset, it can feel forced. I appreciate that you want to create unity - are there ways to build cross-county teams to work on day-to-day tasks?
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