Creating Performance Breakthroughs by Building Culture in Remote Teams

Creating Performance Breakthroughs by Building Culture in Remote Teams

By: Caylin White

We take teamwork seriously here at VIPdesk.

We also aren’t a brick and mortar company. We embrace virtual work with a remote team across the nation, and we are extremely successful at providing customer service solutions to brands that you know and love. Yes, sometimes it IS okay to toot our own horn! We’ve worked hard to get here!

How have we created a sense of culture, broke through performance records and maintained a healthy remote working environment for our team? We share some virtual secrets that could help change the way you manage your teams.

Work-Life Balance

Creating Performance Breakthroughs by Building Culture in Remote Teams

Office life is made up of all different types of people and personalities. Most of the time people are juggling personal and work items during their workday with absences — calling in sick or having to leave early to run an errand or get to an event on time. But remote team members are better able to juggle the vast demands of life.

Since they are not tied to an office, they can design their workday to meet the demands of their lives. If they are getting over a cold, they can work from home without spreading the germs to others. And if they need to run an errand, they can handle it quickly without losing a workday. This ultimately makes remote workers more present for their work and team.

Productivity

Remote teamwork is not something that builds itself. It takes certain personalities to be able to manage their workload without the constant supervision of a manager. The office life — especially those filled with perks like free lunch and watercooler talk are often distracting for the workload!

According to a nationwide survey in 2018, 86 percent of people said that working remotely allows them to hit maximum productivity.

At VIPdesk, Microsoft TEAMS is our virtual office. Instead of crowding around the watercooler, we gear up our video cameras to see our colleagues in living color online. Our TEAMS meetings are on video to foster connections face-to-face with each other. This solves the isolation effect!

Low-Stress Environment

Working in the stability of your own home allows the true personality to come out of your team members because they know they have a safe environment to shine.

There is nothing worse than waking up and going in to a job that you don’t love. We often joke about how long our commute is from the bedroom to the office. The commute alone will cause bad moods, periodic road rage and sour mornings to office work.

Open Communication

In person meetups are still important!

Despite the distance, remote workers make the best teammates. This is because distance demands better communication.

Without being able to lean on physical proximity, remote workers must reach out to one another frequently and with purpose. This leads to stronger collaboration and camaraderie. And all those long-distance video chats? An astounding 92 percent of workers say the video collaboration improves their teamwork.

Flexibility

Trust is the core foundation for remote teams.

All of these qualities we have mentioned make up a recipe for success. If you can build a strong culture between your teammates, you can create a workforce to be reckoned with. It is important to take the time to build relationships across the miles with each team member.

Culture and Relationship Building

Here’s a quick recap on what we’ve learned about building culture in a remote team to gain success.

It is important to be sure their work is quantifiable, measured and up to par.

It is important to meet and meet up in real life occasionally!
It is also important to be sure they have a healthy and motivated environment to thrive in if that is their office, their kitchen or their basement.

Helping your teammates to become comfortable with their workload will enable higher spirits, better performance, and company-wide success.

We are VIPdesk and we create award-winning customer care solutions for luxury brands, right from the comfort of our own homes.

Creating Performance Breakthroughs by Building Culture in Remote Teams