Building Culture with Remote Teams

The recent covid pandemic has had a dramatic effect on the workplace.

One of the biggest changes has been a shift towards working remotely.

More and more employees are expecting to have this option and in some cases are leaving if it’s not available.

Smart leaders with positions that can be conducted remotely will see this as an opportunity to attract great workers.

But it begs the question: “how do you build a culture of excellence when your teams work remotely?”

Here are 7 tips.

7 tips for building culture when people work from home

1. Be intentional

When people work remotely, you’re missing the random one- or two-minute interactions with people as you pass in the hall or the “water cooler” so you must be intentional to get the same dialog as you would there.

Make connecting with your team part of your routine. Get to know them personally.

2. Feel the trust and give the trust

Because you can’t see each other in your offices, physically, you must trust that everyone is doing what they need to be doing. This requires both giving that trust to others and feeling that trust from others to yourself.

3. Make your virtual meetings interactive

“Zoom Fatigue” is real. Be intentional about making meetings more interactive. Create fun games. Structure your meetings so that everyone gets a chance to present instead of just being talked to.

4. Set up individual check in meetings with each member of your team

Managers need to make sure that no one is out of sight, out of mind. Take time to meet with each member regularly to see how they are doing, what are they challenged with, and to ask how you can help them.

5. Use a program like Teams or Monday.com to organize your collaboration

These will help you create visibility for the team and make it possible to collaborate throughout the day without the need for calling several meetings on demand.

6. Set team communication expectations

Do you expect someone to respond immediately because they are working from home? Set that expectation. How will your team communicate? Email? Team chat? What is the flow of your team communication style? Declare it and live it and adjust accordingly.

7. Schedule face-to-face time

There is still no substitution for in-person interaction. People need people and we need to see them and interact. Even if it’s monthly or quarterly, arrange for your virtual teams to come together face to face.

Communicate frequently

The common theme in this list is COMMUNICATE.

You must communicate and do it OFTEN.

Your communication style and frequency are one of the few pillars of your culture that you have when you are remote.

Have your team assist you in creating the solutions

Define your culture with your team and talk openly about how that plays out with the virtual aspect.

Be transparent about the problems and get your team to brainstorm ways to correct it. Let your team be a part of developing your culture.

Committing to a culture of excellence – especially if your teams work remotely – can be challenging and it can take some time to fully implement, but the rewards are enormous.

If you’d like some assistance implementing positive culture change in your organization, we can help! Contact us for a free consultation.