Building A Thriving Remote Company Culture In 2021 And Beyond

3 tips for leaders to drive purpose, outcomes, and connectedness

When Covid-19 was first declared a pandemic, many business leaders wondered what the long-term effects would be on their businesses, customer base, and employees. But organizations quickly adjusted their policies to do what was best for their clients and employees — to keep them safe and healthy in the face of the unknown. For many organizations, that meant moving to a fully remote work environment essentially overnight, while identifying new ways to keep teams motivated, connected, and inspired. 
 

Many technology companies were among the first to announce long-term remote work arrangements beyond quarantine periods and shutdowns. Still today, as cases continue to rise and variant strains emerge, healthcare organizations, school systems, and even churches operate virtually. As the pandemic continues, many organizations have no immediate plans to return large numbers of employees to the office, and some intend to work remotely on an ongoing basis. 

For business leaders, fostering a company culture without having employees physically in the office can be a challenge. But organizations can continue to build a thriving virtual workplace in 2021 and beyond. Here are three tips for leaders to drive purpose, outcomes, and connectedness for their teams: 

1. Demonstrate the Organization’s Mission and Values Clearly and Frequently

Regardless of industry, leaders must ground their decisions in, and remind their employees of, their company’s mission and values. The company’s mission or “purpose” and values guide behavior within the culture and ultimately empowers people to do great work. 

This is especially important in the context of virtual work — and the best way to showcase company culture is to demonstrate it through specific behavior. Senior leaders across the organization must purposefully live their values daily by setting the tone for the work environment, establishing a leadership style that works for all members of the organization, and fostering a culture of belonging in which employees feel connected, heard, and valued for their perspectives.

Leaders need to establish a consistent cadence for communication touch-points to include everything from broad-based all-employee meetings to one-way videos to team meetings to one on one “check-ups” (rather than check-ins) to share key business updates and to ensure that each of their team members can draw a line of sight between their work and the company objectives. In addition, these “check-ups” are a great way to connect personally with each member of their team to understand how they are doing – mind, body, and spirit. 

Leaders will find that if they take the time to explain the “why” behind decisions and to remind employees how their decisions are grounded in the company’s values they will drive greater understanding across the organization. Employees won’t be able to “see leaders” in action the way they can when the team is in the office so, leaders need to be more purposeful about explaining decision making processes and helping employees “see” how their decisions are connected back to the organization’s mission and grounded in the organization’s values. Being the bridge between company objectives and personal motivations is a critical role each leader must play when leading a virtual team. 

2. Prioritize, Support and Measure Employee Performance Based on Outcomes

During 2021 and beyond, leaders will need to focus their teams on outcomes, regardless of when, how, or where work gets done and they, themselves, will focus on the who and the what. There is a leadership headset shift underway -- rather than focusing on getting the most out of their employees, leaders are focused on “getting the best” out of their employees. To do so, leaders need to understand both the employees’ strengths and motivations and the organizational priorities and objectives. Designing and delegating tasks in such a way that employees work out of their strengths, unleashes untapped energy in a team and allows the leader to be a performance supporter rather than a performance manager. 

My colleague Danessa Knaupp, in her book, Naked at Work: A Leaders Guide to Fearless Authenticity, uses a simple equation, Performance = Potential-Interference. Leaders working in a virtual environment, must understand each element of this equation to achieve the greatest outcomes. When team members are not producing the expected outcomes, leaders need to assess the individual’s potential for success and help the team member identify the elements of interference that are getting in the way. Leaders can help team members balance the need to take care of themselves and/or their families with the need to serve their clients in the best way possible. 

Taking time during one-on-one “check-ups” with their teammates to discuss interference and then jointly creating solutions to remove those barriers may be one of the most significant ways leaders can serve their teammates. Ultimately, leaders will be measured based on the total outcomes their teams deliver AND the way those results are achieved. As leaders, getting the “best” out of their teams is the key to success. 

3. Turn up the Emotional Intelligence

In the past few months, many organizations turned to digital collaboration tools to keep the lines of communication open in a virtual environment. While this was important for maintaining communication and collaboration, communication does not always equal emotional connection. Leaders know that their team members manage challenging situations differently. A recent MetLife study found that 74% of workers are concerned about “at least one aspect of their well-being” as a result of the virus. While work remains critical, leaders must also pay close attention to their own mental wellbeing as well as the mental wellbeing of their team members. 

It’s crucial to recognize the impact of stress on team members and their families and to communicate calmly and with empathy. As mentioned above, stress creates a tangible interference to employees achieving their full potential. Through thoughtful actions, leaders can create a safe space for their team members to speak up and express their feelings, whether they relate to the workplace or other life events. 

Team members may feel worried, confused, frustrated, or overwhelmed. This is the perfect time for leaders to listen to their concerns — and more importantly, to listen to understand and connect, rather than to respond and correct. During the past few months, individuals have learned many new things. With each change, they’ve said goodbye to something they “used to do” to replace it with something new. They’ve learned how to work virtually, go to school virtually, and even attend religious services virtually. 

Helping team members through the change curve and accelerating them from uninformed optimism (This work-from-home thing is great, I can sleep in!) through informed pessimism (How am I supposed to work and care for my children while they are homeschooling? I am now living at work!) to hopeful realism (Hey, I can balance these challenges if my leader continues to support me.) is a key aspect of leadership. 

While the workplace has changed, the underlying reality for leaders hasn’t changed. Leaders have the same core responsibilities today that they’ve had for centuries: Create a vision and align work to it, establish goals and drive results for clients, and create an engaging workplace so employees can succeed. Let’s lead in new and creative ways!

Michele Streitmatter is the Chief Organizational Transformation Officer at Greenway Health. She plays a key role in helping shape the workplace through collaboration, team development, and a relentless focus on the client. Her people and performance leadership experience spans more than 20 years and includes a role as Executive HR Business Partner for GE Digital, GE Aviation, GE Capital and American Express. Connect Michele Streitmatter