Building a great remote work culture: The six cornerstones

Do you have a great remote work culture? This is the topic that’s top of mind for many leaders and for good reason – Sandra Lewis shares her top tips on achieving one

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on Forbes

Creating an amazing remote work culture isn’t easy. However, putting in place a quick but sturdy foundation is possible. Here’s six ways you can build a great remote work culture.

Be intentional – a great culture isn’t an accident

A great remote work culture starts with intentionality. Let your team know what you expect and what working remotely means to you as a leader. Tell them how they are expected to communicate and treat one another.

Even better, recruit for people who naturally embody those traits. Once those ground rules are set, you can more easily empower your team to excel as they build on that.

Then, think about the extra steps you can take to encourage a culture of positivity. For example, you could name one of your team members as “Chief of Cheer,” a paid role with the responsibility of upholding and nurturing an intentional culture.

Set the example

Your team will follow as they’re led. Leaders who make demands of their team but don’t adhere to those same demands or expectations kill motivation and positive attitudes. Sandra Lewis heard this is true from remote experts across the board. For example, she learned from Help Scout’s Director of Talent Acquisition Leah Knobler that a leader’s values can influence a company’s culture, whether your team works in-office or remotely.

This is why setting an example for your team is essential. At her company, they take work-life balance and trust for their team very seriously, and they allow their team to flex their schedules. They use an instant messaging tool for quick communication, but from the beginning, they set a standard that employees should not feel that they need to answer immediately. They made it clear they’re not monitoring their time online.

Make time for fun

Fun is the unsung hero of strong working relationships. While some people might envision remote workers as slacking off at home, unsupervised and in pyjamas, the reality is different.

In most traditional work settings, people can physically separate work from personal life, but remote workers don’t always have those dividing lines. They are at work when at home. And when they’re highly driven, it can be hard for them to turn off.

So, take time to inject fun into the mix. Create a celebratory environment and establish team traditions. Celebrate important moments creatively. While you can’t force people to participate, what you can do is signal that your team has permission to have fun.

Let your team make a difference

People want to contribute and make a difference. There’s a contrast in telling your team to ‘think outside the box’ while demanding that they do their work in a robotic way. In my experience, that can make people feel like what they do doesn’t matter, as expectations are pre-programmed. Let them feel like they can do things outside of their daily norm. Get people out of the grind.

Great culture thrives in an open environment. An open environment only exists where people trust one another and believe that what they think and say will be valued and considered.

Know what a healthy culture looks like

Could you tell the difference between a functional but sickly culture and a healthy, vibrant culture? It’s important you’re able to spot a good (or bad) cultural trend so you can correct it.

To assess your own company’s remote culture, observe your team’s response. Do they show appreciation to you and one another? Does fun and positivity spill over into nonwork-related communication channels? Are you getting a glimpse of their personality? Are you and they encouraging one another freely? These are signs that the team is becoming cohesive.

Great remote culture self-replicates

Great remote work culture is a kind of unspoken call to cohesion. It comes from what people do, and it comes from each person’s values. It comes from individuals understanding how they fit into the picture. And it rubs off on the others in the group.

If your remote work culture is open and bright, it will propagate itself despite any changes that normally occur in a growing team. While it takes intentional effort to keep it healthy, great work culture will yield dividends for companies and customers alike.