Who Are We - When We’re Not Together?
I have been a remote worker for a long time and when the pandemic hit last spring, was surprised by how new remote working is for so many people and the companies they work for. While remote work has increased in recent years, pre-pandemic many companies still required their people to report to an office every day.
My clients and the leaders I work with have listed varied reasons for this, from lack of trust to technology constraints to huge investments made in corporate headquarters buildings.
However, the underlying theme that comes through is culture. How does a company maintain and build its identity if its people are not working in the same place at the same time? Since it’s unlikely we will ever go back to the full 100% in-office workforce, how do you sustain culture with a remote workforce long-term.
In a Harvard Business Review article, Six Components of a Great Corporate Culture, John Coleman identifies these components of corporate culture:
Vision – a vision or mission statement that guide a company’s values and provide it with purpose.
Values – a set of guidelines on the behaviors and mindsets needed to achieve the vision.
Practices – enshrined and reinforced behaviors and policies that reflect the values.
People – through recruiting and corporate practices, ensuring people in a company possess and embrace the values.
Narrative – a company’s history and story crafted and retold to reinforce the company culture.
Place – whether geography, architecture or aesthetic design, the physical space a company creates and occupies.
When we disrupt the concept of “Place” to allow for large scale remote work, the other components of culture are still intact, but companies need to be more mindful and deliberate in how they keep them alive.
Think about these best practices.
Have a Strong Vision Statement and Repeat it Often
If your vision and values are posted around your physical work locations, do the same online. Add these statements to intranet sites, email signatures, screen savers, etc. If you’re using a tool like Zoom, create a custom background with your company logo and vision statement. These visual reinforcements can help keep your teams focused on and aligned with your vision and values.
Use company-wide communication to share stories from across your company showing team member behaviors that exemplify your vision and values.
Create Connection
Some of your people may feel disconnected as they settle in to working remotely long-term. Additionally, they’ve lost the more organic interactions of asking their colleague sitting next to them for advice or running into their boss in the cafeteria and having a quick chat on a pressing item.
Use technology to your advantage to recreate these connections in ways that reflect your culture. Many companies use Slack and have channels for more formal communication, like sharing business updates, and less formal “beer cooler” and “summer vacation” channels. Using video, whether with customers, teams or weekly check-ins with managers and their direct reports can help promote relationships and team building.
Establish Remote Practices and Norms that Align with your Culture
As you work to create structure and organization with a fully remote workforce, make sure your rules of the road are consistent with who you are as a company. For example, if your culture is entrepreneurial and employees are rewarded for sharing ideas, set up a portal or site for submitting and reviewing ideas. If you value volunteerism, share volunteer opportunities your team members can explore and encourage them to post pictures of their experiences. If your culture is more regimented and scheduled, designate “office hours” when people are expected to be working and available from wherever they are.
Coach your leaders and managers in techniques for leading remote teams and provide them with resources to encourage and reinforce behaviors that align with your culture.
Ensure Your Company Onboarding and Leadership Programs Reflect Your Vision and Values
Most corporate onboarding and leadership programs have a module at the beginning that clearly states the company’s vision, values, practices and story. In many cases, these items are not directly mentioned again in the programs. While one would expect that the content in the programs reflects the corporate culture, the connections are not always obvious.
Weaving these themes throughout your programs can be relatively simple and highly impactful. If you’ve modified these programs for remote delivery, review the content, activities and discussion questions for alignment with your vision and values. For activity debriefs, ask learners to think about how the content reflects the company culture.
Embrace the Idea that your Culture May Have Changed (for the Better)
No doubt that when this storm passes and we’re able to interact more “normally”, your team members are going to welcome the chance to go to the office. But it may not take long for the grind of the daily commute to set back in, and for people to recognize the value of being at home more often.
During this time, you and your colleagues have seen glimpses into one another’s homes and families, and maybe see one another more as “whole people” as opposed to “just” co-workers or employees. We can harness all of this to cultivate stronger cultures more based on trust that our teams can and will be impactful working remotely and empathy for the challenges of balancing our work and families.