Delivering Enhanced Transparency In A Post-Covid World

The term pivot ruled business vocabularies amid the pandemic, and now, transparency is expected to reign supreme in the post-Covid business landscape.

Enhanced transparency is something Re-Bath has grown accustomed to as a foundational element in driving results. By striking a balance of open and frequent communication paired with accountability, Re-Bath experienced a nearly 80% increase in systemwide sales year-over-year, with double-digit increases carrying into 2022.

Now more than ever there is a need for business leaders to meet the expectations of enhanced transparency in today’s workforce. While sometimes met with hesitation and resistance, the below insight is meant to provide best practices for implementing transparency to strengthen and grow your team while driving bottom-line results.

Keep Communication Consistent

Frequent communication was a priority for all businesses at the start of the pandemic as we were adjusting to the “new normal,” but this shouldn’t change.

One of the greatest lessons we gained from the pandemic is the invaluable role of communication. At the heart of transparency is open communication—allowing you to hear from your employees, and for your employees to feel heard.

The key to consistent communication that will resonate with your team is diversification. Traditional work calls can become mundane and bogged down with standard agendas. Find ways to incorporate social components, switch up the frequency, and change the format—in-person, virtual, webinars, calls, etc.

Your team is hungry for information—give it to them. Since the start of the pandemic, Re-Bath has hosted meetings with its franchisees to review the state of the business, hear from various C-level executives on department specific updates, and open the floor for Q&A sessions. While many companies executed similar gatherings during the pandemic, most have fallen by the wayside. That’s a mistake.

These conversations are invaluable, resulting in a workforce that is more ingrained, leading to stronger results.

Continue to Practice Empathy

During the pandemic, everyone was coping differently and had their own personal circumstances to juggle along with having to work remotely. Employers should continue to practice empathy post-pandemic by asking questions and being engaged with each of their team members and employees, ongoing.

Empathy builds trust and relationships, which are essential to employee well-being, performance and retention. Find a way to exchange your expectations for appreciation, because when a team member feels valued, they are motivated to reach or surpass goals and expectations set by their company. Value can be demonstrated in the form of celebrations, gifts, events and gatherings, compensation, perks, systemwide call-outs and more.

Re-Bath has leaned into this heavily post-pandemic with a culture shift that puts people first. When you join Re-Bath, you join a family, which means you are responsible for one another—personal and individual needs go outside of the 9-to-5 to help people.

For example, Re-Bath had a long-term employee pass away shortly after resigning from the company. The leadership team reached out to the family, specifically the young daughter, to assist with financial affairs, planning and more.

Show value, celebrate wins, communicate opening and freely—demonstrate you care, and it will be reciprocated.

Remain Results-Driven

To help facilitate a transparent culture, you must also be transparent about results—let them speak for themselves.

As long as goals are being met, you don’t need to have complete tunnel vision on the details and specifics of how the goals are met. If an employee is more comfortable working from home and still produces the expected results, then allow or encourage them to continue doing so.

Simply put, be transparent in your expectations of results. Results should be driven by fluid expectations versus solid policy, and part of this practice is having room for flexibility with employees and company leaders.

Re-Bath has focused on building a policy-light organization by prioritizing flexibility and accountability. By doing so, the franchise is seeing same-store-sales growth alongside multiple franchise openings.

By meeting the expectations of enhanced transparency in the post-Covid world, business leaders will inherently drive bottom-line results. The key lies in open and consistent communication, a culture of empathy, and balancing flexibility with results. In turn, this will lead to a future-focused team set to deliver forward-thinking, creative work.