How to Improve Your Company's Culture if Your Business Functions Remotely?
Working remotely can have it’s drawbacks, but with policies in place you can overcome the obstacles.
Many businesses now operate almost entirely remotely. In theory, adjusting to this new model appeared to be easy. In practice, however, one faces the nuances related to corporate culture. Do you know how to properly organize it in an environment where all employee interaction takes place remotely?
The availability of a well-developed culture in the company ensures its consistent profit and growth. Let's discover why corporate culture is so important.
What Is Corporate Culture?
The company's corporate culture is a behavioural model that governs how the employees function and interact within the team. It includes:
Employee behaviour patterns in specific situations
Responses to various situations
Certain traditions and daily rituals
General directions of the firm's internal policy
A company with a logical structure built around the company's orientation, and corporate culture is more likely to succeed.
What Is the Importance of Corporate Culture?
Let us look at the main reasons for the need for corporate culture:
It makes the company appear more solid and reliable in the eyes of the client and business partner
It makes cooperation a priority
It enables employees to achieve their objectives, advance their careers, and promote the company and its products
It allows an individual employee to feel a part of a larger whole, and it allows new employees to quickly join the work team and rhythm of work
It aids in the regulation of the management apparatus and the establishment of ties between departments, as well as the normalization of communication between the head and subordinates
It allows for total systematization of production and the provision of services
How Does Remote Work Affect Company Culture?
The company culture does not disappear when operating in remote or hybrid mode. Internal beliefs and norms continue to emerge and consolidate, but they are more independent of the systems and routines that existed previously in the office.
If your company has a large number of remote employees, corporate culture becomes not just important but crucial. If you do not provide them with a scheme and instructions, it is more difficult for such employees to understand what is expected of them and how they should work.
Aside from that, remote employees are more adaptable to change and are influenced by new, non-work-related factors in their daily lives. For example, obtaining a second education or participating in training for career advancement.
Fortunately, there are essay review websites, such as Writing Judge, that take a portion of employee writing tasks. So, how can corporate culture be developed and guided when the team works remotely?
How Can I Improve My Remote Company’s Culture?
When employees feel heard, bosses can get their teams more involved. Of course, you should not implement every proposed idea, but employees should be allowed to share their ideas and opinions.
It is beneficial when they can demonstrate their knowledge throughout the day, convey information to others, and systematize it. And here are some examples of how you can improve your remote company’s culture.
1. Give Amusing Names to Ordinary Objects
Give funny names to various phenomena so that employees understand what they are for while also feeling at ease. Call meetings, for example, with codewords:
Cockroach meeting. It will mean a "discussion of a minor problem." A 15-minute conference will suffice;
Ostrich meeting. It will include a discussion of incomprehensible points as well as the participation of several employees for clarification;
Tiger meeting. It would imply that a major issue would be discussed. It is typically a two-hour session.
Create dictionaries and abbreviations based on your field of activity. This will boost your remote team’s productivity and allow employees to communicate more effectively.
2. Select the Corporate Apps and Tools
To ensure that the project is not stressful for employees and that communication occurs without delay, implement a unified project management system, including templates for all tasks and various cooperation tools that can record telephone conversations for training, video chat tools, etc. The most popular of them include:
Asana
Trello
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft OneDrive
Zoom
It will also be beneficial if you provide your team with services and tools that will make their work easier, faster, and more efficient. For example, provide a list of writing services reviews websites such as Best Writers Online so that your employees can get better writing help when needed.
3. Promote Your Company’s Values
After you have made your employees aware of your company's values, the next step is to promote them. One way to accomplish this is to set clear expectations for how team members should communicate with one another.
Aside from that, show your employees that you, as a leader, live the company's values too. You can do this by using a blog or social media. Regular publications about your company’s values, their role in life for the company, and others will help you attract the right personalities and talents, and clear the team of those who constantly disagree with something.
4. Make Use of Branded Merchandise
Branded products can help remote team members feel more connected. These should be items that employees can keep and use for a long time. These products should reflect the company's values.
When a company is opposed to products that harm the environment, it can use sustainable products. For example, recycled notebooks, pens, etc.
5. Celebrations and Events
When dealing with a remote team, it is critical to not only discuss your values and make demands on employees. It is also critical to make employees feel like they have a stake in the company's success.
This can be accomplished by celebrating team success, work anniversaries, birthdays, and so on. This is an excellent way to boost morale and motivate employees to work for the company's benefit.
Even if you do not have the opportunity to celebrate in person, you can use technology. Arrange an online conference, for example, and sing "Happy Birthday" to the birthday employee.
Conclusion
Every competent business owner or head manager who wishes to see his company grow successfully and profitably must recognize the importance of corporate culture implementation. Employees who understand the rules of the game (the company's target objectives) and have access to the necessary information help to strengthen the corporate culture and make the company more productive.
It is worth noting that there are no universal samples that "work." Each company's culture must be customized. For example, the corporate culture of a large factory and a startup company of ten people will be very different. However, in both cases, it is an essential component whose effectiveness should not be underestimated.
Lillie Jenkins is a creative copywriter and content writer. She has worked as a copywriter since school, so her writing skills are well-honed. She writes publications in such fields as marketing, business, education, and personal life. More than writing Lillie loves to travel and read professional literature.