The longer we go without taking action to preserve our corporate culture, the more challenging it is to engage employees and maintain connections with them. How can we keep it alive when our team members are scattered and isolated?

5 actions to maintain a remote culture

Before implementing activities or processes to bring the culture to life in telework, it is essential to ask yourself the right questions. I am sharing with you 5 avenues of reflection to get you started on the right foot.

1. Do a thorough exercise and plan

The first rule is to stop relying solely on temporary and intangible solutions that have invaded the market recently: 5 to 7, Zoom sessions or remote dinners. Culture is not a fad. In my eyes, organizational culture is a science that has been studied for years and that, today more than ever, requires special attention from managers and their teams. In short, it's serious!

Why? Because it addresses several issues and, above all, it is a way to humanize the way we work remotely. Addressing this issue is a win. Dodging it is a loss. Neglecting it will result in lower turnover, demotivation, lower performance, and loss of collaboration among your teams.

And despite what you might think, defining a company's missions, vision and values are far from enough. These elements do not represent a culture, but the tip of the iceberg. Of course, it's a start! However, in-depth work can reveal many other wonders.

2. Focus on sustainability

For a strong and sustainable culture, you need to move away from candy solutions and focus on sustainable actions. The golden rule is: adapt your corporate culture on solid and sustainable foundations. In other words, look beyond workspaces and find actions and practices that you will be able to maintain over time and remotely. Not an isolated event like a quarterly team activity.

And most importantly, don’t copy another company’s culture. Every organization is different. What was a success for one large company may be a flop for another. And let’s not forget one detail: what worked before the pandemic will not guarantee results in the future.

3. Co-create

I often say it: culture should not rest on the shoulders of one person. It is utopian and inhuman. Managers have an impact… employees too! Bringing culture to life remotely is not just a question of leadership. According to the constructivist school, culture is created by employees and their interactions.

Companies with human management know that involving employees is a win-win situation. In my opinion, involving only managers and human resources is reproducing a model that no longer works: that of senior management imposing practices while employees are sidelined.

What to do then? Make a plan! Above all, think about it as a group!

4. Managers at the service of culture and employees

The role of managers is to communicate, embody the culture, and include employees. I recommend scheduling workshops that will address culture and setting aside multiple time slots! At these meetings, ask your team to:

• What culture existed before the lockdowns?

• Are our values still relevant?

Then, together, draw up an action plan. The more you refine your thinking, the closer you will get to the culture, the real one. It will then become easier to bring it to life from a distance.

5. Bring people together even at a distance

“Culture is a feeling”: this is what Élissa Forget, our culture and communication advisor, reminds me. When we worked in the offices, culture was experienced: meetings, laughter in the hallway, artifacts, symbols, morning routines, informal conversations. Without seeing it, we felt culture every day.

Today, it's different. We have to experience it differently. That's the major challenge: making sure that employees and managers understand it and convey it in the same way. No gaps or random interpretations. In telework, no company has this luxury. Finding a way to disseminate it and make it seen is what matters now.

In my next column, I will share with you my 10 favorite ingredients of a WOW culture. Until then, happy collective reflection!