Not long ago, I was at a weekend retreat (the same weekend that I had an epiphany after falling off a high ropes course). Exploring the grounds when I first arrived, I happened upon a sign with 11 words carved into it: Are you paying attention to what you are paying attention to? I glanced at the sign and hurried on. A lounge chair at the mineral pool was calling my name.

I was only ten minutes into a Zoom call with a team of smart, motivated, innovative professionals when the finger-pointing, blaming, and criticizing began. Problems were presented. Obstacles were outlined. Faults were floated. The conversation got heated and combative.

It’s clear that remote work, or a combination of remote- and in-person work, is here to stay. This lasting impact of the pandemic will have positive implications for things like people’s mental, physical, and emotional health (hurray for trading in the commute for time to exercise or see friends!) and the environment (which needs all the TLC we can give it).

For most of us, it’s hard to feel certain about much of anything these days. If you’re a business leader, you’re not immune to thinking that the future, both short-term and long-term, looks pretty opaque. The good news is that you can get some clarity by creating a company culture that taps into and embraces the collective intelligence of your entire team. Collective intelligence may not give you 20/20 vision, but it will certainly help shine some light on the road ahead.

Lately, when the Live Bright Now team talks with clients about creating bright company culture, we’ve been using a new term: shared diligence. We talked about this concept in a previous post, and, since then, people have been asking what we mean. Here’s more on why it’s so important.

With so many companies contemplating reopening their physical offices, we believe that businesses must foster a culture of shared diligence to move forward safely and successfully.

As you and countless other business leaders figure out the logistics of reentry, it’s time to put important culture elements in place. Why get intentional about workplace culture right now? With some form of reopening on the horizon, culture is the glue that will hold everything—and everyone—together. When your company culture is based on putting people first, policies become promises. Teams and individuals become each other’s champions because everyone looks out for each other. Most importantly, at a time when stress levels are high, you can create an environment where workers feel physically, emotionally, and psychologically safe.