Tools and Culture for the Virtual Workplace

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about many changes to the ways we think, socialize and conduct business. Before the early days of the pandemic, when businesses shuttered their doors and sent employees home to work remotely, it was rare to find someone who “teleworked” or “worked from home.” 

But since the COVID upheaval in 2020, more and more workers say they are working from home now by choice rather than necessity. According to a Pew Research Center study, 61% of those who can work from home say they choose not to go into their workplace.

For years now, employees have been getting their work done remotely. They find they are more productive and have been able to establish a better work-life balance. Employers are meeting resistance as they begin to push for a return to the traditional workplace. 

It is clear today that the pandemic accelerated the trend of the virtual workplace and remote work in general. Virtual is the new landscape for many companies and entire industries. Businesses used to working in traditional, in-person environments are navigating new and exciting remote dynamics. Additionally, more and more newly established small businesses are building their teams remotely and looking to understand how to do so efficiently.

We are happy to help!

Our business model at Freedom Makers Virtual Services has always been virtual. We always had an idea that the future would be more virtual! And while not the ideal vehicle for ushering in a new era, the pandemic has brought the future to today.

Here are some key insights and some guidance for building effective remote teams.

REMOTE TEAMS, LIKE IN-PERSON TEAMS, START WITH CULTURE

Managing a virtual company and team, like the one that does its work in person, starts with your culture. People must be comfortable interacting with each other and get to know each other, regardless of physical distance.

Focusing on creating a robust remote culture is arguably even more critical when creating a culture for a remote team. In the virtual business landscape, you should focus on: celebrating victories, caring for team members, communication, and collaboration.

CELEBRATE

Connected teams have leaders who seek ways to celebrate individual achievements and collective accomplishments. Knowing and recognizing birthdays and life events might seem obvious and small. Still, they are super important to creating an atmosphere of care. Collectively celebrating all the elements that enrich our individual lives makes us feel connected to one another on a personal level. Acknowledging when people are hitting milestones in their work-life can also create a sense of belonging and encourage healthy competition to foster learning and self-improvement.

For instance, at Freedom Makers Virtual Services, we have a series of badges to recognize when a Freedom Maker attends training, gets a stellar review, or goes above and beyond in their efforts. A Freedom Maker can be nominated by an internal team member based on established criteria. Their earned badge is displayed on their profile for clients to see, which may give them an advantage when competing for client opportunities. Our badge system is both an incentive for Freedom Makers and a way to celebrate hard work and dedication.

CARE & COMMUNICATION

Businesses that take care of their people are the ones with the strongest cultures. Establishing a baseline of trust and psychological safety with workers is critical. Understanding your team’s personalities, goals, talents, and limitations goes a long way. If your team members feel like they can make mistakes and are encouraged to give and receive feedback, they will feel connected and inspired to do their very best work. People believe their well-being is being looked out for when you are genuine and honest. 

Additionally, you need to be comfortable establishing and embracing a deliberate structure for communication. If you don’t invest here, your team will feel frustrated by the inability to move forward on initiatives, projects, and tasks.

Your ability to embrace a virtual landscape, find the best remote platforms for your business and provide the support your team needs is crucial. Even in a remote environment, team members will feel it if their leader is a listener. Listening is best proven when you do things as a leader to meet everyone’s needs, so they are best equipped to do their jobs. 

COLLABORATION

Finding and establishing communications systems and workplace tools go a long way to make sure everyone is supported and workflows are optimized for collaboration. Many practical, cloud-based tools have been built and developed for our remote world. They range from simple email and instant messaging to video conferencing apps and asynchronous project management team hubs. 

BEST TOOLS

EMAIL: Office 365, Gmail

CALENDAR MANAGEMENT: Calendly, Google Calendar

INSTANT MESSAGING: Microsoft Teams, Slack, Glip, Chanty, Chatter & Zimbra

PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLATFORMS: Asana, Trello, Monday.com, GoToMeeting, FlowDock, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365

PASSWORD STORAGE: LastPass, 1Password

VIDEO CONFERENCING: Zoom, GoogleMeet, Zoho, Gather, Skype & Yammer

CLOUD STORAGE: OneDrive, Dropbox

SOCIAL MEDIA SCHEDULING: HootSuite, Buffer

COMPLIANCE & DOCUMENT SIGNING: HelloSign, PandaDoc 

Good communication and helpful workplace tools can be the determining factor in team effectiveness in the remote workplace. Strong strategies here can lead to a company culture of “we’re in this together” in the virtual business world.

REMEMBER:

Regardless of size, working with a distributed team differs significantly from everyone working in the same location.

In a virtual business:

• You do not have a whiteboard to throw notes on and leave for all to see when they walk in. 
• People do not have the attention span to sit down and hash things out in a meeting all the time. 
• There is no water cooler or community kitchen to confirm ideas and meetings or share a joke.

While these challenges exist, our experience is that you can still build your culture the way you want it to be. As you embrace the virtual landscape and find the right resources for your business, don’t forget that your team needs to be nurtured in ways similar to the way it was before, when everyone was together in person. Workplace connection impacts how team members view their organization. Feeling connected - to each other and to the company - is more likely to keep team members engaged with your business and its mission.