If there’s an organizational culture lesson that’s coming out of this pandemic, it’s that what was bad in a culture before is most likely doubly bad when remote.
For instance, if an organization’s leaders were poor at holding people accountable before COVID-19, then in a remote world, chances are they pretty much suck at it. Same with communicating, or listening to employee voices, or managing career progression, or performing any of the skills needed to create positive employee engagement.
Moreover, if leaders weren’t sure what the problems were with their culture before they went remote, they’ve probably made themselves obvious by now.
Building remote cultures require a new skill set for most leaders. And before any of us dismiss this mass remote work experiment as just a passing trend that will be corrected once we get a vaccine, a June 2020 report in NPR claims many organizations believe remote work is here to stay, permanently. Despite the negatives about working away from the office—distractions and loneliness, for instance—companies are discovering benefits. They are seeing an average of $11,000 a year in cost savings for each employee who works out of the office at least half the time; and the majority of managers say they have not seen a decrease in productivity of team members who are now working remotely.
So if alternative work cultures are here to stay, then leaders need to embrace a new way of managing. A few ways to build better remote cultures include:
1. Address pain points quickly. The worst thing leaders can do in a remote environment is to play dumb on festering issues, hoping time will heal the wounds. In a remote world, it won’t. When people don’t see each other over cubicle walls or in the break room, few things get fixed on their own. Tough issues must be addressed sensitively, egos soothed, and arguments brokered quickly since employees can feel more frustrated, isolated, and ignored when working from home. If an issue is personal and sensitive—Sam is taking days to answer his emails or Gina doesn’t seem to be getting along with her teammates—it should be addressed one-on-one. If an issue affects the entire team—i.e., the new client approval system has bottlenecks—then bringing the group together to help solve it is a great way to increase engagement and listen to diverse voices.
2. Watch closely for burnout. If team members show decreased productivity, increased disengagement, short temper, or other changes in behavior, managers in a remote culture must try harder than ever to understand and help. A manager can certainly talk to the person directly about the issue; even better, I hear from many employees today that they appreciate managers who take a few minutes to get to know what the pain points might be before they ask what it is going on. This involves digging into the nuts and bolts of a person’s current workload and anticipating where they may be overloaded or need more support. It also includes being sensitive to personal issues that may be affecting the person. Finally, getting team members to truly open up requires some vulnerability on a manager’s part: i.e., “Here’s what’s affecting me.”
3. Don’t meet to meet. One of the worst things leaders can do in a remote world is force people to log into meetings if the meetings aren’t really necessary or they, personally, aren’t really needed. If a meeting is not going to be useful, no one will complain if it’s canceled. And yet in alternative work culture, gossip and fear can fill gaps, so managers should explain why the meeting is being canceled or why they are no longer mandated to attend. With this said, there are many meetings that should and must go on, and it’s important to get more organized. A simple best practice is to send out an agenda beforehand so everyone on the call can be involved and time can be wisely used.
4. Help employees know what it means to ‘wow.’ A mission statement is a big picture idea that explains to employees why we do what we do and who we do it for (our customers). Being mission-focused was vital before the pandemic, but in a remote culture it is even more important to help people feel connected to mission and what it now means to ‘wow’ our customers. This entails reinforcing connection to mission on every call by highlighting how important aspects of each person’s work are to the bigger picture, i.e., “Terry, that’s a terrific example of ‘making our clients financial lives better.’” Or “Sara, talk about living our mission of ‘bringing digital creations to life.’ Great work.” This is less about hanging up posters of rowers all pulling in the same direction and more about looking for ways each day to connect the great work accomplished by team members to what it means to truly impress a customer.
5. Create new rituals. It’s never a good idea to force participation in mandatory social exercises; but a best practice in a remote culture is to give team members opportunities to participate in socializing on a voluntary basis and make them so engaging that people will want to come. Creating fun new rituals can bring people together: for instance a virtual award given out weekly to the person who best exemplifies the values the team is seeking in a remote world like dependability or responsiveness; a tour once a week of another person’s home office space (again voluntary); sending pizza or other food to worker homes on Hump Day; or one of the best ideas I’ve heard lately: a Friday “wine and whine” party. Everyone gets an hour to have a beverage and complain on a Zoom call at the end of the week, then they let those bad feelings go.