Culture Does Not Live Here
I am just sick and tired of hearing managers demanding a return to the office due to the adverse impact remote working is supposedly having on the organisation’s culture.
Before I continue with my outburst, let’s define what organisational culture is.
Organisational culture is the shared values and beliefs that guide how members of an organisation approach their work and interact with each other.[1]
The consistent patterns of behaviour that characterise being part of a specific workplace community.[2]
Organizational culture is the collection of values, expectations, and practices that guide and inform the actions of all team members.[3]
Organizational culture is defined as the underlying beliefs, assumptions, values, and ways of interacting that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organization.[4]
Organizational Culture is a group of internal values and behaviors in an organization. It includes experiences, ways of thinking, beliefs, and future expectations. It is also intuitive, with repetitive habits and emotional responses.[5]
The culture of an organisation is its personality and character. Organisational culture is made up of shared values, beliefs, and assumptions about how people should behave and interact, how decisions should be made and how work activities should be carried out.[6]
These are six definitions of culture from a variety of sources. Not one of them mentions a location, bricks and mortar, a building, four walls, or an office!
So why is there this pervading belief that you cannot have a good culture without an office?
Evidence
Here is the evidence from three companies that you can still have a great culture with a fully remote or distributed workforce.
GitLab
GitLab is one of the world’s largest all-remote companies. Over 1,500 employees are spread across 65 countries around the globe.
According to Great Place To Work, the company with a rigorous, data-based model for quantifying employee experience, 96% of employees at GitLab say it is a great place to work compared to 57% of employees at a typical U.S.-based company.
In 2022, GitLab ranked in 4 of the Fortune Best Workplaces List categories.
14th in Fortune Best Workplaces in Technology (Small and Medium)
21st in Fortune Best Medium Workplaces
17th in Best Workplaces for Millennials (Small and Medium)
5th in Fortune Best Workplaces in the Bay Area (Small and Medium)
Spotify
Spotify has a work from anywhere program supporting their statement that “Work isn’t somewhere you go, it’s something you do.” Over 6,600 employees work for the company and whilst around 50% are based in the U.S., the other 50% are spread around the globe.
Glassdoor, the worldwide leader in insights about jobs and companies, ranks Spotify 4.3 out of 5 based on employee reviews. 93% of reviews would recommend the company to a friend and 95% approve of the CEO – Daniel Ek.
Culture & Values at Spotify gets a rating of 5 out of 5.
SAP
SAP has over 107,000 employees globally and has a pledge to flex for every employee.
The website states:
A 100% flexible and trust-based workplace as the norm, not the exception
An inclusive environment in which people can work from home, at the office, or remotely, so everyone is empowered to run at their personal best, driving success for SAP’s customers
Flexible work schedules, so employees can decide when they work aligned with business needs
In 2022, SAP was among the winners of the annual Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Awards, a list of the Best Places to Work in 2022.
SAP was named as a Best Place to Work in Canada (#9), France (#9), Germany (#6), the UK (#19) and the U.S. (#42).
SAP also won 75 awards globally in 2022 including 42x for the best employer and 15x for the best workplace.
The challenge
So, it can be done. You can have a great culture with a distributed or fully remote workforce.
The demand for employees to return to the office because it will impact the culture is just an attempt to return to how it was before the pandemic. The fact is there is no going back.
I would suggest that if you believe that you need everyone to return to the office for organisational culture reasons, you did not have a good culture in the first place. Culture is not bound by physical enclosures. A great culture permeates an organisation and its workforce without limitation.
I recognise that the pandemic fundamentally changed “the way we do things around here” which was a common way to explain what culture meant. With remote working, the degree of in-person interaction and direct observation is reduced, and culture works through those interactions and observations. Culture is also supported and transmitted through the words and actions of leaders.
The challenge then is to find ways to supplant the old ways of interaction, observation, and the transmission of words and actions to support a new working model.
Remember that even a fully remote working model does not prevent individuals and teams from physically co-locating when it makes sense to do so. I wrote about this in my article “There Are Only 5 Reasons to Return to The Office” and note - culture was not one of them!
Now I do not intend to provide a step-by-step process to adapt your company culture for remote work. That has been excellently done by Distribute Consulting and Zoom in the paper “How To Adapt Company Culture for Remote Work.”
The paper provides a 5-step guide to ensuring your workforce feels connected and valued, regardless of location.
1. Define your culture
2. Watch your culture in action
3. Update leadership mindset
4. Design your new workplace
5. Set expectations
It also provides a Virtual Culture Development Plan – a step-by-step template for adapting your culture to be location-irrelevant.
My focus in the rest of this newsletter is to highlight the actions leaders must take to reinforce the elements that make up a great culture regardless of where people are located. Remember work is what we do and not where we go.
Culture in the remote working model
What is a great culture? Let’s refer to the definitions I shared at the start and look at the commonalities between them.
· Shared values and beliefs
· Patterns of behaviour
· Collection of values, expectations, and practices
· Underlying beliefs, assumptions, and values
· Internal values and behaviours
· Shared values, beliefs, and assumptions
How do leaders reinforce these elements for a great organisational culture in a remote working model?
Shared values and beliefs
I assume that you have defined your ethos – your clear organisational values. If not, please refer to the 5-step guide mentioned earlier. Leaders collaboratively develop team values that are aligned with the organisational values.
Leaders must be values-based leaders and instil a common set of values in their teams. They adhere to the values and demonstrate them in all that they do. They earn the respect and commitment from the team as a result. Value-driven leaders not only inspire others to follow them but also to adopt the same values as their own.
Shared values within the team act as their moral and operational compass. They are the core beliefs that drive the team. The team members hold each other accountable for behaving according to the values.
These leaders don’t just talk about the values, they walk the talk. They use positive reinforcement to recognise team members who demonstrate the values in what they do.
In a remote or distributed team, the adherence to values may not be as evident as it was when the team was co-located. Therefore, leaders encourage team members to recognise each other when values are demonstrated in action and to call it out if team values are not being upheld. The team understands the importance of having shared values in that they inform everything they do and if values clash, it will be felt.
Often, when teams were co-located, values were accompanied by inspirational posters on office walls. Everyone could see them, but it did not mean they lived them. In the remote team, there is no poster on the wall to remind team members of the values. Team values are regularly talked about in team meetings, one-on-ones, and at other opportunities so that they become part of the fabric of the team and not something bolted on as an afterthought.
Patterns of behaviour
When shared values and beliefs are stable over time, they lead to similar behaviours of team members across similar situations. For example, if a shared value is respect, then team members turn up for meetings on time as a sign of respect for the host. If transparency is a shared value, then meetings are recorded so that those who could not attend are not excluded. If inclusivity is a shared value, then everyone in a meeting is given an opportunity to speak and present their point of view.
Just as with values, leaders will use positive reinforcement to encourage more of the behaviours they wish to see, and less of the behaviours they do not wish to see. The reinforcement can range from verbal recognition to a gift of monetary value. Once again, these behaviours may not be as evident in a remote team, so the leader encourages everyone to recognise behaviours that are upholding the team values and call out behaviours that do not.
There is a shared value of accountability and therefore each team member knows that if their behaviour goes against a value, they will be called out on it. They also know that this will be done in a considered manner that acknowledges that sometimes we may not recognise how our behaviours have contradicted a value and just need a gentle nudge as a reminder.
Leaders establish an environment of psychological safety wherein teams can give constructive feedback that avoids blaming and making things personal.
Expectations and assumptions
Every team member has absolute clarity about what the leader's expectations are of them. This is of paramount importance in a remote working model. Leaders must be explicit. A leader cannot always see that a team member has not understood their expectation of them. Therefore, clarity from the onset is required. Leaders must get team members to play back the expectation so that their understanding is ratified. The leader's expectations, and assumptions, could include:
· Personal accountability for upholding values
· Shared accountability for upholding values
· Personal accountability for demonstrating the right behaviours
· Shared accountability for demonstrating the right behaviours
· Reaching out for help, support, and guidance, in a timely manner
Leaders must also understand what the team expect from them. In addition to upholding team values, the team’s expectations could include:
· Humility
· Empathy
· Leading by example
· Leading change
· Learning and development for every team member
· Clear goals and priorities
· Deliver on commitments
Summary
You can have a great culture without being in the same location. Culture is not created by walls and ceilings. I acknowledge that being in the same vicinity as the rest of the team on a permanent basis can make culture easier to build, maintain, and sustain than when the team are all working remotely but there is no going back. Those days are gone.
Leaders must embrace the nuances of creating a great culture across their remote workforce
[1] chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://vpsc.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Organisational-Culture_Web.pdf
[2] https://cultureinstitute.com.au/2022/06/03/australian-workplace-culture-guidelines/
[3] https://www.achievers.com/blog/organizational-culture-definition/
[4] https://gothamculture.com/what-is-organizational-culture-definition/
[5] https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/organizational-culture-definition-examples/
[6] chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.managers.org.uk/~/media/Files/PDF/Checklists/CHK-232-Understanding-organisational-culture.pdf