National University Podcast Series
National University Deans, Faculty, and Leadership discuss a wide range of topics with a focus on the higher education community. Tune in to hear from our experts, alumni, students, and faculty. Current programs include: Center for the Advancement of Virtual Organizations (CAVO), Virtual Education Support Center (VESC) and Whole Person Center (WPC), formerly Virtual Center for Health and Wellness (VC4HW).
National University Podcast Series
CAVO Ep. 95: Cultivating a Positive Remote Workplace Culture
In this episode, hear Darcy Mayfield, a workplace culture expert chat with Dr. Jeff Belsky, Director of Strategy and Leadership Development at Solutions 21, and learn how to create and sustain a positive culture in remote and hybrid work environments. They discuss actionable strategies for fostering connection, collaboration, and well-being, and the vital role of leadership in nurturing a supportive and inclusive culture.
Welcome to the Center of the Advancement of Virtual Organizations podcast. Today's topic is Cultivating a Positive Remote Workplace Culture. I'm Dr. Jeff Belski at National University, and today I'm joined by CAVO visiting virtual expert Darcy Marie Mayfield. Darcy is a future work thought leader and remote experience designer. After spending nine years working remotely in tech at Airbnb, Texjar, and Stripe, she now serves as a consultant at Shift with Darcy Marie for startups that are looking to build profitable, connected, and sustainable remote first cultures. In today's episode, we're exploring one of the most crucial aspects of any organization, and that's culture. How do you create and sustain a positive culture when your team is spread across different locations? What are the strategies that truly foster connection, collaboration, and well-being in a virtual environment? And most importantly, what role does leadership play in nurturing a supportive and inclusive culture? We'll be answering these questions and more and sharing actionable insights that you can implement right away to strengthen your team, no matter where they are. Welcome, Darcy, to our podcast. How are you?
SPEAKER_01:Thanks so much, Jeff. I'm great. How are you doing today?
SPEAKER_00:Fantastic. Thank you so much for taking the time. It's great having you uh on the line here. Um, before we dive into getting to talk about this topic of culture, why don't you share a little bit about yourself before we get started?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you did share an amazing little brief thus far. So as Jeff mentioned, I'm Darcy. I'm currently located in San Diego, California. And I think maybe I'll just share one unique sort of approach that I've been taking my entire career in when it came comes to remote work, remote work culture, is really with the lens of hospitality. So I'm somebody who really believes in answering questions before they're asked, making sure that people feel like they belong, especially when they're from different cultures and really really bringing that hospitality-like mindset into the workplace. And how can we sort of lift and shift this experience that we have in restaurants, that we have when we're traveling, that we have in these different cultures, and then help people assimilate really quickly when they're in a remote verse environment where they can't see, touch, or feel things. So that's one thing I'll just mention a little bit about myself is I really take a hospitality lens with things and I just I love people, I love cultures, and I love the anthropology aspect and sociology aspect of the new world of work.
SPEAKER_00:Well, fantastic. And you know, today's topic is one that uh we've seen change so much over the last five years, we've kind of gone in light speed here, um, you know, talking about remote and culture and so forth. Um, so let me ask you this, and let's just really start out because culture is such a um a term that is kind of floats out there all the time, and you know, it's positive and toxic and so forth. I want to talk a little bit about that. And with your with your experience, what are what are some common challenges organizations face when they're trying to establish a positive culture in remote and hybrid work environments? How do they do that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, I think one of the largest challenges that I see is this sense to just run off an assumption, to assume that people know how to work in an environment that they may not have physical cues within, to assume that you know people will take vacation when you say unlimited vacation, to assume that people know how to move through this virtual environment. And I think that's the number one thing that I see, you know, leaders and companies struggle with is just this sense, especially you know, pre and post-pandemic, of when you have the office, it it really serves as one of many containers of culture. You know, rooms tell you where to move, where to sit. So there's a whiteboard, you know it's okay to write on it, you know where the bathrooms are. You you've got a mental model of how to move through the workplace. And in a hybrid and remote environment, all of that goes out the window. And so I think I see a lot of people just make assumptions. Oh, they'll know how to do that, or they'll know to show up to this meeting on time, or they know that their cameras need to be on, right? Well, all of the assumptions go out the window when you go remote or hybrid. And so I think that's that's a huge challenge that I see in these kind of future of work workplaces is just the understanding that we really need to be thinking about prescribing the culture in a lot of sense and writing it down so people have that mental model, that knowledge, and are able to get again answer those questions before they're asked to help people assimilate quicker into the culture.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I I think you're you're you're spot on with that. And let me let me direct that kind of the the question, uh, let me expand upon it a little bit and talk about you know the leadership role in developing this culture, because you know, the things that you're saying as far as being in brick and mortar and you know, knowing where the offices are and so forth, um, do you think that there's still some uh resistance from leadership to kind of get into that remote work uh workspace, even though they were forced into it, they're starting to pull people back. Do you do you see that there's still a resistance there?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, uh absolutely. I mean, I think it depends on the industry, the size of the company, the leadership team. But uh, you know, my belief system is actually that the resistance is actually coming from a lack of self-actualization and a self-mastery perspective from these leaders. You know, I think one of the number one jobs of any leader, whether you're remote, hybrid in person, it doesn't matter, is to manage your own psychology. Um, and I think many leaders aren't actually looking at their own lives and saying, okay, what have what have I struggled with remotely? What have I struggled with hybrid-wise? Well, probably everybody else in the company is struggling with that too. So instead of maybe just bringing people back to the office, exploring what those struggles are, starting to ask those questions to the leaders themselves and saying, maybe how do we change this? What what what am I benefiting from this and how can I bring that to this company instead of just taking the easy way out, which is let's just go back to the way things were.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I and I think that you know a lot of what you're saying is mindset. Um, but let let's let's put it into the terms of generational. Uh, do you think that uh as the younger generation uh moves into leadership roles, uh that they you know feel very comfortable being remote, that organizations will have a lot more acceptance of it, uh, where the older generation is still, you know, if you're sitting at your seat, you're productive. Um you know, so what where's the generational kind of, you know, where does that fall into this?
SPEAKER_01:It's that's a really good and tough question to answer. I think that there are quite a few generational gaps when it comes to thinking about the future of work and and how to possibly do things differently. And I think the gap really comes from, you know, there's a subset of of an older generation that has just done things a certain way for a long time. And that is a very comfortable way of doing things. There are mental models for it, there are maps for it, there are blueprints for it. And when you begin to introduce, you know, something as large as let's completely shift the way we work, you know, that's gonna take a really long time for a certain generation to assimilate to, to accept, to be comfortable working within. And I do think it that as you know, younger folks start to grow and become leaders of these companies, these mindsets will begin to shift. But I think we're just in the middle of the messy middle right now, to be honest with you. And I don't think things are gonna smooth out for a while. I think we're gonna be just continuing to harp on this. Let's just think about how maybe we can structure this differently for the benefit of all. And I think that's where we start, is just thinking about how do we maybe approach some of the processes of where we work, how we work in a different way to start sort of getting that older generation more comfortable with these mindsets of shifting and understanding that things aren't gonna go back to the way they were. And I think there is a large influence from the influx of a younger generation coming in with new mindsets, new way of working, but it's not gonna change overnight. So I think the keyword here is patience and understanding. And another keyword I would say is just being open to creativity, which I think we have for so long in the workplace really haven't had the liberty to be creative with how we work because we've just again had this container of an office that has sort of told us how to move through the culture and through the workplace. And now that that is sort of blown out of the water, really having the willingness and openness to think differently, which I think the younger different generation brings, and the older generation is beginning ideally to be open to.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's an interesting interesting point there. Um, when we look at uh you know toxic environments and so forth, I want to talk about that a little bit because sometimes individuals and sometimes leaders think that, well, you know, the more remote work I have, the more the culture is going to dissipate and go away. But in reality, we all know that cultures in different companies, whether they're remote or or in the building, they can be toxic. But in your experience, what are some signs that leaders can really look at that are managing these virtual and hybrid work environments? What are some signs that say, hey, you know what? Uh, we might be having a toxic or poor workplace culture and you know, we're virtual and hybrid, what do we do about that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, I mean, I think the the first answer I'll give to this question, I think, is is something that I repeat all the time that I think is so important, which is remote work didn't kill anyone's culture. All it did is reveal it. And so I think when anybody is in a in a virtual first, remote first, or hybrid organization, it's actually you have this beautiful way to be able to see how the culture is actually showing up so much more than you did the office. Because are the behaviors ringing true? Are the values actually expoused? Because now you just have this intrinsic motivation, you have the connection to the purpose of the company without again this container that's sort of holding it all in. So you're able to see how the culture really is behaving without this office. So I think number one, that's that's something that everybody should note is like it's actually sort of this opportunity to look at how your culture is structured and how people are actually adhering and moving within it. Um, I would say one just very tactical answer to this is you've probably experienced it yourself, Jeff, is when you ping somebody and maybe they don't answer for an hour or two hours in Slack, and you hear, you get back, so I'm so sorry I missed this. I was in the bathroom, or I'm so sorry I missed this, I was picking my kids up from school, right? This consistent sort of need to apply for this feeling of apology, right? This feeling that I have to be online all the time. And if I'm gonna I'm worried that if I'm not online all the time, that my manner's gonna be mad at me, or they might not think that I'm working. And so I think that's a very, very simple way to start to see, okay, how do I begin as a leader to create a little more permission around this? And so something I would say to people is, hey, no need to say sorry to me. You know, we have a 24-hour response rate, which is another thing you could be doing, is putting in what do you expect for response rates for people on Slack. And I expect for you to get back to me whenever you have the headspace. And so that consistent sort of flow back and forth of helping calm people down by giving them the sense of permission will help to disseminate some of this just natural breeding of toxic toxicity that many people are honestly just putting upon themselves because they think they have to be online all the time.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and and I I liked a couple of things that you mentioned there uh that I wanted to repeat. First thing that you said was um, you know, the whole remote and hybrid really didn't cause any type of implications on on culture. It really revealed the culture. I like how you said that. Um you know, because it because it it it it did. It really did reveal some uh, I think some important things. The other thing that you you talked about, and you know, I I want you to maybe make a comment on that, is you know, organizations are so used to measuring performance and productivity on you punch in at nine, you leave at five, and if you leave you know earlier than five, you're you know, uh you're not working hard. If you stay till 6 30, you're a better worker. Those those philosophies have gone out the window with remote. Okay. So um when you say give permission, which I like that term, give permission, talk about how how organizations are measuring productivity. How are they how are they managing that process?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, it all comes down to the mindset shift from present presenteism, which you just discussed, to results-driven, basically results-driven productivity measurement. So, really, really taking the time to set clear expectations with the team, set clear expectations with every individual, and make sure that it is a results-driven environment, not how many hours you've spent on something this week. And the more clarity and the more mindset and the more practice that we start giving to sort of this concept of it only matters the results that you're getting, not how much time you're spending on it. And and also, you know, tracking that and seeing how it's working for different individuals. And I think that's a really important thing to note is that's a really, really strong way to start shifting this mindset is results-driven uh productivity.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and what's the role of leadership on communicating this? I mean, you know, the increased communications and so forth, how does that play a role in working with virtual and remote teams?
SPEAKER_01:It's huge. And I'm gonna go back to the piece of permission here. Like we all come into workplaces with assumptions, and there's a lot of people who have experienced, you know, some pretty gnarly work trauma in the past. And, you know, the role of leadership is to over-communicate expectations and to follow up early and often with those expectations. There is more checking in, there is more sort of individualized, as I mentioned before, hospitality-like support. You know, especially as we're working in remote first environments and hybrid environments, you know, employees are also learning how they work best. Maybe they're learning that there are different hours in the day from a nine to five that are working for them. Maybe they're learning that they might be a little more neurodiverse than they thought. And so I think it really opens up these one-on-one conversations with both the leadership and employee to say, hey, here are the things that need to get done as an employee of this business. How do you work? And how do we work together to ensure that these results are achieved? And this is becoming a much more self-regulating system when we create more of a relationship between employee and leader. And again, the people have all the answers. And I think sometimes I hear, what do leaders need to do? What do leaders need to do? And I think the question is, what does everybody need to do to be moving forward in the right direction together?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's a great point. And you know, when when we talk about communications and and and so forth, um, a lot of times uh managers and even workers, like you said, it's both responsibilities. Um, they think of communications or increase communications as, well, I'm gonna email a little bit more and I'm gonna, you know, those types of things. Um, have you come across any kind of unique strategies of communicating that kind of build this connection and foster the connection and collaboration amongst remote teams?
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. So one of my favorite phrases and examples is my favorite phrase in remote work is words make worlds. And I'll say it again, words make worlds. And I'll give an example. So I was working with a remote team of about 200 people, and um we had a channel that was in like our HQ, uh HQ channel, basically, for lack of a better word, that was titled Demos and Releases. And it was very clear that only the engineering team was posting in there to share because demos and releases is fairly an engineering heavy language, and that sort of told them how to behave within that channel. And one of our goals was okay, how do we get more people and sort of this like break down these silos and have more of the different um verticals of the teams start to post in here because we want to hear updates from all the teams. So we actually changed it to you ought to know. And immediately marketing started posting in there, customer service provider posting in there, people op started posting in there. And so I think really thinking about the name, it sounds simple, but the naming conventions of the channels are going to be what will unlock the behavior in which you want to see within them.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, very interesting. You know, it's I I love what you say there, uh said there about uh words, and it is it is so true. Um, and I think it really has a great implication when you talk about remote remote work teams. Uh, and you gave a great example there. Um let me ask you this. You know, you know, with your your experience of working with organizations, um any example, any other examples of companies uh that you know you've worked with that really successfully successfully built you know this thriving remote culture and and maybe some lessons you've learned from them. I mean, something that you know possibly that's new on the horizon or something that's out there that maybe the audience haven't hasn't even seen or heard before.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, I I would actually say one of the biggest differentiators that I've experienced as well as observed in the past 10 years of the most successful remote, kind of remote first and hybrid companies are the ones that wear remote on their sleeve. The ones that say we're proud to be remote. And I think when that happens, when remote becomes a sort of catalyst of the culture, when it becomes a foundation of the culture, that gives so much permission and opportunity to rethink what work could be like. And I've watched that just in so many organizations unlock that mindset piece. When leadership says, okay, we're gonna, we're gonna wear this on our sleeve, we are remote, we're proud to be it, and you have the permission to show up, you know, how you need to in this environment and go live your life as well. That's when I see the greatest success. So that's something I see a lot of leadership teams and companies struggle with. It's sort of this like, we have some remote employees, we don't really know how deep we're gonna go on this. And I think it's decide and commit and go one way or the other. Living in the gray area is not working. It takes headspace from your employees, it takes headspace from you. So that's actually the biggest piece of advice I would give is you know, if if you're really serious about working differently and really serious about unlocking the talents of your employees, go all in on it, talk about it, give the permission for it, and then really start to think differently about how you architect it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I think everything you said right there really kind of flows right back to our topic. And that was, you know, cultivating a positive remote workplace. And maybe the first step of that is to accept it and give permission and allow freedom and measure things differently and so forth. But it really, I guess really what we're saying here, and really what you're saying, is allow remote work to become a part of the culture.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, great stuff. Um, before I close up, Darcy, I just wanted to allow you to, you know, mention anything or or anything that we possibly missed, or anything about your company. Um, I'll give you a moment here to to um elaborate a little bit more uh with anything that you'd like for our audience, and then I'll close us up.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, awesome. Well, thank you so much, Jeff, for having me. You know, I think right now we're looking at the future of work really as a vessel into the future of living, I would say. And I would say to anybody listening, like every single leader out there has an opportunity to reevaluate not only your own life and what you want and your values in life, but the people that you're influencing in your organizations as well. And I think we're we're standing at the largest sort of economic and equity opportunity in our century. And I personally don't want to let that go. So I just would encourage every leader out there right now who's just in the midst of the messy middle and the muddiness to just look at yourself and look at your team and have so much grace moving through this new world. Like we don't know what we don't know, and we're learning every day, and that's just something I would offer. Um, and then one other just little plug, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. I love chatting on LinkedIn. And then I also have a system uh playbook called the Shift System that helps HR leaders and other leaders really help codify a remote work operating rhythm and culture. Um, it's a self-guided playbook, and you can find that on my website at shiftwithdarcy Marie.com.
SPEAKER_00:Fantastic. Well, I have to tell you, I love the name of your company, Shift with Darcy Marie, um, because uh we are definitely going through a shift here, and and uh it's a very positive shift, but uh a lot of things to work out. Um, Darcy, it's been a true pleasure chatting with you, and it's uh been great having you on this podcast. I've enjoyed learning from our conversation, and I am definitely confident that our listeners are going to benefit from some of the information as well. And please, if anybody wants to reach out to uh Darcy, please do that. And uh thank you so much, uh Darcy, for joining us, and thank you, everyone who is participating as listeners to support the Center for Advancement of Virtual Organizations. Thank you, Darcy, so much.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you so much, Jeff. It was a pleasure.
SPEAKER_00:Take care.