• by Signup Training

Building a Strong Culture with Your Remote Team

You know that culture is what sets a great company apart. But building a strong culture with a remote workforce scattered around the country or even the globe presents unique challenges. How do you foster meaningful connections and shared values when your team is dispersed? How do you cultivate an environment where people feel engaged and invested in the mission when they rarely meet in person?

It may seem daunting, but with the right strategies and tools, you absolutely can create a thriving culture with your remote team. It starts with making personal connections, communicating openly and often, and using technology to bring people together. Keep reading to discover several effective ways to strengthen your company culture, even when your team is working remotely. With a little effort and intentionality, you'll be well on your way to building a collaborative community and a culture your remote team will be proud to be a part of.

Fostering Connections Through Intentional Communication

As a manager of a remote team, making genuine connections with your employees should be a top priority. Schedule regular one-on-one video calls to catch up, check in on how they're doing, and see if they need any additional support. During team meetings, start with a casual check-in where everyone shares one personal and one professional update. This helps build rapport and understanding within the group.

When communicating via chat or email, be friendly and personable. Ask open-ended questions to show you're interested in learning more about them and build rapport. Share appropriate details about your own life as well to help your team get to know you better too.

Don't forget that hallway and water cooler conversations don't happen naturally in a virtual environment. You need to create opportunities for unstructured interactions and relationship building. Consider hosting optional "coffee chats" or team trivia and game nights. When people forge personal connections, they become more engaged and invested in team success.

Make an effort to recognize and show appreciation for your employees' work and contributions. Send personalized thank you messages, shout outs in meetings, and small gifts or rewards when milestones are achieved. Your team will feel valued and motivated to do their best.

Frequent, open, caring communication is key to developing a tight-knit culture and highly engaged remote workforce. With intentional and consistent efforts to foster meaningful connections, you'll have a team that feels fully supported, heard, and part of something bigger than themselves.

Building Trust and Camaraderie with Virtual Team Building

Building trust and connection with a remote team takes work, but it's worth the effort. Virtual team building is key.

Scheduling Regular Meetings

Meet often via video chat so people can see each other face to face. This helps build rapport and fosters personal connections. Aim for weekly or biweekly all-hands meetings, plus smaller group meetings. Ask people to share personal updates and celebrate wins to get conversations flowing.

Encouraging Informal Interactions

Set up channels where people can chat socially. A #watercooler Slack channel or weekly virtual coffee meetups are great for this. Join in yourself to set the tone. While work talk is fine, also discuss hobbies, weekend plans, favorite books or movies. The more people engage casually, the more bonds will form.

Doing Fun Virtual Activities Together

Team building isn’t all about work. Organize optional virtual happy hours, game nights or other social events. A shared experience, even if remote, gives people a chance to interact in a more casual, fun way. Laughter and play stimulate feel-good hormones that strengthen connections between people.

Building a thriving culture with a remote team is challenging but rewarding. Through frequent communication, opportunities for informal interaction and fun team building activities, you can foster trusted relationships and camaraderie across the miles. With time and consistency, your remote workforce will become a close-knit community.

Promoting Work-Life Balance and Flexibility

Promoting work-life balance and flexibility for your remote team is key to keeping them happy, healthy, and productive.

Offer ample paid time off and encourage your team to actually use it. Many companies provide unlimited PTO, trusting employees to take what they need. At a minimum, provide 3-4 weeks of paid vacation, plus paid sick leave and holidays. Make it clear that you expect people to unplug when off the clock.

Allow flexible work schedules when possible. Your team may appreciate the option to start their workday earlier or later, or work longer hours some days and shorter hours others. As long as work is getting done and they're available for meetings, offering flexibility shows you trust them.

Discourage after-hours work communication. Make it a policy that work messages are not expected to be read or responded to outside of normal work hours, unless in case of emergency. Your team will appreciate knowing their personal time is respected.

Check in on your team's wellbeing regularly. Send a quick message or schedule a call to see how they're doing and if they need any additional support. Let them know you value them and their mental health and are there to listen if they want to talk.

Promoting autonomy and trusting your team to get their work done in a way that works for their own work-life balance will lead to a happy, motivated, and loyal remote workforce. Make work-life balance a priority and your company culture will thrive.

Conclusion

So, there you have it, a few tips to help cultivate meaningful connections and foster an engaged culture with your remote team. While technology has enabled the rise of remote work, human connection is still key. Make the effort to build rapport, share stories, recognize milestones, and bring people together. Your team and your organization will thrive as a result.

Though working remotely has its perks, it can also lead to feelings of isolation and disconnect. Put in the work to strengthen your team bonds and the rewards will follow. Stay invested in one another - you've got this!

With empathy, creativity and consistency, you can build a culture where your remote team feels motivated, supported and valued. Keep connecting and make those relationships a priority. Your team's success depends on it.

Signup Training offer team building trainings and certification, curated by some of the masters in the industry. If you are a manager struggling to get a hold of your team, sign up now!