6 simple ways to positive team culture & communications working remotely

Your company’s culture is at the centre of your business, it’s unique to you and can determine your team’s happiness, energy and productivity as well as the overall success of the business.

It takes time to establish, continued effort from the whole team not just from top down and everyone should feel involved and valued for their contributions. Recent surveys have revealed that up to 56% of employees feel that their company culture means more to them than their salary.

When your team is working remotely it’s even more vital to make the effort to involve everyone and keep the sense of belonging and values, keeping your team highly motivated, productive and thriving. Flexible and remote working is not just about being based from home, it’s a whole lot more.

In this article suggests how flexible workspace solutions can help to cultivate and promote positive communications and culture for your company.

You could be forgiven for thinking that if your team are spread out across various flexible workspaces, in various locations your culture could be diluted quite quickly. Of course, your colleague will be mixing with people outside of your business that goes without saying and some workspaces have quite a strong culture of their own. Retaining your individual company ethos, vibe and identity with a team working remotely is a balancing act but very doable. Flexible workspaces can be a really positive influence and can enhance potential for networking, personal growth, continued learning and also reduce the feeling of isolation that can come from working at home.

Many have said that the culture of the company is greater than that of the individual. Those that work from flexible work spaces will be experiencing all manners of cultures, networking and support which can only mean a combined, positive enrichment for your company. In my experience, the people that I worked with over the last 10 years in our flexible workspace have said they’ve really benefitted from the daily interaction and support and it’s strengthened their company’s culture because of the diversity. It can also enhance the sociability aspect for lone workers who crave that every day contact which can result in increased creativity, sense of belonging and energy and therefore a better level of work as a result. 

Here are some simple ways to promote positive team culture and communications working remotely from a flexible workspace:

1. Connectivity – when your team’s working remotely it’s so easy for them to feel isolated and so think about how you’ll keep in touch with them and make them feel connected and appreciated.

• When you’re choosing the best suited flexible workspaces for your team members make sure that you enquire the following:
• meeting rooms
• strong, reliable broadband
• conferencing facilities
• VPN line for IT security
• do you need a receptionist to navigate & filter calls
• disabled disability access (dda) facilities e.g. lift facilities so that they can easily access the infrastructure needed to connect with the rest of the team?

A company’s culture will also be reflected in its dress code, business hours, office setup, …

2. The upfront, visible culture of your company – branding and the impact of the company’s physical workspace and layout is often a big contributor to culture.

• Ergonomics & workstation set up, seating, lighting all a good specification?
• Company protocols, do you need branding on the office walls, signage on the building
• Ethics, sustainability, corporate social responsibility, community & partnerships

3. Company Values – the are the heart of your organisation and create a solid and positive environment for your team to thrive in.

• Share your values on the website, talk about them in interviews, discuss them with clients. Do your team members and clients align with your company values from the outset?
• Are you and the team checking in with your values regularly and reflecting the mission of the business?
• implement a recognition system and let employees nominate coworkers who’re doing a great job
• Create a weekly email for the team to share how they incorporated their company values into their workflow

4. Community – flexible workspace providers are great for this. They generally all have a community element, with the larger the operator the more sector specific networks available and there is always someone to talk to over coffee!

A lot of these spaces will also be connected to a larger network of flexible workspace operators meaning that they’ll be a big opportunity for making contacts and potential clients.

5. Communication – consistency, operating standards, transparency all come in to play here.

• How often will you be in touch with them?
• When will you have team planning days, feedback sessions, weekly 1 to 1’s, monthly training, mentorships, buddy systems, away days, head office coworking days?
• Implementing coworking sessions – allocate 1 or 2 hours a day where the whole team is online working independently via Zoom / M’Soft Teams / Slack and use that time to dedicated to a particular piece of work. It gives accountability and the reassurance that if they have a question then there is someone there to answer.
• Do you have a weekly newsletter / email?

6. Goal setting 

   Knowing what you want to achieve is always important, but without the physical presence of team members and managers to prompt and encourage, goal setting becomes even more vital. So it’s essential to make sure objectives are clear to all team members.

The whole ethos on the future of the workplace is looking bright, there are many options out there now and it is certainly not a ‘one size fits all’ model any longer. The happiness and motivation of your team is directly correlated to the culture and communications of your business and ultimately the success of your business.

Here is our Powering productivity Podcast episode with Jean Yves Huwart of Coworking Europe chatting to Suzanne on the future of flexible working

If you would like learn more around identifying the right flexible working environment and solutions for you and your team then book a discovery call with me to discuss how we could work together

Email: suzanne@thehubnewry.com

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