One of the top concerns leaders have about remote work is that team culture will be weakened – if not lost all together. They are right to be apprehensive. Unless a change is made, a hybrid environment can greatly impact team culture. However, given that around 9% of employees had a favorable opinion of their culture before remote work became prevalent, “losing” the culture may be a good thing for some… But nonetheless, care needs to be taken to maintain or craft a culture that leads to organizational success.
What is Culture?
While beyond the scope of this article, a quick recap on what “culture” is may be helpful. Everyone knows it’s important, but what is it? Culture is a very nebulous term, and while there is no one agreed on definition for it, the following is a good place to start: “Organizational culture is defined as the underlying beliefs, assumptions, values, and ways of interacting that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organization.”
But what does that mean? Basically, culture is the unspoken set of “rules” that govern the actions and behavior of your people. And it’s what forms the “mentality” of your group or team. And that’s why it’s important. It is a determinant of individual behavior and, consequently, their performance. It can generate great loyalty, or great distrust, towards your company – and make a team exceptional, or marginal.
Remote Creates Culture Change
Culture is always present, and ever-evolving. This is why remote work is a concern. Remote work changes how we interact at a base level and increases the possibility for outside (non-work) variables being thrown into the mix, thus leading to cultural changes that you don’t expect. Eventually remote work will lead to drifting away from the culture you had before into something new. And, unless you do something about it, it will be a culture that is less team oriented as the same level of connection is no longer present.
What to do About It
How do you address culture change caused by remote work? Like anything, you need a strategy.
There are three basic routes you can take:
- Don’t do anything and hope for the best.
- Work to maintain your existing (pre-remote) culture.
- Redesign and shift your culture.
Many will opt for #2 – maintaining the status quo. If it worked before, why fix it? But be careful. Given that the situation has changed, what worked before may not work anymore.
The benefit to #3 is the same as the benefit to remote work in the first place – it allows you to leverage the new way of work. If done well, you can make remote “make sense” and create an even more productive organization than you had before.
Creating the Culture You Desire
Changing a culture is one of the hardest tasks you can undertake in an organization. This article can’t scratch the surface of it. However, there are a few general steps that can help get you started.
Step 1: Measure your current culture
Whether you are trying to maintain your existing culture or create a shift, the first step is to get a clear picture of your culture as it is now. This gives a starting point for a change or gives what you want to replicate.
Step 2: Choose a desired culture
If you want to keep your culture, this step is already done! If not, this is a critical task.
There is no one best culture, and what you choose should fit your organizational objectives and serve your employees. There is a real danger of looking at other cultures and trying to copy them – they might not fit your needs or your team.
One question to ask is – are we a “remote-friendly” or “remote-first” culture? Again, there is no right answer, as it depends on your organization. Are you “all in” on a remote or hybrid model or just testing it out? Remote-first will take the greatest effort and transition to be successful. But the benefit is that remote will actually “work” when you’re done. Remote, hybrid, and in-person roles will be on a level playing field, and your organization will meet or exceed your previous levels of creativity and performance.
Step 3: Start sculpting your desired culture
Culture isn’t something you “create” but is instead continually molded over time. Each action leaders take will either lead towards or away from your goal. No one thing will create a culture, but all together they add up into something significant.
Sometimes it’s easier to understand how to create a culture when thinking about cultures you don’t want. For example, you don’t want a culture where:
- Employees feel worthless
- Customers don’t matter
- People do the minimum to not get fired
- The main goal is to “keep your head down”
- Hard work never pays off
How can you create bad cultures?
- Never give appreciation to your team members. They get a paycheck… What more do they want?
- Make fun of or belittle customers during meetings or in emails. Who needs them anyway?
- Don’t seek to develop or improve your people. The minimum is ok. You can’t expect people to give too much effort.
- If someone has an idea – even a good one – shoot it down instantly. Also, the more embarrassed you can make that person feel, the better.
- If someone goes the extra mile and does a good job, make sure to ignore them. Even better – if you can claim their hard work and success as your own, great!
See… Creating a culture is easy. However, assuming you want a good culture, there are a few core elements to keep in mind:
- Values set the foundation for your culture. Organizational values need to be known before you can attempt to change or maintain a culture. For example, what’s most important – clients, employees, quality, innovation, creativity, performance, marketing? The answer helps determine where you focus.
- Focus on the WIIFMs (What’s in it for me) of your team members. Beliefs and long-established traditions are often deeply ingrained and hard to overcome. You need to give clear and obvious reasons why those traditions should change – sometimes at the individual level.
- Culture needs to be enforced and backed up by actions. It’s not just words, memos, or posters. Make actions that are intended to increase the cultural elements you desire and reduce those you don’t. This may involve some difficult decisions.
- Remote culture change requires more, and more purposeful, touch points. What was once done by default (seeing people in the hall, a quick chat, etc.) now must be done intentionally. But this also allows each touchpoint to be more powerful than the random connections in the office.
- Consistent communication is critical. You don’t want various cultural messages out there causing confusion. If one leader is saying something different from the rest, it negates the messages from everyone else.
- Even if you are a full remote team, in-person elements are still helpful. It doesn’t have to be weekly or monthly, but quarterly or semi-annual meetings are of value to build the rapport that can’t be created over a video call.
What Can Leaders Do?
All of this is great if you’re conducting a massive top-down culture change initiative. But what about those companies (i.e., the 99%) who don’t have the time or resources for that type of change right now? What can individual leaders do to help create a great remote culture?
One team leader can’t change the culture for a whole organization. But they can certainly influence the culture of their specific team.
First, if you don’t know the organization’s desired remote culture, or at least the core values, it doesn’t hurt to ask. If there isn’t one, pick one that’s good no matter what. A culture of teamwork and being “for” each other is always a good place to start.
Next, know your employees and understand your current team culture. Not all cultures fit all employees and some employees may reject a culture too different from them. If you think your top data analysts are going to want to go on weeklong nature outings and paint their feelings, you are likely in for a bit of a challenge.
Then, work to align team culture with organizational culture goals – or with what you selected to focus on. Knowing your desired destination, and the team you have, follow the steps outlined above. Determine WIIFMs, be consistent, back up words with actions, maintain regular touchpoints, etc.
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Culture is a top concern for remote work. But cultural change in a hybrid environment is just like any culture change. It takes time and focus but is essential if you are going to reap all the benefits of a strong remote organizational structure. It’s worth the effort.