Team culture is much more important than you think. In a previous article we discussed the opportunity startups have to create a clean slate when it comes to establishing the culture and benefits they want for their employees.
In the last 18 months we have seen businesses forced into remote working. With more and more people working from home and the prospect of hybrid work environments becoming a reality, it is time to shift your focus from getting business back to normal and instead focus on instilling a culture that extends outside the office.
Maintaining your usual company culture and office vibes when people aren’t actually in the office can be incredibly challenging, but it is not impossible. We’ve compiled a list of tips for maintaining company culture while remotely working:
1. Open and transparent lines of communication
Transparency is one of the fundamentals to maintaining a company culture. It is vital for everyone, from entry level employees to business owners, to be honest in their actions and interactions.
Engaged employees invest their full potential into the success of a company that they are proud to work in. Create a positive, inclusive workplace and encourage employees to share their successes and challenges.
2. Set clear objectives and goals
By outlining the objectives of each team, employees will have tangible results to work toward. Make sure that there is space and time for feedback to adapt forecasts and KPIs when needed.
One-to-ones can help to clarify the sales team’s objectives as a collective, coach individuals on their role to play in achieving the overarching goal and identify areas for improvement. Regular meetings help to bridge the gap between seniors and entry level. This strengthens relationships, reinforces the company’s mission and creates a motivated work environment.
3. Trust your team
By showing trust and confidence in your employees ability to own their work you will maintain a positive company culture and avoid a blame culture. Research shows that employees in a trusted environment are more productive.
Given that the pandemic has already increased people’s stress levels and in some cases demotivated their ethic in regards to work, it could be detrimental to pile distrust on top. With the lack of physical interaction amongst employees it can be easy for trust issues to develop.
Some managers have responded to this challenge by forcing teams into constant Zoom meetings or trying to micromanage every aspect of the working day. Instead, we urge managers to show faith in employees ability and work from a position of ‘asking for forgiveness not permission’.
4. Schedule regular catch-ups and informal meetings
During these trying times, there has been a lot of focus on physical health, but it is important to not underestimate the importance of mental health. Start by evaluating the ‘meeting culture’ in your company. If you constantly have your team in meetings to discuss things that could be sent in an email or via an instant messaging app, it could be negatively impacting morale and lead to losses in productivity.
Studies have found the 8% Rule, which states that 8% of the time in any meeting should be dedicated to fun virtual team building exercises.
5. Implement the right technology and onboard the team
The technology landscape has skyrocketed in the last few years with new and exciting entrants promising new ways to solve unique challenges we never knew we had. There is of course a lot of competition amongst vendors, particularly within the sales technology domain.
The fundamental things you need to consider when implementing new technologies is:
- Why do I need this technology?
- Can it integrate with my existing stack?
- How long will the onboarding process be?
- Who is going to train my employees to use it?
From years witnessing the expense of implementing the wrong technology or receiving resistance from sales teams, our advice would be to collaborate on the decision and assess the needs the technology meets for each department.
The most effective company cultures value people, provide career growth, adapt to meet customer needs, and deliver great results to shareholders. But a lot of culture is subjective. Find the culture that works best for your company and your employees.