In 2023, a long time into the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns and restrictions, working remotely is most definitely a thing.
It used to be unusual.
It was something that had to be hotly negotiated with your boss. But today, it has become common. Whether it’s team members who used to work in the office and are now partly or wholly remote, or contractors who are additions to your workforce, remote teams are the way to go.
Remote teams have many benefits. But, when working remotely, maintaining a healthy team culture can be a challenge. Without the daily face-to-face interaction and chances for connection that you get in a workplace, remote teams can start to feel distant and disjointed.
Luckily, with a little bit of work, you can create a team culture that thrives even when your team are in different locations. Let’s look at how you can do that.
6 Practical Ways to Build a Great Remote Team Culture
1. Ensure General Communication is Great
Communication is critical in any team. But, it is doubly important when your team are working remotely. From communicating your overarching company values to day-to-day notices and tasks, your methods must be on point. Encourage video meetings where possible so you can still see people and pick up on those visual clues and body language, which is so important.
You may also want to develop policies around communication, such as a minimum number of team check-ins, maximum meeting lengths and email protocol. And make sure that important documents and policies are accessible online.
2. Create a Way for Teams to Know What Each Member is Doing
When you are working alone in different locations, it can be hard to keep track of the team’s overall workload and how tasks fit into the bigger picture. A good collaboration tool can help with that. A tool like Asana, Trello or something similar can keep your team on task and show how their parts are linked together.
Collaborative tools are excellent for multiple team members to work on the same projects. Google Workspace allows for collaboration within documents and spreadsheets so that everyone always has the current version. You could also use other tools like MarkUp, which allows users to comment on draft projects and online whiteboards to share ideas.
An essential part of building a remote team culture, though, is trust. Make it easy for teams to collaborate and keep track but don’t micro-manage them. Trust them to get the work done even though you can’t look over their shoulder the whole time.
3. Build the Remote Version of the Office Water Cooler
One key thing missing from remote teams is incidental interaction – those conversations happening in the break room or around the water cooler. They usually aren’t work-related. They might be about the latest episode of a TV show or something in a person’s family life, but they are vital in building connections.
See if you can recreate that for your remote team. You could create a Teams or Slack channel or a WhatsApp group. Clearly designate this channel as not work-related and leave it for other conversations that the team can jump onto.
To build on those social connections, you could host virtual events, like a virtual happy hour, a quiz night, or a shared lunch and learning session.
These things help to combat the sense of isolation that remote workers can feel.
4. Develop Perks that can Work in Any Location
When you have an in-office team, you probably have a few perks available for when the team hits their targets or does something outstanding. This is often a shared lunch or a team event.
Finding a way to continue those perks remotely can help build a positive culture.
Instead of an onsite shared lunch, consider sending everyone a hamper of food (and some grocery vouchers) and have an online lunch. Or choose something like cinema tickets or another activity that your team members could share their experience of later on.
5. Offer Chances for Feedback, Professional Development and Reviews
It is easy for remote workers to feel left out or that they don’t get a chance to have their say. Prioritising opportunities for feedback and development is essential to prevent this from happening.
Make sure you put aside time for staff reviews and professional development to help your employees move forward. And create a space where staff feel comfortable sharing feedback on what’s working, or perhaps what isn’t and any problems they have.
6. Encourage “Normal” Working Hours
As people work from home more, the lines between work and home life have become blurred. Where you can, encourage your team to have set working hours and clock off in between.
If it doesn’t suit, these hours don’t necessarily have to be the usual 9-5. They can be set for whenever each team member is most productive. The priority is creating a set timeframe for working and enough downtime to recharge and rest.
If you run a team across multiple time zones, you must be careful to schedule meetings and group events at a time that suits everyone.
Need to Arm Your Team with Some Expert Remote Workers?
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Contact us today to discuss how our virtual assistants can arm your business for any battle!