5 Ways to Build Team Culture with Remote Employees

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With so many teams and employees working remotely, the conversations about keeping remote employees engaged and motivated have come to the forefront. Building and maintaining team culture from afar is important, here are five ways companies and leaders can up their game and awareness.

1. Establish routines.

Obvious, but important. Put systems in place for regular communication and check-ins, and establish a clear schedule. Having erratic, inconsistent communication can lead to a feeling of being disconnected.

Creating a schedule, and sticking to it, gives more structure and stability to the dynamic of being remote. These don’t all have to be work related, for example a routine around Monday morning check-ins, or a Wednesday afternoon 15 minute casual team chat purely for socializing is great too.

Routines help to avoid remote employees feeling ignored and invisible, remain flexible but be diligent about this.

2. Prioritize people feeling like they’re part of the whole team.

Make sure to celebrate their work anniversaries, birthdays, and special occasions.

Another way to keep them connected is to ensure they feel like they’re part of the whole team, not just with the few people that they're always on calls with or report to directly. One way to do this is to connect and socialize them with more people in the company, like having them partner with different people on different projects, or setting up “get to know you” coffee chats, etc. Also, just like with any employee, senior “higher-ups” in the company should make the effort to get to know and connect with them directly.

Be intentional about making people feel like they are part of the whole company. You don’t want them to feel like if they were to leave, hardly anyone would even know that they were there, or that they’re gone.

Also, recognize the work they put in.

“It’s normal for remote employees to be concerned if their company or leader thinks that they’re working hard and getting things done.”

It’s normal for remote employees to be concerned if their company or leader thinks that they're working hard and getting things done. A natural consequence of not being physically present and visible every day. To counter this, it's important for leadership and the team to intentionally acknowledge, appreciate and recognize the work and effort that they’re putting in. Over time they may end up feeling deflated if that isn’t happening.

An additional side effect of this is that if people don't feel like the company thinks they're working hard enough, it can lead to overworking themselves and ending up burnt out or resentful as a result. Be aware of that dynamic and head it off at the pass. Don’t be shy about speaking up to make them feel seen and appreciated.

3. Embrace community.

This one is HUGE.

Create a sense of community and camaraderie. There are tons of creative ways to do this; have social/happy hours, schedule fun or game time, do trivia quizzes and mix up the teams, competitions between departments, have people partner up on projects with people outside of their usual scope, start a softball team or a fantasy sports league. There are endless ways to promote and build a sense of community.

And if you're all in the same city, go out to an event or find an opportunity to volunteer together. If some people are in another city or far away, find ways to include them too, even if they can’t be there. The team can make a “We wish you were here!” video together and send it to people who can’t attend in person.

A sense of community and belonging is really important, it’s one of the factors that make us humans feel engaged and connected to something.

Never underestimate the power of a sticker and a hoodie.

Another way to connect people to a less tangible idea like a company or your culture is with things like hoodies, t-shirts, hats, and stickers, or other concrete, tangible things that make someone feel like they are part of something real. Just another simple way to heighten a sense of community and belonging.

4. Create intentional culture.

Creating a culture that is clear, intentional, and transcends location is another key.

“The clearer that you are about your culture, the easier it is for people to feel like they belong to it.”

The clearer that you are about your culture, the easier it is for people to feel like they belong to it. When I say culture, I’m talking about a positive code of conduct, mindsets, and behaviors that express who and how you are as a team. A collectively understood and practiced expectation of how people show up, impact one another, and approach their work.

While just about every company has a mission statement and a list of guiding values, the deeper work to create a very clearly defined, well articulated and intentional culture is absent from most organizations. Unfortunately that deeper work is the glue that solidifies what companies are really made of and how teams and individuals work together every day.

(Wondering how to do that? I have a very specific tool that I use with teams that I work with to walk through that process step by step. Click here to download my Strategic Culture Plan, it’s free.)

5. Ask for feedback & prioritize their experience.

Check in, ask for feedback from remote employees about their experience and specifically how it can be improved. Don't make assumptions about what they need or want, just ask them on a semi regular basis.

Remember that the answer might be different from person to person, so be willing to be flexible and do whatever it takes to make sure they have what they need to thrive. Maybe they want a little bit more communication, or a little bit less, etc.

“...find out what people need to be wildly successful, and do everything in your power to make that happen.”

It is always the job of leaders to provide situational leadership and accommodate their people based on the needs of individuals. A healthy dose of awareness and a willingness to adapt to different communication styles, working styles, and personality types contributes to the success of leaders and their teams. Remote working is no different; find out what people need to be wildly successful and do everything in your power to make that happen.

There is a huge benefit to your organization to come together and define, “What do we want the experience of remote employees to feel like here?” That intentionality, care, and thoughtfulness will naturally lead to having more success with remote workers. It will spark creative and innovative ways to keep them engaged and motivated, and to build culture with them.

Your employees are the lifeblood of your company, treat every single one of them with that in mind.

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This article was created by Galen Emanuele for the #culturedrop. Free leadership and team culture content in less than 5 minutes a week. Check out the rest of this month's content and subscribe to the Culture Drop at https://bit.ly/culturedrop 

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