How to build remote culture

Can you have culture in a remote team?

I hear that question pretty often.

For companies who had to go remote during the pandemic, it seemed impossible. After all, how do you replace the feeling of team breakfasts, chats over coffee in the company kitchen, and after-work beers?

However, those things aren’t culture. Those are things your employees will naturally do when they appreciate the company (or want free food).

Workplace culture goes deeper than that.

Story time:

I’m part of several online communities. Last week, a member of one of those communities, after having PC problems for several weeks, posted a picture of his PC. He said that “No one local can figure this out, so I’m going to try myself.”

Immediately, community members joined in giving him step-by-step instructions to help him fix his problem, myself included. No fewer than 8 or 9 people joined in, posting pictures of the tools he’d need, what he needed to disconnect and replace, and asked him to test different things.

He fixed his PC, and we all rejoiced.

How to Build a Remote Culture

This is a gaming community – we’re united around a video game.

None of us have ever met in person. The community has no fewer than 300 members in the server.

If a gaming community on discord can have a community strong enough to fix a member’s PC, work through problems together, and cheer each other on – why can’t a company do that?

The answer is: they can.

Here’s how:

Bring conversations online.

There’s no shortage of tools and apps that make online collaboration simple. In hybrid situations, if you catch yourself talking strategy in the office, bring it online to include your remote collaborators. After all, in an on-site environment, you wouldn’t make big strategic decisions without a team leader because they were out sick, right?

This might look like alignment catch-ups throughout the week, or maybe a larger company meeting bi-weekly.

Foster safe spaces in Slack for your employees to talk about non-work-related topics.

We bond together with common interests and goals. If you create and maintain spaces where your employees can be themselves, they will be. Whether that’s a pets channel, or a selfie channel, or whatever else your colleagues might appreciate, creating those safe, judgement-free zones is healthy for your remote culture.

Be an active contributor in these spaces. Not only will it help you bond with your employees, but it will show them that this is an activity you personally sign off on.

Prioritize tools that are collaborative.

It’s really easy to get stuck in a silo when you work remote. By prioritizing tools that promote collaboration (especially asynch), it’s that much easier to get feedback and input from other people– regardless of where they work.

Bring open volunteer-based activities online.

I’m not talking about the forced-fun, team building exercises. Hold a happy hour where people just chat together. Do an online “pub quiz.” My husband’s company has an always-on Zoom room called the “Water cooler,” where colleagues can meet up at certain times throughout the day to chitchat.

Most importantly – don’t make it an obligation. The second you make these kinds of activities an obligation, it’s no longer fun – it’s just bizarre work.

Finally, as managers, you need to be proactive.

It’s easy to walk into an office and see that your employee isn’t at 100%. Clearly, that gets harder as you go remote. This means you need to change your approach from reactive to proactive. Check in with your employees often, even if it’s a simple “How are things going for you lately?” If you find that you’ve got an employee that’s not at 100%, do what you can to make things easier for them.

The Tip of the Iceberg

Ultimately, remote culture is merely a branch of your company culture as a whole. A strong, positive company culture that values transparency will easily translate to a remote culture.

However, if your culture is only based on what people can do in-person, it might not be strong enough to move remote. Remember, no matter what your Notion site says, your culture is only as strong as your employee that lives and breathes it every day.