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The first thing I discovered was that the methods for building a strong culture remotely are very similar to those used in-office. The fundamentals are the same; you just need to make a few adjustments to the way you do things.
Inspired by best practices from the amazing teams at Zoom and Trello, we’ve created a 5-step guide to laying the groundwork for a healthy work culture:
Purpose:
Most of us would like to make a difference in the world, and since we spend most of our time at work, it would be great if we could do so during our work hours.
It is important to have a powerful purpose and to communicate it clearly; the idea is that your team will feel the passion and motivation needed to fulfill it. At Fuckup Nights, our purpose is “to help people break free from the paradigms that limit their lives.” What’s yours?
Once you’ve defined your purpose, it becomes easier to establish values and set goals:
Values: are guidelines that help your team make decisions, choose deals, and consider how they treat both internal and external stakeholders.
Objectives: These are individual goals designed to help you achieve your purpose and understand how your team is performing.
Hiring and onboarding process:
It is important to select new employees based on your values. As EntreLeadership advises, it is much easier to train someone than to change their values and mindset. Hire people who believe in what you are doing and whose ideas complement your own.
When you hire employees through team , you may be hiring the best candidates on the market, but these people aren't necessarily the best fit for your team and company. This approach is often costly for your organization and can lead to high employee turnover.
...Resoomay has estimated that the ROI for a team member who doesn't work out is -298%...
It is essential to provide an onboarding process for every new employee, regardless of their location (whether in the office, at home, in another country, or in a different time zone). This requires you to create online processes (or adapt existing ones) from the interview through the welcome meeting, allowing you to get to know the new hire virtually. It is important to make every employee, no matter where they are, feel like part of the organization.
Trello explains that its hiring and onboarding processes are entirely online. Interviews are conducted online, and new members are welcomed at a monthly meeting. The company also hosts meetings for team members to get to know one another and build team relationships.
Create rituals:
To keep the spark alive in your team, it’s important to make up for the moments you’d normally like to share in person. The idea is to create rituals and make time to share them with your team. One idea is to organize retreats so you can meet in person; it’s really great if you can bring the whole team together at least once a year.
At Fuckup, we hold our annual retreat, and it’s a great opportunity to share, create, and get our team.
It is essential to have a clear communication process and to use specific channels based on the priority and urgency of each message. This means choosing the right time and channel for your message (chat, video call, or email) to avoid overwhelming others and disrupting workflow.
"I feel that I have a better understanding of my role within the team, especially my strengths—where I can help my colleagues—and, of course, my weaknesses—where they can actually help me. 😉 And I think the fact that everyone organized an activity at some point during the retreat helped strengthen the sense of ownership." — From the feedback we received anonymously after our 2019 retreat
There are plenty of recommended activities you can do with your team as you spend time together, share experiences, and lift each other's spirits.
Every Friday we hold " FUN " Friday meetings. During this hour, we share personal interests, discuss tips for improving our productivity, brainstorm new ideas, introduce new members, or simply take a moment to chat and get to know each other better. While working remotely, we’ve started a 20-minute catch-up session every Monday to say hi, share how we’re feeling, and spend a moment together even though we’re apart.
We highly recommend these short lectures from Zoom and Bakken & Baeck, which are full of great ideas for fostering a healthy coexistence. The ones we liked the most are:
Share your lunch breaks with your team
Hold meetings every x period of time to discuss a specific topic or celebrate something
Choose a movie or TV show to watch together and discuss it the next day
Organize a cooking class. For example, we had a “How to Make Hummus” class—it was simple and a great time with the team
Compensation
It is important to strive for equal compensation for your team . At Trello, they decided to compensate all team members based on their headquarters in NYC. We understand that budgeting and employee compensation are complicated, but striving for equality is always a good practice for maintaining healthy teams.
Equal compensation is important to ensure a level playing field for everyone and to foster a sense of equality. This way, all members of team receive the same salaries and benefits regardless of their location, giving them a sense of equality and belonging.
Many organizations were already 100% remote even before the current crisis. Always strive to remain flexible and open to changing or improving your approach, seek guidance from experts, and share best practices! Remember to stay true to your mission and avoid panicking.
If you’d like to share how you’re keeping your culture alive during this time, we’d love to hear from you and exchange ideas.
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