Posts Taged remote-teams

Distributed Corporate Culture - Common Mistakes That Erode Teams and Trust

So far in this series of blog posts, we’ve talked about what corporate culture is (and what it isn’t). We’ve also talked about some things you can do to help build a positive culture for your distributed team or company.

This time, we’re going to cover some common mistakes that get made by distributed teams. These kinds of mistakes can lead to inefficiency, mistrust, and infighting.

In other words, you really want to avoid these things!

Distributed Corporate Culture - How to Build a Positive Team

Last time, I talked about how perks are different than culture. Free donuts, plus an in-office gym to work off those donuts are perks, not culture.

That said, perks can help grow your company culture; that's part of the reason they're there. They also encourage a sense of team. But when your team is spread out across multiple cities, or time zones, or continents, those kind of perks don't work. So what can you do?

Here's a list of 5 ways to promote corporate culture on distributed teams:

The Secret to Productive Remote UX Work: The Process and Tools

It’s Teams week at Limnu and we’re celebrating distributed teams and remote workers. In my last article, 11 Things to Know When You Are New to Remote Work, I mentioned the explosion of online collaboration tools and how that makes this such a great time to be a remote worker.

I’m in charge of User Interface and User Experience (UI/UX) design at Limnu, and while I occasionally work onsite with most of the team, I also do a lot of remote work. Limnu is one of a handful of my UI/UX clients, some of them are in Salt Lake City, but others are in LA and NYC.

Here are the process and tools I use, as a remote worker, to collaborate with clients on a small UX project.

Distributed Corporate Culture - What it is, What it isn't

The business world dedicates an incredible amount of effort to creating environments that are meant to encourage creativity and innovation.

One company has a game room, another has a Michelin-rated lunchroom. A design firm has a weekly company barbecue where the employees are expected to cook. Even two guys in a garage startup take turns stocking the mini-fridge with beer.

Perks vs. Culture

It's easy to mistake perks like that for the company's culture. Perks make people happy in the short-term, but culture is how people in a company interact with each other over the long-term. It’s the environment you do your job in every hour of every day. I like to think of the culture of a company as everything that isn't in the employee handbook.

So, what’s not in the handbook?

11 Things to Know When You Are New to Remote Work

Why are we at Costco on a Saturday? Don’t we work from home? Can’t we do this on a Tuesday?

I’ve been a remote worker for nine years now. I’m fortunate to have a consulting business that allows me to work with teams all over the country without leaving my house.

7 Tips and Tricks for Brainstorming With a Remote Team

Sometimes you need a free flowing river of ideas to solve a problem or kick off a project. 

Time to bring in the team!

But what if your team is spread out across a city, the country, or even the world? How do you brainstorm together when you’re working in different buildings, different cities, or even different countries?