Culture impacts everything in your business, from the productivity of your teams to their retention to attracting top talent. The work you do can be interesting, mission-driven, and meaningful, but without a tight-knit, positive culture that bonds everyone together, your boat simply will not row in the right direction.
Admittedly, culture is a little harder right now. That’s because you don’t run into each other in a shared space where stories are exchanged, pictures are shared on your smartphone, lunch is eaten—all the little ties that bind us together. Instead, a good portion, if not all or your office may be remote. Building a culture when your teams are dispersed, is hard. Here’s how to make culture happen in your remote business.
How Can You Build a Winning Culture Around a Remote Team?
Building a Remote Work Culture
Start with communication. Direct, one-on-one virtual visits, as well as team meetings at least once a month, will help everyone stay in the loop. These meetings should be organized not only around production but also getting to know each other and bonding over some of the silly little things you used to talk about in the office.
Make Connections
Try to forge connections with other team members personally as well as professionally. Do you know anything about the workers behind the screen you’re talking to? We know that employee retention is affected strongly by workforce friendships. Create a better culture by extending a hand, which will lead by example for others to do the same. We can’t say it enough: Train your managers. Don’t assume your supervisors have learned to appropriately handle their newly remote teams. Instead, make sure they have the skills they need to lead—and lead well.
Value Your Team Members
Value your team members by letting them know how much you appreciate them. Train your management teams to lead with positivity with a shout-out publicly to someone in the meeting. Celebrate even small wins with big praise and while you’re at it set up a digital rewards program that offers gifts or other types of financial rewards to top performers. Then meet with our teams to create individual career roadmaps to keep them engaged in climbing up the ladder in your company—not someone else’s.
Clarity is Important
Finally, practice clarity in all things. Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) with your employees to ensure continue to not only row the boat in the right direction but know at all times where they stand. Note we said “with” your employees, not “for.” If you want to engage your workforce in working toward these goals, start by working with them to make the goals attainable. Then support your workforce in achieving these goals. So many companies fail to do this but it is absolutely critical if you are creating the kind of culture that engages even the remotest of remote workforces.
Are You Building a Winning Culture?
That’s where FoxHire can help. We are an employer of record (EOR) that specializes in managing your staff. We have the technology to help you create the kind of workforce you’ve been dreaming about and we back it up with established processes to handle the business of HR. Contact us today to find out how we can help your business.
