The Happy Company #2: Building Trust in Remote Teams

Welcome back to The Happy Company: your bi-weekly guide to a Human 1^st company culture.

Today, we're looking into a topic that's more relevant than ever: building trust in remote teams. 🔥 Scroll down.

Picture this…

You're on a video call with your team, scattered across different time zones and continents. How do you know you can trust each other when you can't share the same physical space?

That's the challenge we're tackling head-on today.

The Foundation of Trust

Trust forms the basis of effective collaboration, whether you're in the same office or on a different continent. It's the confidence that your teammates have your back, even when you're miles away from each other.

Some stats for you:

Employees at high-trust organizations experience:

• 74% less stress

• 40% less burnout

• 13% fewer sick days

• 76% more engagement

• 50% higher productivity

• 106% more energy at work

• 29% more satisfaction with their lives

_{Source: https://hbr.org/2017/01/the-neuroscience-of-trust}

Real Life Example: How Buffer Nurtures Trust in Remote Work

Buffer, a pioneer in remote work culture, knows a thing or two about building trust in remote teams. From transparent communication to empowering autonomy, Buffer's approach to remote work is rooted in trust and accountability.

• Transparent communication: Buffer practices radical transparency, sharing information openly with all team members to foster trust and alignment.

• Empowering autonomy: Buffer trusts its employees to manage their time and tasks autonomously, empowering them to make decisions and take ownership of their work.

• Prioritizing connection: Buffer invests in virtual team-building activities and regular check-ins to foster connection and camaraderie among remote team members.

Strategies for Building Trust in Remote Teams

• Communicate openly and transparently:
  Keep channels of communication open and transparent, ensuring that everyone is kept in the loop and has access to important information (what they think is important, not just what you think is important).

• Foster virtual connections:
  Create opportunities for virtual team-building activities, casual conversations, and non-work-related interactions to build rapport and trust among team members. For instance also allow for some skill sharing activities (any skill that might be interesting to others)

• Set clear expectations:
  Establish clear goals, roles, and responsibilities to avoid misunderstandings and foster accountability. To each individual also be very clear on their path of growth. Where and how can they grow, into what, what needs to be done and in what timeframe.

• Add some fun:
  Trust is easier built by focussing on the human connections. Fun stuff helps to build that. Good examples that you can easily do online: pubquizzes (with rewards sent to their home), team dinners (send everyone the same ingredients for them and their partner, break out rooms per x members, pubquiz in between)

• Lead by example:
  Demonstrate trust and accountability in your own actions and decisions, modeling the behavior you want to see in your team.

So, building trust in remote teams requires intention, communication, and a commitment to transparency. By prioritizing trust-building initiatives and fostering a culture of openness and accountability, remote teams can thrive in any environment.

Stay tuned for the next one, where I’ll explore the how to manage conflict constructively.

Until then, remember: Trust is the currency of collaboration, invest it wisely.

Cheers,

Roel