Remote culture & design

6 easy ways to promote a healthy remote culture for your design team.

Let's define culture

The most basic definition: Team culture is made up of the values, beliefs, attitudes, expectations, and behaviors shared by a team.

It’s how people work together towards a common vision and how they treat each other, not just on the team but in the company as a whole. These attributes could be positive or negative depending on how they’re received internally or externally.

Culture is a difficult concept to grasp because it’s generally unspoken and unwritten. It’s about dynamics between people which takes practice for some and none for others.

Different teams within a company can manifest their own culture. For example, the QA team has a specific culture which could be widely different from the engineering team culture. But they’re generally influenced by the company culture as a whole.

Implementing and maintaining a robust culture is no easy task for any team or organization, but it can be especially hard for remote teams. My hope is that these 6 easy tips can help you foster an environment where your remote teams can thrive and work together amazingly well!

6 easy ways to help create a better remote culture.

1. Schedule recurring 1:1’s with people on your team to review designs, or just shoot the breeze. In my opinion, doing this will create trust between teammates and it will give you the opportunity to get to know one another on a deeper level. It doesn't always have to be about work, in fact, try to not talk about work at all! It will give you a higher level of respect for one another when times get tough and it will give you some insight into who they are as a person. These don't have to be long sessions, try it out for 15 minutes and watch how your relationships blossom and grow.
2. Be active on Slack, [microsoft teams, google chat, whatever you use]. Look, I get it, sometimes slack can be distracting. BUT, It's important to engage with others on a regular basis since that's your only way of interacting with other remote designers (or organizations). Don't just say something in a Slack channel to say it, post an article (maybe this one if you like it 🙃), or something related to your industry to spark some new ideas or conversations with your peers. As designers we are thinkers, we’re constantly thinking through tough problems. Being remote, we don't have the ability to walk over to our peers' desks and ask for feedback. If someone has a question, try and get back to them in a decent amount of time, don't leave them hanging 🧗🏻‍♀️. All of that being said, Sarcasm, emojis, or vague remarks can easily be misinterpreted when they are not accompanied by the body language and facial cues that our brains rely on in person. Be careful, but have fun.
3. Meet up if you can! If you’re located near other remote teammates, try and meet up on a regular basis. We have a weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) cadence at RMS where we designers like to meet up for a “WorkDay.” (as a few of us are located in Colorado). This helps us collaborate and work through hard problems together, in turn, strengthening our team dynamic and culture all together. If you’re not close to other teammates geographically, join a UX meet up in your area. They are always really informative and you might be able to meet some other people in the community who work remote as well.
4. Share Success: If someone on your team gave a killer presentation, or delivered an amazing solution, recognize them! Give them kudos and let them know that you appreciate the work that they do! It’s a major motivation boost for the team to hear the positive results of their hard work. Employee recognition doesn’t have to come exclusively from the top. It’s often even more impactful when recognition comes from all around — from leaders, from peers, from everyone.
5. Share Struggles: By sharing the challenges your company faces, you’re opening up the possibility for your team to offer brilliant solutions that you may never have considered. This doesn’t mean you need to share every minutia of every logistical challenge, but when it comes to solving complicated problems, several minds are often more powerful than one. Sometimes you can feel like you work in a silo, but sharing frequently can help elevate you when you’re feeling out of the loop.
6. Last, but certainly not least…Turn on your damn camera: Everyone has a bad hair day, myself included. Turning on your video should be encouraged for both team meetings and one-on-one communication. Seeing the facial reactions of team members can add emphasis and emotion to conversations (this is important for design reviews). It also helps ensure that members of a meeting are all focused, contributing, and active participants in what is being shared/presented.

Final Thoughts

Your company culture influences how your employees work and customers'/client's perception of your business.

Building the foundation for the best employee experience possible will make your remote workforce happy, motivated and engaged.

Don’t ignore the importance of it. Taking these small steps to incorporate these on your team and organization can make all the difference in the world.

Oh! One more thing, connect with me on Linkedin! If you have any other ways/ideas of promoting a more dynamic and positive remote culture, I would love to hear from you!