EP. 39 Remote Work Culture Ideas to Build Strong Connections

Despite the return-to-office plans, remote work is here to stay, and leaders are searching for remote work culture ideas to help build strong teams. As the founder of DistantJob, a company that finds global remote talent, and author of Surviving Remote Work, Sharon Koifman has over a decade of experience finding, hiring, and creating great remote cultures. Sharon shares that his success has been based on a clear definition of culture, building trust and caring about remote workers' mental health.The Truth: Remote Work is Here to StayNearly all of the research out there is showing that remote work provides greater productivity and is preferred by many workers. According to SloanMIT research, remote work has created happier and more independent people. Coco-cloud research shows that people are 77% more productive and 23% are willing to work more hours if they can work from home. Additionally, 23% of people would prefer a lower wage if they could work from home. Remote work is becoming a necessity, and leaders need to figure out how to continue to strengthen their remote culture, and adjust their leadership style to support their remote workers.How to Keep Remote Company Culture AliveClearly Define & Declare Remote Company CultureEven after 14 months of working remotely, people are still having a hard time understanding what a remote culture even is. Leaders need to have a clearer definition of what a remote culture is in the first place if they are going to be successful at building it.Remote Company culture is about creating connection. Culture in the remote world is your connections between you and the company, between colleagues, and between clients and employees. A clearer definition of remote culture allows leaders to prioritize what is needed to shape the culture going forwardAfter the clear definition of company culture has been created and agreed upon, it should be shared and role modeled in the early stages of growth—whether in person, virtual, or hybrid. However, as the company grows, so does the culture. The culture is a living, breathing organism that eventually shifts its power from the leader to the employees. Eventually, other people, your culture champions, will begin to take charge of defining and declaring the culture. This will empower the company to create and support a healthy remote culture that becomes embedded in all organizational processes; including, hiring, personal growth, completion of work, and engagement.  3 Ideas to Strengthen Remote Culture Donut AppOne idea that Sharon personally uses is an app called Donut. With Donut, he has 1-on-1’s with each person on his team. With the Donut app, remote companies can connect serendipitously for virtual coffee, peer learning, DEI discussions, and more.Define & Build TrustMost leaders think that they need to define and build trust with their team so that they can trust their team. But Sharon challenges leaders to think about trust the other way around. The question isn’t whether the leader can trust the employers; rather, the question is whether employees can trust the leader. As a leader, are your employees comfortable approaching you when they don’t understand something? See blog for full summary. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Team Anywhere’s mission is to uncover Leaders on the Front Lines that are building teams and cultures where the majority of the workers are dispersed throughout the city, state, country, or world. We explore how these remote leaders foster engagement through trust, authenticity, and a sense of community. Ultimately, we are uncovering the new skills and practices that leaders must take on to connect, inspire, and transform their teams to compete in the new dispersed global economy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.