The internet and in general, modern technology, has made desk jobs or office jobs more flexible. In the past, working a desk job means physically going to your place of employment and working at your assigned desk or cubicle. You go home after 8 hours of work and do it all over again the next day. Fast forward to the present and working at home has been increasingly becoming a more popular option even before the global pandemic struck. Working remote has many benefits as well as disadvantages. For one, you no longer have to deal with traffic which saves time and lessens stress. On the other hand, there is one disadvantage that is not immediately apparent when working remotely. That would be building your team culture while you and your team are working from home.
You might be thinking that building your team culture while working remotely is the same as while working in the same office space. In some ways, yes but there are more differences than you think. For one, the mode of communication. We, humans, are more accustomed to physically interacting with other people to build connections. Communicating through video calls or through chats are effective in the communication side of things but lacking in actually making a connection with the person on the other end. And that is just one of the challenges when it comes to building your team culture. You need a solid connection and understanding with your team in order for it to take root. So how do you build it in a remote world?
Make Time To Connect
According to a survey, about 70% of remote workers or employees feel left out. They feel that they are not part of the organisation or disconnected from the team. They feel lonely and this loneliness can lead to the habit of just going through the motions and making the job feel just like a routine. So how do you avoid this? Make time to connect with your remote staff. Schedule events or come up with traditions that focus on creating connections with your remote team. Create non-work channels where you and your team can just have casual conversations. Come up with weekly or monthly polls about fun topics. The idea here is to create a virtual water cooler talk for your team.
Set Expectations
One of the most important things to remember when working remotely is to set expectations on the types of communications methods you are going to use. It is essential that everyone on the team understands which communication channels will be used for certain topics. Casual discussions or team meetings can be done on Skype, Zoom, or Slack while legal and sensitive topics can be done through emails or more secure channels. Create a guide if need be. Once everyone is on the same page then you are on your way to having a team culture that fits in perfectly to a remote world.