How to Create & Sustain a Great Culture and Engagement in a Growing Remote World

There is no question that we are now experiencing a new normal. Stores, gyms, schools and other public places are being closed down on a daily basis. Local governments are ordering civilians to shelter in place and practice social distancing Employers are tasked with figuring out how to lead their companies through these difficult uncharted territories. Many employers have never had their employees work remotely and are completely unprepared to lead and manage from a distance. So how do you create and sustain a great culture when you can’t connect with your people around the water cooler. Some leaders believe that managing their workforce remotely means that they need to keep continuous tabs on their employees. They may ask their employees to keep copious records of how they spend their time or stay on Skype the entire time they are at work, but nothing says “I don’t trust you” more than this type of micromanagement. In fact, micromanaging at a distance is a fast way to demotivate your teams; Instead, try to focus on these four areas: Clarity, Alignment, Autonomy and Trust. Create Clarity around goals and expectations for your teams. Align your teams around a common purpose to help them get through the hard times. A common purpose that is inspiring helps keep the teams connected and motivated towards something larger than themselves. Then once you are aligned on both corporate goals and your employees weekly individual goals, move towards a more project based type work where your employees can create measurable results around agreed upon dead lines. Give your teams Autonomy to create an environment and schedule where they can be most successful. For some it might mean they need to take time to take care of their families for others it might be taking time do go for a run or squeeze in a work out. Recognize when you are on a call that the dog will want to bark and children may be heard in the background will be heard in the background …that is ok. That does not mean that your employees are not doing their jobs. After all we are all adjusting to this new environment. Either way let your the employees have autonomy to do what they need to do to be successful. If they know they are cared, about they will take care of you in return. Once you have clarity, alignment and autonomy the last piece of this puzzle is Trust. Your job as a leader is to motivate your employees, remove road blocks and make sure that your teams have the skills and the tools they need to be successful. If employees are trusted and empowered to make decisions they will stay motivated, engaged and they will perform. Try to stay connected with your teams. Use video calls, Teams, Skype or Zoom whenever you have calls to stay connected. If you don’t already do so try the daily huddles. A daily huddle is a great way to check in. Take 15 minutes in the morning to connect with your team around things like your purpose, road blocks they might have, learnings, failures and recognitions. Make sure that you have a clearly defined agenda and stick to the 15 minutes time frame. Focus on humanity first and work second. I know it’s it hard to trust that people will do the right thing, but they will. Empower, empower, empower.