How To Build a Strong Remote Team Culture With Online Activities
The Covid-19 epidemic has caused damage to workplace culture in a flash. The worldwide curfew and travel prohibitions have put beliefs about the nature of work and business connections into confusion.
People have learned that they don’t need to work in an office and can complete most tasks from home. They don’t have to drive to work. Others have gone from being on the road to being at home, with no impact on their business. Organizational leaders must determine which culture changes they want to keep and combat as they adjust to working during a pandemic and plan for recovery.
The advantages of working from home may appear to be a utopian dream on paper. You can work from home, in your jammies, and take lunch whenever you choose. Telecommuting and WFH veterans, on the other hand, are well aware that the reality is far from pleasant or indulgent.
Finding the same work rhythm at home as you would in the office could be difficult. You may not even have a desk in your home, or you may be easily distracted by family members and even laundry! It might be tough to disconnect from work when you work from home. Because your house becomes intricately associated with your business, working from home can psychologically influence your life.
Consider the rapid use of digital technologies, which may convey the idea that having a physical presence in the workplace is no longer a must. Most professional duties may undoubtedly be completed from a distance. Videoconferencing, screen-sharing, digital shared file storage, digital whiteboards, and smartphone chat groups are all examples of modern collaboration tools that are both free and complex. The belief that “it’s just better to do things face-to-face” has been disproved.
Face-to-face communication is still important because it establishes rapport and builds trust. You can create a relationship and understand nonverbal clues while with someone. Simply being present demonstrates that you went out of your way to attend. Even change in their daily routine makes an impact on the physiological ground.
Due to these abrupt shifts, leaders may be encouraged to replace implicit signals delivered in the workplace with explicit direction communicated remotely. Leaders can give greater context and assistance at the start of a work or project. These leaders may require more regular check-ins to determine how they can best help their teams as they go forward.
Most importantly, leaders can foster trust. They can provide their employees the freedom to take control of their jobs and finish them. A workplace with very close management might be detrimental. It might not be possible from afar.
Similarly, while remote working may appear inexpensive, it might have unintended consequences for your culture. Many people have been socially isolated due to the lockdown, which many have suffered in silence. Solitary confinement is employed as a kind of punishment in prisons for a purpose.
Leaders can respond by involving their staff and utilizing collaborative tools to maintain social touch. Before the pandemic, “mental health awareness” was occasionally used as a cliché. It is now a must.
Working from home without preparation may be stressful, if not disturbing. If you’re planning to set up a home office and become a remote worker soon, it’s critical that you get off to a good start.
What is a remote team, and what is so great about it?
A remote team is a collection of people who have come together for a common goal or mission, while they report to the same organization and, in most cases, the same supervisor, they may be in various offices, towns, or even countries.
A diversified, scattered workforce increases efficiency, enhances a company’s overall chances of success, and, most crucially, offers another measure of resilience. And it is resilience that allows firms to emerge stronger on the other side of a crisis or difficult situation.
Why is Building a Remote Work Culture Important?
Whether your firm chose remote work or was forced to do so because of the pandemic, you must take the time and make an effort to learn how to create and sustain a long-lasting remote work culture. You must understand that it impacts how your staff and clients see you, which ultimately determines the success of your firm.
Your employees, whether outsourced or full-time, will be less efficient, less likely to do well, and more likely to slack off, resulting in resignation. Using inferior IT equipment can also negatively impact a strong remote work culture.
When regularly working from the office, individuals spend inordinate time traveling from home to work and vice versa. When you consider the time and money people spend in traffic, it’s easy to understand why remote work is a viable answer to many challenges. Many studies have proved that remote workers may be more productive, creative, and engaged than in-office employees.
Most individuals don’t grasp what it takes to establish a relationship between a firm and its workers when working remotely. Managing remote teams and bringing them together from a distance necessitates more excellent structure, improved multitasking abilities, improved communication technologies, and a high level of openness from all parties involved. It also necessitates attention, intention, and reinventing the traditional methods your staff will collaborate.
It seems complicated, but it’s easier than you think. It’s far easier than managing an in-office crew where you don’t even need a physical firm infrastructure that consumes a significant portion of your revenue in rent, taxes, and utilities. Honestly, the benefits outweigh the challenges by miles.
How to collaborate with remote team in a better way?
According to researchers, body language is missing from our texts, emails, conference calls, and other digital communications. These misunderstandings cause worry, which may be expensive in morale, engagement, productivity, and creativity.
As a result, HR leaders and front-line managers must assist employees in more successfully collaborating as they continue to work remotely full- or part-time.
The following are the effective practices for improved collaboration:
Communication rules
If you wish to impose a remote work culture, the most vital element is communication. Working from home does not imply that your staff is flying solo or alone. If they feel this way, their job performance may suffer significantly. A remote team is unlikely to succeed if its members do not interact with one another or with management as necessary.
The ability of your team members to communicate effectively and productively is critical for developing a successful remote work culture. While distant communication is unlikely to be the same as in a regular office setting, there are solutions available to assist you in making virtual communication more successful.
Remote personnel must communicate well to cooperate effectively. To make it happen, establish standards and expectations.
Teams must decide which channel(s) they will predominantly utilize —Slack, Google Docs, or Workplace from Facebook. Establish parameters for when to send communications and when to seek answers.
Teams may also choose to establish channels dedicated to specific projects, themes, or tasks. Only those that need to collaborate are then involved. Nobody is overloaded with messaging.
Set goals
Employees working toward the same objective work together more effectively to achieve it. So building the right team spirit is the key. Nothing fosters team spirit like a common goal. Virtual team leaders should be apparent to their team about the group’s high-level goals and each member’s role.
Whether via quarterly meetings or monthly business updates, you should make your virtual colleagues’ most essential efforts known loud and clear. Once you’re confident that everyone understands the goals, shift your emphasis to recognizing individuals for their individual contributions.
Greater transparency into how employees’ contributions promote team growth and how their colleague’s work matches with the same aims improves team collaboration.
Clarity is the key
Make chances for collaborations
Increase the number of opportunities for team members to collaborate. However, do so in a way that avoids needless meetings or red tape.
Managers, for example, may assign a higher-level task to two members who are willing to step up and cooperate to get the job done. Please provide them with the objective, timelines, and expectations. But let them decide how they want to participate.
Remote team building activities to promote culture
Set up social time
Whether in-person or online, coworking is a terrific method for individuals to work together and have informal chats on the move rather than scheduled meetings. Host an open video call where anybody may join at their leisure to work.
This is a terrific approach for teams working together to receive immediate, frank answers. For people across teams, online coworking most nearly resembles colleagues working together in an office. Conversations will naturally occur, and partnerships will develop organically.
Promote online learning
Teams may join up for various educational materials, including storytelling, writing, coding, cooking, and more. The courses may or may not be work-related, but they allow employees to learn together and share their new skill sets with the team.
Staff development opportunities are frequently sought after by job searchers and may help your organization stand out as an employer of choice.
Picture share
Connect over travelling
Make Chocolate Soufflé With Your Team
During this virtual event, the chef will demonstrate the fundamentals of making a chocolate soufflé. Then, working digitally alongside one another, everyone will create their own. Later they can enjoy it together, with plenty of opportunities to connect.
Food has a fantastic ability to bring people together. Food is always there, whether it’s a Sunday breakfast, a special event, or a get-together. When making or sharing a meal, family and friends usually find time to bond.
The same is true for businesses. Team building exercises were created expressly for the goal of bonding. These activities include rock climbing, laser tag, hiking, fun, and games. But what if you went outside the box and had a team-building cooking class?
You may not be a “kitchen person,” but that’s alright since the point is to bond! And become more powerful as a corporation since it is all about collaboration. Furthermore, if you keep an open mind, you can pick up some excellent culinary abilities along the road!
Learn more about engaging remote team building activities:
https://www.chefpassport.com/post/top-10-not-lame-virtual-team-building-activities
Things to avoid
Don't over-invite people
The quality of remote meetings decreases as their size grows. Fortunately, team members who cannot attend can arrange to view a recording. They can also play sections of live events quicker than usual to skip over the bits that are irrelevant to them.
Allow non-essential members to go free and distribute the tape to listen at their leisure. To minimize sentiments of marginalization among team members who were not invited to a certain meeting, allow them to join any subsequent meetings on the topic if they choose. They may not take you up on it, but they will appreciate the question.
Don't default to the hour-long meeting
Don't make people uncomfortable
Conclusion
Putting together a team is one thing but getting it to work together is quite another. It takes guts and effort to get individuals from varied backgrounds, temperaments, and personalities to function as one mind and body. Remote team building may be a complex undertaking, but it’s never impossible with the suggestions we’ve provided above.
