Remote Work Culture
We have relied on our physical spaces to align to our values of collaboration, fun, or one team.
Working norms for salaried team members are heavily influenced by observing the behaviors of others -- like when the working day starts and ends, what types of work is taken at someone’s desk instead of in a conference room, etc.
What if you were to hire new people during the pandemic and they never got to be “fully engaged” in your culture in the office?
Now that we’re experiencing company culture through our screens only… our perception of “what it’s like” to work at a company can really be limited.
We have to be careful that we don’t consider culture a static thing.
Culture is experienced in the day to day moments that an employee interacts with their work, customers, and other team members.
Because we’ve gotten used to the casual expression of culture and working norms in our in-office work, we have to work even harder with remote teams to make the culture and expectations clear.
We’ve developed patterns of communication that rely on people being in a physical space together.
You can’t casually “walk the floor” to be present as a leader, executive, or to observe how a team is doing. You can’t drop by an employee’s desk or call an emergency meeting.
Calling an “emergency meeting” with a remote team messes up their schedules with clients or encroaches on their family time.
Your team can’t overhear that there’s a problem they might be able to help with. It’s more difficult for new hires and individuals to connect with senior leaders or cross-functionally because you aren’t casually bumping into each other.
Companies need to tap their creativity to develop opportunities for remote teams to experience the culture together.
Another thing often forgotten about building culture remotely, is:
every bit of communication counts.
Say you’ve gotten used to venting to your team about an issue after returning to your desk from a meeting. Shortly after that, your team was able to observe you diving into your work and joking around with them. They could see that you weren’t holding onto the issue, and that it didn’t impact your work or ability to connect with them.
Your team didn’t even consciously realize that this was what they were observing and reacting to.
In remote teams, your team won’t have the ability to observe those subtle changes in your reactions.
Your team is likely to misinterpret your behavior in extreme ways because now they have far less context to base their conclusions on.
Their conclusions turn into their understanding of you, what you care about, how you think they’re performing, and ultimately, their relationship with you.
Our relationships at work impact our experience of company culture.
We rely on so many tiny, subtle moments to impact the relationships we build with others, that we weren’t prepared for perception to shift so dramatically now that the workforce is dispersed.
You might think that subtlety will get you a long way, when in fact, remote leaders and team cultures need more overt communication of goals, priorities, and reactions.
Continue to repeat the key messages you want to stick.
We forget how much we used to rely on our physical spaces to engage our team, promote collaboration, and set the tone for working at your company.
You were “available” to your team when you were at your desk.
It was easy for your team to drop by.
Now, you need to carve out that time for people to drop by, otherwise, they just think they’re “bothering” you.
Set up “office hours” or “working blocks” a few times a week and invite your whole team.
Then whoever needs to can drop in on your video call and know that you’ll be available to answer questions, chat, or brainstorm an idea.
TAKE ACTION
Connect with your team and try out one of the ideas in this blog!
Need more help?
Check out our Leadership Coaching or Team Health Workshops!
“Once you break past your own limited worldview and lens, your awareness changes. Awareness is the first step towards behavior change.”
(c) 2019 - 2024 Katie McLaughlin, McLaughlin Method
