Creating A Meaningful Workplace

I cannot tell you how often I have heard from friends and colleagues over the last year how hard it is to build a strong foundation while remote. New hires mixing with some long-time employees can feel like an awkward moment over Slack when being in person is a thing of the past. It really does take two to make a thing go right or in this case everyone in the company.

“A strong remote team culture matters much more than you might think. Positive work culture and good communication help a team do much more than just implement their projects; these concepts help team members to excel in their tasks and rise to new heights.”

Good communication is essential.

Virtual Distance is a sense of psychological and emotional detachment that begins to grow little by little and unconsciously when most encounters and experiences are conveyed by screens on electronic devices. There are three kinds of virtual distance in remote collaboration:

• physical?(geographic – place and time)
• operational?(lack of shared context – team size, bandwidth, and skill levels)
• affinity?(lack of meaningful relationships – values, trust, and interdependency).

Try switching most remote communication?to regular video calls, which are a better vehicle for establishing rapport and creating empathy than emails or voice calls. And design virtual team-building rituals that give people the opportunity to interact regularly and experience their collaboration skills in action.

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You don’t have to be a boss to remind colleagues that your virtual office door is always open. Show your supportive attitude to encourage colleagues to feel comfortable cold-calling you or asking for help, rather than being worried about ‘bothering you.’’

At my company, Run AMZ we have created a new Culture Committee, a team of 4-5 co-workers that volunteer for one quarter to create new ideas for our team to connect, play, and feel valued. We meet for 30 minutes a week and talk about how we can make our company something special outside just work. Since I have joined the company we now have a #kudos channel in Slack where we lift each other up, a Bookclub that focuses on leadership books and lifestyle, mystery or epic sports stories, and last week we had our first Java virtual zoom which is now on the calendar for every Tuesday morning at 9:30a PST. The team is loving the idea they can just pop on and join whatever watercooler moment is happening and jump off when they need to.

We’ve identified a few key aspects of workplace culture that influence how socially connected and supported employees feel and contribute to greater employee well-being and mental health:

• ???????Work relationships are meaningful
• ???????Management is approachable
• ???????People cooperate
• ???????Interactions between colleagues are caring
• ???????People feel they “belong" to a group
• ???????People believe they have each other’s backs
• ???????There is a sense of fun
• ???????Special events are celebrated

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Show teams the positive impact of their work

The more clearly an employee understands the direct impact of their work, the more likely they are to be positively motivated and to experience more fulfillment.?Research has found that when employees realize their work matters to another individual, they lift their game. Discussing customers overall doesn’t create the same emotional response. Instead, when you speak about your customers/clients, even if your team doesn’t interact with them directly, use their real names, talk about the businesses they have, and show your team that real people are counting on them. This approach has worked with all kinds of businesses like non-profits, sales teams, and software companies, for example.

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Being intentional with each new space you create. Office traditions are still important too. Celebrating birthdays, co-worker buying a new home, a baby being born… connect with your executives to figure out a fun way to create cheer across 4 time zones. Amazon e-gift cards are amazing for managers to send a little something. Find out what a suitable budget might be for each tradition.

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Becca Siegel suggests lots of good ideas about keeping in touch. Her article, “How to stay connected while working remotely,” is worth checking out.

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Helping your co-worker who is new to working remotely can be helpful too. I’ve had plenty of conversations over the years with friends who work in an office than are suddenly thrust into a home office and they struggle with their newfound hours to set up their actual “office” and managing this newfound “time” freedom. Time management can be a challenge, with all the distractions at home. Even without small kids, the laundry or your pet may be calling you away. Even in normal circumstances family and home demands?can impinge on remote work; managers should expect these distractions to be greater during this unplanned work-from-home transition.

?Forming a team is one thing; making it function cohesively is another. To make people with different backgrounds, temperaments, and personalities work like one mind and body takes courage and effort. This may be a hard task but with the tips I’ve shared above, it’s not impossible. Love your people hard and the rewards will be plenty.

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