Practical Tips for Crafting an Engaging Remote Team Culture

Remote work is becoming increasingly normal, and even expected. According to a recent study, 80 to 90% of all employees say they would like to work remotely at least part of the time. Here are some tips to keep your remote team engaged.

Hold Weekly Virtual Coffee Meetings

Have everyone call in with their coffee for a quick 30-minute relaxed check-in to talk about anything. This meeting is for the purpose of maintaining a team culture and comfortability.

Take Advantage of Communication and Sharing Software

Slack, Google Drive, and Dropbox are just a few of the popular software choices for sharing and communicating with virtual teams. Keeping track of projects using a project management tool like Wrike or Asana can keep everyone on the same page by monitoring progress and maintaining structure.

Stay Focused On Goals, Not Activity

When embracing a remote workforce, concentrate on what is being accomplished. If we are meeting our goals, great! If not, we need to look into the situation further. It is all about accomplishment, not activity.

Encourage Transparency

Lead your team by example and be transparent so that remote employees feel comfortable to do the same. Help them see the ins and outs of the business, share the objectives and vision, and let that resonate.

Set Clear Expectations

Decide how many formal weekly check-ins are needed and set guidelines about daily needs. For day-to-day needs, some people work better with a shopping list of questions and thoughts rather than a trickle. Find out how your team works best.

Everyone has different ideas about what doing something “quickly” or “well” means. To set expectations for deadlines and quality of work, show examples of what you expect to be done, and how calendars and deadlines should be shared.