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A company's culture is defined by the mindfulness, intention, and constant effort it puts into fostering the trust and loyalty of its employees. It can be easier to develop a strong culture with in-house employees, and it may take more intentional behavior to develop the same culture with remote and distributed teams.
There are various factors to keep in mind before planning on cultivating a strong culture with your remote team . Weighing factors such as geolocation, availability times, and mental wellbeing during the process of creating a healthy remote culture will prove to be fruitful.
But what are the steps that need to be taken in order to develop a remote culture? This blog mentions all the nuances of positive culture growth within your remote team.
Remote teams work most effectively if they're treated as a part of your organization's overall culture. Being distant can pose many challenges to employers, which directly impact the success of the business. Without in-person interactions and being mindful of the mental health and other needs of your remote employees, your company will experience a dip in productivity and see a decrease in employee retention.
When building a remote team, an organization needs to assess and reevaluate its processes where necessary. It's best to research different aspects of the company before implementing change. Here are a few guidelines that can assist any company in creating a healthy remote culture.
Trust and psychological safety is often overlooked when it comes to remote teams. According to Amy Edmondson from Harvard Business School, it's essential to cultivate "a sense of confidence that the team will not embarrass, reject or punish someone for speaking up."
In order to build trust and psychological safety, employers have to constantly show humility, curiosity, interest, and fallibility. Furthermore, it's also essential to promote participation within teams so they're more comfortable working for your organization despite the unique framework they're part of.
The onboarding process is the most crucial since it's the responsibility of the employer/HR manager to ensure the newly hired employee has access to all the vital resources that will assist them in being successful in the role they were hired for. It's best to create plans and set meetings to reduce the onboarding anxiety that's natural for the employees to face during the process. You can also onboard in groups to reduce the effort and redundancies and are able to create a sense of community amongst the newly hired ones.
Poor communication with your remote employees, lack of recognition, failure to understand their needs, and ignoring their feedback can result in a rift between the remote employees and in-office staff. To avoid this, it's vital for the organization to communicate clearly and regularly and also show appreciation to their employees through recognition and reward programs.