Each company has an acceptable code of conduct, whether it’s been purposefully implemented or not. These group norms dictate how employees interact with clients, coworkers, and management. Intentionally creating positive group norms leads to a happier, healthier, and more productive work environment.
Excellent teamwork, helping hands, good conversation, community, and a sense of belonging. A place where goals are often met or overachieved, and everyone feels valued. Have you ever worked in a place like this? This dream-like description describes a company with healthy and effective group norms.
What Are Group Norms?
Group norms are the rules that govern how people interact and behave in a group. They can be formal or informal, and they can be positive or negative. They are often unspoken and unwritten, but many companies are beginning to discuss them with new hires during their onboarding process.
Positive group norms can create a productive and supportive work environment, in-person or remote. They can include being respectful of others, being open to feedback, and being willing to help.
Negative group norms can harm a team. They can include gossiping, blaming others, and resisting change and suggestions.
Establishing and maintaining positive group norms is vital to creating a healthy and productive work environment.
Signs Your Current Group Norms Need Improvement
Whether you’ve intentionally set them or not, your company has a set of norms. Here are a few signs you may need to rethink your group norms:
- Your team meetings are disorganized, with employees speaking out of turn or inappropriately.
- Teams have difficulty working together and achieving goals.
- Employees are unclear about their role and how it works together with the company as a whole.
- Expectations are not being met.
- New hires struggle to fit in.
- Friction between coworkers is not easily or quickly resolved.
How to Establish Group Norms for Your Remote Team
Reflect
Ask your team leaders about their best and worst company culture experiences. What group norms would they have changed in past environments (sports teams, classrooms, careers)? Think along the lines of how feedback was handled, how praise was given, the general demeanor of conversations, etc.
Be Concise
Assuming your norms are spoken, an acronym or catchy phrase can help people remember them, but clarifying group norms and providing examples is essential. To give employees ample time to adjust, don’t implement more than two new norms at a time.
Ensure new hires know about norms and expectations by including them in your onboarding process. Include a list of resources, pin them in a Slack channel, or give them a quick verbal rundown.
Get Consensus
Group norms that everyone agrees on are the easiest to implement. It may be challenging to get all team leaders and employees to agree, but most ideas can be tweaked to ensure everyone is happy. If someone is painfully against one of your norms, they may not fit in with your company.
Decide How You’ll Handle People Not Adhering to the Norms
By not calling attention to a norm being broken, you make it look unimportant. Therefore, it will be less respected. Think about how you will handle employees who do not adhere to the norms.
Revise Often
As times and people change, your norms should also change. Reflect on them once every few months and implement appropriate changes. If you change written norms, alert your employees. Invite them to review it and come to you with any questions.
When to Establish Group Norms
Ideally, you’ll be able to establish norms while your remote team is small. If a small group of people treat each other with respect, lift each other’s spirits, and have common goals, they’ll naturally establish positive group norms. As the company grows, management must focus on maintaining these norms and hiring people with similar values.
If your company is already grown, establishing group norms is still possible, but you’ll need a bit more patience. Start with team leaders. Leaders and managers set the tone for their direct reports.
Encourage leaders to engage employees, compliment them, help them, and treat them respectfully. As the direct reports see and experience these interactions, they’ll likely act with the same level of respect.
