How to Build a Strong Remote Culture

In my conversation last month with the CMO at IBM, Mrs. Deepali Nair, we discussed how organizations can build and sustain inclusive, diverse, and strong remote cultures. Learning from her wisdom and some detailed research I've come up with some best practices to build a strong remote culture.

The last 16 months have put an extraordinary strain on businesses. Unpredictability adds to human insecurities and distrust in the ecosystem. According to the survey results published in the Deloitte Global State of the Consumer Tracker, 53% of the Indians surveyed were concerned about losing their jobs, and 63% delayed spending on travel, leisure, furnishing, and electronics.

Out of this crisis has come an opportunity for a new kind of leadership. One that represents a shift towards “empathy, compassion, and understanding.”

This shift is founded on the idea that Employee Experience (EX) should be at the heart of business strategy. EX is how companies create a more meaningful experience at work and a more meaningful work experience for employees. Its goal is to make companies more connected.

In the last 16 months, I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to work and strive in a remote culture. I'm sharing my learnings from my experience so far. These can be some steps towards building a strong remote culture.

Lead with Purpose

87% of millennials believe that the success of a business should be measured in terms of more than just its financial performance (The Deloitte Global 2021 Millennial and Gen Z Survey). Millennials and Gen Z is looking to their leadership to give them something to care about. Clear and defined goals, individual workflows, specific deadlines, uninterrupted working hours, and a work-life balance have proven to be drivers of building trust and empathy among those working remotely. In the report, a staggering 96% of respondents agreed that unclear goals and changing management styles added to their anxiety levels and made them unproductive over time. To lead with purpose is to give people a reason to care that speaks to them much more meaningful than profit and loss. It’s how you help someone whose job is to fly a kite; imagine a rocket.

Be Transparent to Inspire Trust

In an article titled "Got Transparency? Why Trust Does More For Workplace Culture Than Flashy Perks", Jim Link (Chief Human Resources Officer of Randstad North America, one of the world’s largest HR services providers and staffing firms.) talks about how transparency breeds trust. According to him, transparency is the bedrock of an organization's culture, without which any employee attraction and retention initiative can seem like an empty gesture. He also discussed how cultivating an atmosphere of transparency can pay tremendous dividends, especially to build a diverse and inclusive culture in remote environments. Transparency is a function of knowledge, strategy, and intent sharing between all levels at an organization. With tools to collaborate on projects and effective ways to manage the flow of knowledge in an organization, leaders can build a strong and inclusive culture promoting trust among teams and individuals.

When employees understand a company’s mission and the role they play in it, they tend to feel empowered and more willing to share their ideas. They’re engaged and motivated because they’re invested in the company’s success. - Jim Link

Encourage Open Conversations

According to a study conducted by the Oxford University on "The perception of Millennials and Gen Z towards Job Titles," 76% of the respondents did not respect an individual's job title in a meeting. The respondents also gave a higher weightage to life experiences over work experience in their interaction. 81% of the respondents rated their first conversation positive when the meeting was informal. A leader or manager shared more about their life experiences, way of life, and hobbies or interests. Employees may respect the professional image of their leaders, but they can only connect with the real person.

Leaders today can’t expect people to galvanize around them if they don’t understand what motivates an employee. In our jobs and life, we’re all going to have highs and lows. A strong remote culture is built when employees, leaders, and managers are willing to be transparent in both cases. Transparency and vulnerability elevate that authenticity to another level.

Be Honest

Whether you’re leading with purpose, inspiring trust, or revealing more of the real you, the thread across all the leadership behaviors I've seen in strong remote cultures is honesty. Teams and leaders need to know and state the kind of companies they're looking at creating, the leaders they aspire to be, and the values they cherish over a period of time. A culture’s effectiveness revolves around how information flows. Everyone needs to feel like they have access to the same information, but remote and co-located cultures share information differently. Honesty and trust work hand-in-hand to create strong remote cultures.

In an article titled Bosses still aren’t sure remote workers have ‘hustle,’ the CEO of an eminent e-commerce firm describes the need to verify each action of an employee till the employee is honest and trustworthy. She also talks about the 3 Ts, Train, Test, and Transform for all remote employees. Remote work requires trust, and trust is built over time. Leaders today must look at building teams they can bank on.

Closing Remarks

None of these things are new. Purpose, authenticity, trust, and honesty are the ideas that are already lying around. What will be new as we emerge from this painful period of isolation is the intensity of expectation on leaders to deliver or embody them.

As the saying goes, "We don't know the value of something until it's lost," human interactions and the remote culture can add immense value in building a strong culture. The start of 2020 is when companies and people realized how dependent they were on physical interactions to build trust. As they return to work, they’ll do so with a single demand: That their leaders do everything in their power to strengthen and reinforce the culture built over time.