The importance of building a healthy remote culture

Working remotely in 2021 is more than being productive and professional while lounging in your pajamas. It’s also about metaphorically reaching out to your team offering support no matter where the rest of you are located.

A lot of remote collaboration tools have transcended from being a communication platform to entirely something else, while still providing the core functionality of staying connected with others.

Communication tools, even the simplest of the bunch, are still critical in preserving a functional workspace. That being said, team leaders, managers, and supervisors all around the world are exuding the effort of maintaining the company culture while everyone works remotely. 

When after-office Zoom calls just don’t do it anymore, there are a few team-building exercises that can spark that productivity and morale boost that the team needs. Keep in mind that these activities are not a one-stop solution for existing issues, open communication and trust are still at play, even working remotely.

Why do we need to engage with remote team activities?

Remote team activities will allow the entire team to destress and unwind after a long week of working towards ongoing projects and making deadlines meet. Have you ever heard of the phrase, “all work and no play”? Surely, anyone who works for 40 hours a week would like to end it with a positive note.

Team-building activities, if and when done correctly, will positively affect everyone involved for a significant matter of time. It still rings true even if the entire office migrated to remote working because of the recent world events.

The answer to this question can be condensed into one short phrase: to boost productivity and morale all while working remotely. Actually, even if just improving the team spirit, it will make all the difference as morale is tied with productivity.

High motivation paired with the correct mindset is one of the best things that can happen to anyone.

Weekly show and tell sessions

Remember those days in school where the teacher would ask you to take something special from home and take it to class? This virtual hangout session is something like that.

Feel free to show your favorite things and trinkets that give you the inspiration to power through those 8 (or more) hours. Along with the chosen item, prepare a quick introduction as to why you chose that particular knick-knack for the week. It could be something like your favorite succulent, a pet, maybe a new journal that you started the year with.

With this after-hours remote team activity, you’re allowing your team to be more at ease and comfortable letting their coworkers and counterparts see snippets of their personal lives.

As a leader, putting your team’s comfortability above all else is a key ingredient in becoming a functional virtual team.

One-on-one meetings

Don’t just save one-on-one meetings for bearing the bad news, it creates a negative connotation that your staff may develop over time. Instead, hold meetups and calls just to check up on their progress and day-to-day process, congratulate them on the job well done, recognize their work patterns, and kindly offer solutions for the problems they may have been facing. 

A five-minute personal meeting could make all the difference. Depending on how your colleague takes the message, you may see improvements instantly with their next output, or over the course of the next few days or weeks.

All that matters is you continue to offer this kind of guidance until they meet your expectations.

“Cooldown” virtual meetups

After working, it’s nice to end the week with a mellow cooldown virtual hangout session with your teammates. Not all meetings have to be about the office and work-related things, it can also be about casual chats and just catching up with your peers.

Cooldown meetings allow everyone to forget about targets, timelines, and any work-related things for a few moments before logging off for the weekend. It’s advised to do these kinds of meetings at least once a week when everyone’s done with their deliverables.

Positive reaffirmations and recognitions

Sustaining a positive work environment can be hard when everyone is working in their respective homes and away from the traditional office environment. This remote work dilemma can be solved with the solution of having open communication and positive recognition.

Celebrate wins and special occasions through internal communication channels, single out the people who made the win possible, make them feel seen, valued, and appreciated for a job well done.

The importance of building a healthy remote culture

Just like any other professional workplace, building a sustainable work culture is important as this will make or break the company’s image with its employees, customers, and clients. Believe it or not, company culture reflects the gear work inside each department.

Promoting a flourishing virtual work culture shows that you trust your employees and associates to do their work and deliver their outputs in time (or even ahead of the date).

Trust and respect are two primary factors of why companies and their departments stay strong, even when facing tight deadlines and difficult tasks. More and more employees and employers are putting the “work it ‘til it’s done” mindset since remote working often blurs the line between personal time and work.

Right now, what really matters is the people and the effort they put into finishing projects: striving for progress is the new standard.

A healthy remote culture ensures that each team member doesn’t feel left out or underappreciated by their friends, colleagues, and supervisors. With this, the team would grow exponentially with no doubts.

And it sure does feel nice to work in and around a workplace culture that empowers each and everyone to do their best; taking it one day at a time.