Oct 11, 2021
EPISODE SUMMARY
Culture in the workplace is often assumed to be human-to-human
contact in the office environment, so the concept of culture in a
solely remote business, on the surface, seems irrelevant. On this
episode of Building Better Cultures, Scott discusses the importance
of culture within a remote-only business framework with Camilla
Boyer, an experienced speaker and Head of Internal Communications
and Culture at Hopin.
Camilla shares her extensive background in public speaking and
communication and reveals that promoting positive culture is not
only possible in the remote setting, but also necessary for the
success of the company. A key term that she uses throughout this
episode is ‘deliberate’ – being more deliberate helps effectively
shape a culture within companies, and this starts from the top
down.
Camilla breaks the barriers of any preconceived notions one
might have regarding culture in the virtual realm. Find out the
advantages and disadvantages of remote-first business models in
relation to culture, the interplay of values and why they should be
promoted in the workplace, and how businesses moving forward should
be advancing towards a hybrid- or remote-based workplace
system.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The common thread that has tied Camilla’s career is her
effectiveness as a storyteller.
- The main benefit of being remote-first when hiring is the
ability to hire purely based on talent without any proximal
constraint, which allows much more freedom to hire anyone around
the world
- Camilla looks for a few qualities when she hires people:
-
- Someone who aligns with the company’s values.
- Someone who desires a remote job rather than simply tolerating
one.
- Someone who is self-directed and knows when to work and when
not to work.
- The importance of the transparency of values within a company
and how they can be promoted is two-fold: on the employee side,
creating a common language internally is essential for coworkers to
uphold values; and on the management side, guiding behaviour and
making sure employees adhere to the rules.
- The downsides to remote hires are the inability to regulate
employees’ work-life balance – those who might be prone to
over-working which can potentially lead to burnout, and the
difficulty of ensuring everyone has sufficient information to
effectively do their job.
- Onboarding at Hopin is a week-long event that helps incorporate
real-world onboarding sessions on a virtual platform.
- Camilla addresses a couple different ways in which she is
deliberate in fostering positive culture at Hopin:
- How you talk about your culture and that comes through in the
values – she received input from a representative sample of the
company and formed values from their feedback, and incorporated
those values in the hiring process and product decisions
- How you enact your values – Hopin provides various seminars to
bring people together
- Tools and resources within the company can help mitigate
siloing – Camilla admits this is still a work in progress. At
Hopin, there is a forum to match people from different sectors in
the company to chat for 15 minutes.
- Often, the way in which a message is written may be
misconstrued – Camilla addresses the importance of conveying the
message so that it comes across in the way in which it was
intended.
- Camilla is a strong advocate for moving forward and evolving
with the times – it is foolish to believe that companies need to be
in-person to thrive. Management within companies are realising that
their employees are just as efficient remotely as they are in the
office.
- The demise of some companies will be their requirement of
working in-person – workers are recognising the flexibility and
freedom that comes from working remotely.
- The schism of remote-first versus remote-forced mentalities
boils down to a positive versus negative attitude. The focus should
be shifted from adaptability to evolution – Camilla suggests
companies pursue a remote-focused model, whether it is fully remote
or hybrid.
- In remote systems, the importance of working with leaders to be
more deliberate about how they communicate with their teams and how
they are representing themselves, and the ability for the leaders
to trust their teams requires hiring the correct people for the
job.
- The ‘watercooler moment’ is a fallacy – it is a manufactured
moment in a physical environment. Creating this in a virtual sense
is difficult, yet possible.
- Remote-first doesn’t mean contact is discouraged – when
in-person contact does occur however, it becomes more valuable and
more impactful.
Equality of experience is a huge factor that must always be
considered in remote or hybrid work models. If an opportunity is
available, it must be equally available for everyone – this is the
main hurtle for hybrid companies to overcome.
ABOUT CAMILLA BOYER
Camila @LinkedIn and
@camillab on twitter
Company Website: www.hopin.com
Hopin on Instagram: @HopinHQ and on Twitter: @hopin
ABOUT SCOTT MCINNES
Learn more about Scott
McInnes, your host and the Founder and Director of Inspiring
Change, by clicking here.
ABOUT WORKVIVO
To discover Workvivo, a
workplace communication and engagement platform that offers
seamless digital integration, please click here.