When you have a team that works remotely, it's important to be intentional about your company culture. When you take action to ensure your remote team feels connected to the company, your company can thrive, and so will your remote employees. Here are the top tips for building organizational culture in remote teams.

1. Top Tips of How to Build
Organizational Culture
in Remote Teams

2. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Title
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Introduction
Introduction
Even though there were companies such as Google, Salesforce, Zillow, and others that
thrived with remote teams before COVID-19, many companies still resisted
telecommuting until the pandemic forced the majority of companies to shift to that
reality basically overnight. Now that more companies experienced remote workforces
first-hand, there are signs that remote working will remain even when the pandemic
subsides, and stay-at-home orders are lifted. Companies that are successful with remote
workforces are very intentional about creating a company culture in support of their
remote teams.
Here are the top tips for how to build organizational culture when you have a remote
team.
Top Tips of How to Build Organizational Culture
in Remote Teams

3. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Company Culture and Why It’s Important
Your company culture—whether in the office or remote—is the experience your
employees have working on your team. It includes the "rules of engagement" your team
operates from, such as the mission and values, but also communication, "office hours,"
and productivity expectations. The culture you create is essential to not only effective day-
to-day operations but also the potential for your company’s long-term success.
Plus, contrary to popular belief, a distributed team can often lead to better results. The
concern that remote workforces would be less productive than in-person teams isn’t the
case for 85% of businesses that confirmed productivity had increased in a recent study.
Other benefits of telecommuting include improved employee satisfaction and retention,
an appealing offer to recruit top talent, and that is saves employers money, among others.
According to a recent Gartner survey of chief financial officers, 74% do plan to shift some
positions to permanently remote that were only on-site before the pandemic. Now that
there are more companies with employees distributed across the world, it’s important to
be intentional with your company culture.
So, here are some top tips for building culture in remote teams.

4. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Onboard New Employees to the Entire Team
When your team is distributed, you must be thoughtful about how you introduce new
teammates to the group and how you ensure they feel welcomed. Make sure everyone
has the new team member's contact info. Consider clever ways of sharing fun facts about
the new person, so the team has a way of connecting. Setting up one-on-one video
meetings with various people in the organization representing a variety of functions, and
the new person is another good way of helping a new person feel welcomed. Connecting
the new hire to others in their geographic area or with similar interests is another way to
build comradery.

5. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Refine and Communicate Vision, Values, Goals, and
Culture
A clear vision and set of values can really help ground your company and drive
momentum when everyone is operating from the same playbook. This isn't a one-and-
done process, but goals, culture, and values should be reinforced consistently. When this
effort is inconsistent, the group can stray and develop fissures.

6. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Develop Communication Strategies
There are many communication tools that aid remote teams in being efficient as well as
re-creating the "water cooler" atmosphere of in-office interactions, such as a "random"
channel on Slack, a channel-based messaging platform. However, the team should
understand when and how to use the communication tools you adopt—when to use
messaging, email, call a meeting, or pick up a phone to discuss or transfer info. For
example, your organization might prefer to have all project info updated in a project
management tool such as Asana and only GIFs and memes shared on the “water cooler”
channel in your messaging app. Clearly outline those expectations to all employees.

7. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Trust Must Be Inherent
Leadership and teammates that don’t trust each other will fail when trying to implement a
remote culture. Assume positive intent, work to rectify miscommunication and errors, and
step in to manage when the work isn’t getting done. If your screening and hiring process
is successful, most people on your team will want to be a productive member. Along with
trust is always being transparent by posting your values and culture publicly and
encouraging the team to "let down their guard" and talk about the less critical but more
interesting aspects of their life. This happens quite naturally when you share office space,
but can be seen as trivial for remote teams, but it’s actually quite essential when building
culture.

8. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Annual or Biannual In-Person Events
There is incredible value for a remote team to come together once or twice a year for
training, collaboration, fun, and connection. Successful events mix business and play with
activities to foster culture.

9. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Encourage Shared Leadership
Allow your team to generate ideas and contribute leadership rather than just expect them
to complete a list of tasks each week. Members of successful remote teams are allowed
the chance to show initiative. Consider ways to encourage mentorship and leadership
among the members of your remote team.

10. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Celebrations
Remote teams must be more intentional than in-person teams about the way they
celebrate wins and recognize one another for a job well done. Some companies use
corporate social media channels to recognize teammates, and others have specific
programs such as an employee of the month. Other organizations have ways for
individuals to recognize each other in group meetings so that their accomplishments don’t
fly under the radar.

11. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Check-in Regularly with Individuals
What might be surprising, introverts can sometimes struggle more with isolation when
working remotely than extroverts. This reality is a good reminder that when it comes to
building organizational culture, you can’t assume anything. It’s important that your group
has a way to touch base with each member regularly to ensure they are doing well and
don’t need other support from the team. Introverts might be less likely to reach out and
ask for help. This can be accomplished in myriad ways and can be a responsibility of all
from management to colleagues to human resources.

12. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Collect Feedback and Adapt
Your employees living the remote experience are the best ones to help you build a
successful culture for your organization. Be sure there are ample opportunities for them to
share their thoughts and suggestions on ways to improve the culture. Those who help
plan the battle won't battle the plan.
Ultimately, when you build an organizational culture for a remote team, you want to be
sure all teammates have a deep sense of belonging. How you do that for your
organization will depend on your unique circumstances.
Tell us, what has helped your organization build culture for a remote team?

13. Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website
© 2020 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website

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