Leading a Remote Workforce
Culture evolves with a remote workforce. Changes will happen given the new dynamic of this work environment.
I had the advantage of building and developing a remote workforce over a number of years. Years of trial and error to figure out the best structure for our organization. The benefit of learning and pivoting to grow our approach as we expanded our program. Today, companies had to make this transition practically overnight.
As I speak with leaders who are facing this new remote environment, one thing is repeatedly expressed. There is a feeling of not having the same level of control and some concern about the impact to one’s culture. “We had such a great culture. I don’t want to lose that.”
Well, some good news and a reality check. It is going to change. People are no longer under the same roof and that office “vibe” will evolve. This is not a bad thing. It is an opportunity for leaders to take a step back and evolve their culture to embrace the nuances of a remote workforce.
In the beginning, conversations may not be as free flowing. It will require what I have been calling being intentional. In a conference room, your team meetings had been interactive with brainstorming and problem-solving. People would feed ideas off each other to develop a plan. This can still happen in a remote environment. It takes the leader to intentionally engage each person in the meeting. Teach your team how to interact under this new structure. The meeting facilitator can provide an atmosphere to give everyone a chance to participate. Guide the conversation and empower everyone to have a voice. Show them how to effectively participate as a remote team.
In an office, people used to just drop by and chat with each other to work through an issue. Today, encourage them to pick up the phone. Give them chat tools to reach out to one another. Provide guidelines around email threads. For instance, if the conversation goes back and forth more than two times, pick up the phone to continue the conversation.
Company work relationships were strengthened with staff connecting on breaks in the lunchroom, going out to lunch together or getting a quick bite after work. Set up an environment where people can have this connection in a virtual manner. Things like providing extra Zoom or other video conferencing accounts so staff can have spur of the moment, drop in meetings. Set up a Slack channel for breaks or lunches. People can just join the channel ad hoc to catch up with anyone else who happens to be on the channel.
Get creative in developing new methods to maintain the things that made your culture so strong. It will take time for this to become second nature for your team. It will take leaders supporting the change, encouraging engagement and modeling the new methods.
Like adopting any new habit in our lives, it takes time, encouragement, support, repetition and patience. What you are feeling in today’s new remote environment is no different than what we felt when we starting on our remote workforce journey so long ago. It is change and change is opportunity. Once everyone understands the new habits needed and has some time to make these adjustments, your company will be running on a whole new level.
