It’s the age old issue- the head office gets all the cool perks, whilst the satellite offices feel like they’re left with the remnants (if they receive anything at all). It is hard. How do you build and create belonging amongst teams that work remotely.
Here we are talking anything from the head office in the city, with smaller branches in the suburbs, through to different states or even countries.
Some observations..
Belonging doesn’t usually just happen; it takes a little bit of effort and thought.
- Explicitly considering how things (in particular change) will affect remote offices and teams is a great place to start.
- One common complaint is meeting times set to the convenience for the head office, with little or no regard for how those times will impact on remote teams.
- Make sure that perks are rolled out universally if at all possible. If the perk doesn’t translate across state or country lines, then be clear about that. The aim here is to make sure that there’s not a two class strata system- head office employees and then everyone else.
- Consider how to make company propaganda as culturally appropriate as possible. This may mean writing policies, communiques etc in a way that reflects the local culture (whilst ensuring its consistent with the overall organisational culture). You want employees to feel like what they’re reading is consistent with how they experience both local and broader culture. Not that they have just been tagged on as an afterthought.
- Look for ways to build networks and connection. One organisation set up a coffee match up service through their slack bot. So an employee in Australia who was heading for coffee might meet up with an employee who was heading out for an evening drink. The pair would chat just like they would face to face. Then, they would share their experiences on a group page set up for that purpose.
- Use technology to include. There are so many apps and programmes where people can opt in to know what is going on. Us them.
- Look at ways to bring employees together face to face on a regular basis (and try to make sure it isn’t always to head office).
- Make sure that Town Halls or other all employee meetings are videoed or live streamed, to provide access for those that can’t get there.
- Ask your employees. What do they want to build connection? Where do they see the gaps or the disconnects??
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Like any cultural issue, addressing belonging doesn’t need to involve fancy consultants or a lot of money. What it does require is a bit of thought and attention.
- Ask your people. They will have ideas.
- Use technology to your advantage.
WANT MORE?
As always, if you’d like to get in touch – you can click here.
If you’d like to read any of the 300+ blog posts on this site, you can click here. These blogs talk specifically about culture.
If you’d like to buy one of my books, you can click here.
And if you’d like to sign up to permission to dream programme, you can click here.
See you tomorrow (yes a month of posting daily!)
