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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’s important to have a strong sense of purpose and to communicate it clearly, so that your team feels the passion and motivation needed to achieve 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, select opportunities, and consider how they treat both internal and external stakeholders.
Objectives: 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 rather than team members, you may be hiring the best talent available, but these individuals aren't necessarily what your team and company need. This approach is often costly for your organization and can lead to high staff turnover.
...Resoomay has estimated that the ROI of a team member who doesn’t perform well 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 times you’d normally want to spend together in person. The idea is to create rituals and set aside time to share them with your team. One idea is to hold 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 connect, create, and bring the team together.
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 support 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 foster a greater sense of ownership" - From the anonymous feedback we received after our 2019 retreat
There are plenty of recommended activities you can try with your team as you spend time together, share experiences, and boost morale.
Every Friday we have FUN Friday meetings. An hour during which we share a personal interest, discuss productivity hacks, brainstorm new ideas, introduce new members, or just take a moment to chat and get to know each other better. Since we’ve been working remotely, we’ve started a 20-minute catch-up every Monday to say hi, share how we’re feeling, and spend a moment together across the distance.
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:
Have lunch with your team
Hold meetings every x to discuss a specific topic or celebrate an achievement
Choose a movie or TV show to watch together and discuss it the next day
Organize a cooking class. For example, we held 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 across 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 complex issues, but striving for equality is always a good practice for maintaining healthy teams.
Equal pay is important to ensure a level playing field for everyone and to foster a sense of equality. This way, all team members 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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