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Culture is top of mind for any CEO of a growing company. You are always trying to find ways to encourage a strong sense of uniqueness and belonging.
But building a remote work culture isn’t the same as doing it in the office. It requires a very different approach. How can leaders build culture in remote teams?
What is remote work culture?
All teams have culture, even the ones that never meet in person. Work culture is the spoken or unspoken rules about how a team interacts with each other.
Spoken rules of remote company culture include ground rules on availability, response time, how often to check in, and what tools to use.
Unspoken rules of remote work culture answer questions like:
- What tone can you use in chat groups?
- What gets celebrated and how?
- What is appropriate to discuss online and what isn’t?
A good example is meetings. When you switch to remote team meetings, culture dictates when to go on mute, when to turn on your video, and if you can reject a meeting with no agenda.
How is remote company culture different?
Wes Winham, CEO of Woven says there is a certain amount of culture building that happens for free in co-located teams. Culture is created simply by the friction of people being in the same place.
When you see someone in the office, you might naturally want to check in on them. When you go grab a coffee, you strike up a conversation with those around you.
When you take away that natural friction, you must add the culture builders back in.
But you shouldn’t think of digital only as limiting how to build culture. It also has unique advantages. For example, forming an interest group can be as simple as starting a Slack channel. Digital scales easily, and people can catch up on the history of a group in a quick scroll.
How to build a strong culture with a remote team
1. Know the risks
The first step of building a great remote company culture is knowing what you’re up against. Buffer comes out with an annual report of remote work. In 2020, these were the top five struggles that remote teams faced.
-
- Collaboration and communication
- Loneliness
- Not being able to unplug
- Distractions at home
- Time zones
Experienced remote CEOs are all nodding their head right now. Most remote culture struggles fall into one of these five categories.
Solutions must be a mix of digital and human. For example, loneliness requires human interaction. But digital tools can schedule a recurring meeting and auto-generate fun conversation starters.
2. Be more transparent in communication
Co-located teams usually only share information when something is positive or extremely important. They don’t publicly share anxious communication. Even when it happens, it’s in small, private, in-person gatherings. But remote teams need to be able to share both the good and the bad.
In remote work culture, written communication is the air you breathe. Every person needs to default to share more.
Mike Knoop, co-founder of Zapier, says transparency is a core remote cultural value. “It doesn’t work if people aren’t sharing the information they need for other people to do what they need to do their jobs.”
Transparency solves a lot of communication issues, but it also builds a stronger sense of belonging. Working in public throughout all parts of a company helps others know what is going on and how they can assist.
3. Take wellness seriously
Wellness programs are very important for remote teams. This includes both physical and mental wellness.
As a remote company, it’s harder to keep eyes on your people and notice subtle changes that come from a lack of wellness. Slumps due to physical and mental struggles can have a huge impact on remote team productivity.
Encourage people to stay physically active and provide opportunities to share progress. Train your managers on mental health first aid. Remind team members that they need to find social support outside of work.
Employee wellbeing is both a “being a good human” issue and a nuts-and-bolts productivity issue. Invest money behind wellness programs, such as a stipend to join a social club, yoga class, or a gym.
4. Take time off
People who work on remote teams often don’t take vacations and time off since many already work from home. Studies show that remote workers tend to take shorter breaks on the whole. There’s also a feeling that even if you do go on vacation, you can still check in daily.
But even remote workers need time to recharge. If you have a work from home culture, this is very important to make explicit.
As a leader, the best thing you can do is set the example. Schedule a vacation and make sure people know you won’t be available.
Some companies are even transitioning to a four day work week to combat burnout.
5. Celebrate action
Remote teams die when people sit around and expect things to come to them. A great remote culture relies on self-managed people who are always trying something new. They take on tasks without having to be asked.
Leaders should celebrate people who do this all the time. Encourage team members to solve challenges and not wait for others. If they must wait for someone, work on improving that system so it’s not an issue later.
6. Don’t give up on meeting together
While large group meetings are on a temporary hold, if you have made a permanent transition to remote work, make time to get people together often. If your team is in the same city, a weekly meetup makes a lot of sense. For teams that are more dispersed, try hosting a semi-annual event.
Getting together in a fun setting is about more than bonding. Team members can learn more deeply about people’s personalities. There’s a lot of empathy created when you can hear the way someone writes a message and their tone of voice. If you can’t be together, check out some ideas on games to play on Zoom with coworkers.
7. Give remote teams autonomy
Micromanagement compounds exponentially in remote teams. The more small rules you try to dictate and enforce, the more team members resent it.
Remember the first rule of managing remote teams: trust people. Let teams set their own ground rules and make decisions on their own.
8. Focus on onboarding
If you really want to do remote company culture right, start with onboarding.
- What should the experience be like for a new joinee?
- How will they feel welcome?
- What will you send them to make them feel like they belong?
- What do they need to know about the operating system of your digital workplace?
Focusing on onboarding is not just about making people feel warm and fuzzy. It forces you to create the ideal environment and then live up to your own standards.
What tools should I use to build a good remote company culture?
There are no magic tools that make a great remote company culture. There are so many options out there right now, you can find pretty much anything you need.
Instead of looking for the perfect culture tool, focus on what kind of company you want to be. Once you’ve established that, then you can spend time finding the best remote team tools that fit you.
How do you unify a remote team?
Like all kinds of teams, there are (or will be) times when your remote team struggles. If your remote team doesn’t seem unified, it’s likely that one of these things will solve it.
Better systems
Remote teams need much more sophisticated systems than in-office teams. Take a step back and look at the digital workplace you provide. Are workflows obvious? Where can you add automation? Does everyone have access to the information they need? Do you need to improve your communication systems?
More context
When remote teams don’t work in public, they often lose the context for why something needs to happen. Imagine working for a week on a new feature, only to later discover a plan to get rid of it. The more a team shares the context, the less likely they are to get frustrated.
Frustration leads to anger. Anger leads to siloing. Siloing leads to the dark side.
More empathy
Empathy must be plentiful remote teams. You must assume positive intent and trust each other deeply. If you’ve lost empathy, no system or data can improve your culture. Remote workers must have great human skills and be able to see things from another’s perspectives.
Build the remote work culture you dreamed about
Culture building is hard and takes a lot of effort, whether you are in the office or out of it. But remote company culture is unique. It requires leaders to be much more intentional.
Achieving a great remote work culture is possible, but you have to know the risks. Take advantage of what digital offers, but blend it with human solutions.
Culture is top of mind for any CEO of a growing company. You are always trying to find ways to encourage a strong sense of uniqueness and belonging.
But building a remote work culture isn’t the same as doing it in the office. It requires a very different approach. How can leaders build culture in remote teams?
What is remote work culture?
All teams have culture, even the ones that never meet in person. Work culture is the spoken or unspoken rules about how a team interacts with each other.
Spoken rules of remote company culture include ground rules on availability, response time, how often to check in, and what tools to use.
Unspoken rules of remote work culture answer questions like:
- What tone can you use in chat groups?
- What gets celebrated and how?
- What is appropriate to discuss online and what isn’t?
A good example is meetings. When you switch to remote team meetings, culture dictates when to go on mute, when to turn on your video, and if you can reject a meeting with no agenda.
How is remote company culture different?
Wes Winham, CEO of Woven says there is a certain amount of culture building that happens for free in co-located teams. Culture is created simply by the friction of people being in the same place.
When you see someone in the office, you might naturally want to check in on them. When you go grab a coffee, you strike up a conversation with those around you.
When you take away that natural friction, you must add the culture builders back in.
But you shouldn’t think of digital only as limiting how to build culture. It also has unique advantages. For example, forming an interest group can be as simple as starting a Slack channel. Digital scales easily, and people can catch up on the history of a group in a quick scroll.
How to build a strong culture with a remote team
1. Know the risks
The first step of building a great remote company culture is knowing what you’re up against. Buffer comes out with an annual report of remote work. In 2020, these were the top five struggles that remote teams faced.
-
- Collaboration and communication
- Loneliness
- Not being able to unplug
- Distractions at home
- Time zones
Experienced remote CEOs are all nodding their head right now. Most remote culture struggles fall into one of these five categories.
Solutions must be a mix of digital and human. For example, loneliness requires human interaction. But digital tools can schedule a recurring meeting and auto-generate fun conversation starters.
2. Be more transparent in communication
Co-located teams usually only share information when something is positive or extremely important. They don’t publicly share anxious communication. Even when it happens, it’s in small, private, in-person gatherings. But remote teams need to be able to share both the good and the bad.
In remote work culture, written communication is the air you breathe. Every person needs to default to share more.
Mike Knoop, co-founder of Zapier, says transparency is a core remote cultural value. “It doesn’t work if people aren’t sharing the information they need for other people to do what they need to do their jobs.”
Transparency solves a lot of communication issues, but it also builds a stronger sense of belonging. Working in public throughout all parts of a company helps others know what is going on and how they can assist.
3. Take wellness seriously
Wellness programs are very important for remote teams. This includes both physical and mental wellness.
As a remote company, it’s harder to keep eyes on your people and notice subtle changes that come from a lack of wellness. Slumps due to physical and mental struggles can have a huge impact on remote team productivity.
Encourage people to stay physically active and provide opportunities to share progress. Train your managers on mental health first aid. Remind team members that they need to find social support outside of work.
Employee wellbeing is both a “being a good human” issue and a nuts-and-bolts productivity issue. Invest money behind wellness programs, such as a stipend to join a social club, yoga class, or a gym.
4. Take time off
People who work on remote teams often don’t take vacations and time off since many already work from home. Studies show that remote workers tend to take shorter breaks on the whole. There’s also a feeling that even if you do go on vacation, you can still check in daily.
But even remote workers need time to recharge. If you have a work from home culture, this is very important to make explicit.
As a leader, the best thing you can do is set the example. Schedule a vacation and make sure people know you won’t be available.
Some companies are even transitioning to a four day work week to combat burnout.
5. Celebrate action
Remote teams die when people sit around and expect things to come to them. A great remote culture relies on self-managed people who are always trying something new. They take on tasks without having to be asked.
Leaders should celebrate people who do this all the time. Encourage team members to solve challenges and not wait for others. If they must wait for someone, work on improving that system so it’s not an issue later.
6. Don’t give up on meeting together
While large group meetings are on a temporary hold, if you have made a permanent transition to remote work, make time to get people together often. If your team is in the same city, a weekly meetup makes a lot of sense. For teams that are more dispersed, try hosting a semi-annual event.
Getting together in a fun setting is about more than bonding. Team members can learn more deeply about people’s personalities. There’s a lot of empathy created when you can hear the way someone writes a message and their tone of voice. If you can’t be together, check out some ideas on games to play on Zoom with coworkers.
7. Give remote teams autonomy
Micromanagement compounds exponentially in remote teams. The more small rules you try to dictate and enforce, the more team members resent it.
Remember the first rule of managing remote teams: trust people. Let teams set their own ground rules and make decisions on their own.
8. Focus on onboarding
If you really want to do remote company culture right, start with onboarding.
- What should the experience be like for a new joinee?
- How will they feel welcome?
- What will you send them to make them feel like they belong?
- What do they need to know about the operating system of your digital workplace?
Focusing on onboarding is not just about making people feel warm and fuzzy. It forces you to create the ideal environment and then live up to your own standards.
What tools should I use to build a good remote company culture?
There are no magic tools that make a great remote company culture. There are so many options out there right now, you can find pretty much anything you need.
Instead of looking for the perfect culture tool, focus on what kind of company you want to be. Once you’ve established that, then you can spend time finding the best remote team tools that fit you.
How do you unify a remote team?
Like all kinds of teams, there are (or will be) times when your remote team struggles. If your remote team doesn’t seem unified, it’s likely that one of these things will solve it.
Better systems
Remote teams need much more sophisticated systems than in-office teams. Take a step back and look at the digital workplace you provide. Are workflows obvious? Where can you add automation? Does everyone have access to the information they need? Do you need to improve your communication systems?
More context
When remote teams don’t work in public, they often lose the context for why something needs to happen. Imagine working for a week on a new feature, only to later discover a plan to get rid of it. The more a team shares the context, the less likely they are to get frustrated.
Frustration leads to anger. Anger leads to siloing. Siloing leads to the dark side.
More empathy
Empathy must be plentiful remote teams. You must assume positive intent and trust each other deeply. If you’ve lost empathy, no system or data can improve your culture. Remote workers must have great human skills and be able to see things from another’s perspectives.
Build the remote work culture you dreamed about
Culture building is hard and takes a lot of effort, whether you are in the office or out of it. But remote company culture is unique. It requires leaders to be much more intentional.
Achieving a great remote work culture is possible, but you have to know the risks. Take advantage of what digital offers, but blend it with human solutions.
