How Companies Can Create a Sense of Shared Culture in a Remote Environment
Discover the strategies companies should apply when building a thriving culture in a remote work environment.
In today’s remote work environment, corporate culture is a crucial consideration. This aspect clearly goes beyond technology and should be addressed in a specific way. What strategies should companies apply when building a thriving company culture in remote? Check them out here.
Gone are the days of the agricultural or industrial society where economics required people to stay closer to the places where they worked. Due to rapid technological advancement, the Internet boom, a move towards a service-driven economy, and the COVID-19 crisis that became a catalyst of the spike in remote mode popularity, many companies, as well as talents, started reconsidering their work approaches and in general the future of work.
However, in the remote environment, a key question is the corporate culture. This aspect clearly goes beyond technology and should be addressed in a specific way. Nevertheless, the existence of successful fully remote companies demonstrates that corporate culture is possible even when all its employees work remotely.
So what is the magic behind building a thriving company culture in remote?
Leaders Establish a Mood and Navigate the Culture
Contrary to Musk’s rather rude and impudent communication with Twitter employees after the acquisition, Brian Chesky’s position looked far more human and compassionate.
“We want to hire and retain the best people in the world (like you). If we limited our talent pool to a commuting radius around our offices, we would be at a significant disadvantage,” Chesky wrote in his letter to its employees when Airbnb launched its program ‘Working from Anywhere.’
“I’m excited about this new design and giving you the flexibility to live and work anywhere. I think it will unlock some amazing creativity and innovation — and make working here really fun.”
Company leaders set a tone and embraced the culture firsthand. If they are passionate about values, vision, and mission while communicating it clearly and respectfully, putting in place the people-oriented approach to their employees, the culture in such an organization will become robust and thriving.
Honesty is the best policy when we speak of communication in a remote environment. The top management is the driver who places the bar and has to constantly reconfirm it to their employees to nourish a truly positive remote culture.
Foster Trust and Transparency
All employees and newcomers should be able to easily access companywide information in one centralized place to get a general grasp of how the organization operates.
Clearly define roles and areas of responsibilities for each employee with access to the document where all the roles and ownerships are showcased. This will help employees understand a broader picture of how the company operates and synchronize their efforts in reaching goals. Use appropriate tools and channels through which you can communicate transparently about who is doing what.
Introduce a culture of one-on-one feedback sessions where you can acknowledge employees’ achievements, resolve any issues or concerns and detect areas of improvement. Extra efforts from managers and a human-oriented approach can boost performance, bring clarity to expectations, drive trust and boost transparency.
Ensure that the company’s values are present in any task the employees are performing.
See More: How To Build Employee Trust Through Equity and Sustainability
Bring Greater Autonomy To Remote Teams
Forget about micromanagement; it does more harm than good, eliminates employees’ confidence, and muffles their creativity.
Instead, grant people the freedom to choose their own working style, respect their life’s rhythm, and help them explore their creativity and innovation in their own unique way, fostering their motivation to work in a way that suits them best.
According to a recent study by Jabra, 64% of Gen Z and 63% of Millennials consider their office to be their laptop, headset, and wherever they can get a strong internet connection, compared to only 48% of Gen X and 43% of Baby Boomers. This means employees will prioritize flexibility in their work even more in the upcoming years. Increased autonomy positively impacts employees’ productivity and motivation, boosts trust, and compliments appreciation of the company, according to the same Jabra report.
Old-world surveillance practices are to be banished. On the contrary, you have to trust a priori, give clear objectives and let employees achieve them in the way that suits them, and not compensate for the lack of daily control by setting up time-consuming reports.
Prioritize Asynchronous Work
Avoid useless, unprepared meetings, as well as “slide-beauty contests.” Internally, only the content and ideas matter, not the packaging. You should also define a default communication language and stick to it. For obvious reasons, English is preferred, with some exceptions.
In remote work, the written record plays an essential role. It is also a rampart against the “culture” of chatter, which is particularly tempting in a fully remote model.
Invest Massively in Team Onboarding
The daily supply and maintenance of the coffee machine disappear. How to replace it?
In remote, writing becomes vital, and the essential documents intended for onboarding newcomers must be accessible with one click.
At the same time, a mentoring system must be put in place. Finally, and this is the most important, physical immersion in a team must be organized during the first month following recruitment.
The method, which has proven its effectiveness, was implemented in the 1990s by American consulting firms, such as Arthur Andersen Consulting, which took the habit of sending newcomers to their St Charles University in Chicago for three weeks. For the youngest and inexperienced, this is a particularly important step.
Facilitate Deeper Connections Between Employees
Introduce “workscapes” — companies can offer remote teams work breaks in places that could also be vacation spots.
Thus, to meet the needs of remote workers, co-living and co-working experiences could be mixed. These places, provided by companies for their employees, could be offered by hotel groups or new operators. It will also be an opportunity to sustainably revitalize tourist areas whose economy is too dependent on seasonal demand.
For their part, (almost) fully remote companies must also innovate in this regard. Some are already doing this and do not hesitate to invest in “secondary offices,” which can be villas or country houses. In these places, the company carries out the onboarding of its new employees. It brings together employees who can, regularly or impromptu, meet physically and forge links that can no longer be performed at the office.
Another option could be encouraging employees to visit each other in different cities, countries, or even continents. This could help to build stronger relationships between teammates and bring their experiences to the next level.
Currently, remote work is essential. Today, it is a major component of the employer brand. Companies still hesitant to take the plunge are at high risk of depriving themselves of the best talent. And talents are your biggest asset. So let’s embrace people over the process approach and leverage a company’s culture to make it more flexible, creative, and successful in reaching its goals.
What strategies are you implementing to build a thriving company culture in a remote environment? Share with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
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