How to Build a Successful Remote Team

During 2020 and 2021, everyone took part in an involuntary experiment — working from home. The pandemic forced us to do it, and everything changed overnight. In the middle of this experiment, one thing became clear: there’s nothing “normal” about the new normal — but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

Looking ahead, in a world where remote work has become part of everyday life and traditional offices feel like something from the past, I’m optimistic. More and more organizations are starting to see the positive effects remote work brings.

But to build an engaged and productive digital workforce, you need the right mix of structure, policies, trust, engagement, and transparency across every level of the organization.

At lynes, we’ve worked remotely across Sweden for nearly a decade. Here are some of our best practices for creating a remote work framework that builds a strong culture, high productivity, positive morale, and excellent service — in a sustainable and long-term way.

Security builds success

Study after study shows the same thing: the best-performing remote teams share one key factor — psychological safety. A famous Google study even found that if you measure only psychological safety, you can predict a team’s success, no matter the department.

So, how do you build safety when everyone’s spread out?

The answer: recreate the frameworks that existed in your physical workplace — digitally.

Take your office coffee machine or break room as an example. It’s a place where people unwind and connect. They talk about weekend plans or that new series everyone has to watch. We’ve recreated that experience in lynes with a chat channel that serves as our virtual coffee room. It’s where we hang out and chat about non-work topics — the same feeling of connection, just online.

How we build safety

Private team chat channel: Every department I manage has its own private chat in lynes. Here we talk about everything under the sun — not just work. It’s the team’s space to relax, laugh, and connect.

Location-based channels: We also have a chat channel for each city where lynes operates. These local chats are where we talk about weather, local events, lunch spots, or upcoming (now digital) after-work gatherings. It helps create connection across departments.

Digital hangouts: You can’t really host a physical after-work when there’s a pandemic — or when your team is 500 kilometers apart. So, we do digital hangouts! Online after-works, lunches, breakfasts — you name it. These moments of informal connection strengthen team spirit and relationships.

Recognize achievements: One of my favorite traditions is that we share our mistakes just as often as we celebrate our wins. We laugh at ourselves, and it’s made work a lot more fun. Our culture embraces mistakes — as long as we learn from them. As a leader, I share my own missteps openly to normalize them. We often end our meetings by recognizing each other’s contributions or highlighting someone who went the extra mile.

Once you’ve built a working framework, the culture starts to grow naturally as people get to know each other. Don’t be afraid to adjust — stay flexible and try new approaches as your team evolves.

Building a high-performing digital workforce

My formula for building trust is integrity, structure over time, and reliability.

People often ask me: “How do you know your employees are working when you can’t see them?”

The answer is simple — with clear expectations and a results-oriented culture, there’s little to worry about.

Many remote organizations have become more transparent and data-driven. Employees have learned to work toward measurable goals that are easy to follow up on and anchored in reality. Everyone’s individual goals align with the company’s — you win together and lose together. The result? A stronger, more united team.

With clear goals, it’s easy for both managers and employees to track performance. For remote teams, this is especially important since you can’t just walk over and ask how things are going. Communication and evaluation must be transparent and structured.

Once goals are set, follow-up is key. I hold regular 1:1 meetings to discuss progress, challenges, and development. As a distributed organization, we’ve done this remotely for years using lynes.

The biggest challenge many leaders face today is trust — trusting remote work. High-performing remote teams only exist when leaders let go of old prejudices and micromanagement.

The collective matters more than ever

In a physical office, there are always a few people who make things work — the ones who turn on the lights, refill the coffee, and remember the lactose-free milk. The office heroes.

In the digital world, it’s trickier. Your “office hero” might not be in every department. That’s why everyone has to take responsibility for building and maintaining culture. Sure, we have our company-wide coffee chat, but every department needs its own framework.

• Our Customer Care team has a daily video meeting in lynes — those who want to chat before work can join in and talk about anything.
• Our Back Office meets twice a week.
• The Marketing team meets every Monday and Friday — and they use their digital whiteboard more than ever.
• The whole company gathers every other week.

The key is that everyone — teams and individuals — takes initiative to strengthen the remote culture, whether it’s through a step challenge, “best lunchbox” contest, or daily check-ins. Try things out and see what sticks.

Strengthen your team to thrive in the virtual world

The pandemic may not have ended in 2021 — and the work-from-home experiment has likely become our new normal. That can feel daunting, but with the right attitude and leadership, you can create a virtual workplace people actually enjoy being part of.

It’s never too late to change. Culture is the foundation for an effective remote team — whether that means more video meetings or not.

Good luck building yours.

Vill du att jag gör en version anpassad för webben också (t.ex. med underrubriker, meta description och SEO-optimerad text för “remote work” eller “virtual teamwork”)? Det skulle ge texten mer synlighet på engelska landningssidor.

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