Nathan Barry

@nathanbarry

Struggling to connect on your remote team?

We’ve built a 68 person remote team that’s

driving $32 million in annual revenue.

Here are 10 ideas for building great culture in a

distributed team:

7,387 Likes 1,478 Retweets

 Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry

1. Create a private team stories podcast.

Everyone has the same get-to-know-you

conversations starting from zero.

Instead, interview them about their life story for a

private internal podcast.

The whole team can listen and get a head start

on building relationships.

We do this on "ConvertKit Team Stories."

 Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry

2. Build a culture of written, asynchronous

communication

This will save so many meetings, avoid people

feeling left out if they weren't in the meeting, and
protect focused work.

Your team will also be forced to clearly articulate

and refine their ideas.
 Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry

3. Shared “no meeting” days

Everyone has the same day for focused work

each week.

Team members can have days that they don’t

need to get camera ready (e.g. hair, make-up, etc)
if they don’t want to.

At ConvertKit, we do Tuesdays and Fridays, which

are wildly productive.
 Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry

4. Ask "What did you get into this weekend?"

Every Monday morning we have a bot that posts

to Slack asking people to share a photo (or a few)
from the weekend.

It's a great way to get to know co-workers on a

personal level and see their families, interests,
and lives.
 Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry

5. Create an automated email sequence for new

team members

Explain how you work, where to find important

things (like the joke slack channels), fun facts
about team members, explain inside jokes, &
more.

It's all automated so you can curate their first 30+

days at the company.
 Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry

6. Host "unsolicited feedback" sessions

This is where a small team (usually 4-8 people)

gathers to talk about someone in the hot seat as
if they aren't there for 10 min.

When it's your turn all you can do is sit & take
notes, then you get 5 min to respond.

Here are the prompts:

 Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry

a) What does this person do that you find

remarkable? What do you brag about them to
other people?

b) If they were up for the promotion of their

career in 6 mo, what would you tell them now to
give them the best chance of getting it?

c) Assume you're working with this person for the

next 10 years. What behavior isn't a big deal now,
but will get really annoying or frustrating over that
time?
 Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry

This results in the best compliments, the most

constructive feedback, and a culture of direct,
candid conversations.
 Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry

7. Mandatory fun days

With teams feeling burnt out force everyone to

take the same day off.

That means you don't have to come back to a

mountain of slack messages and emails.

Come back & share a photo.

We did a 3-day weekend for the last 3 months of

the year.
 Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry

8. Schedule S'Ups

We use a bot to pick 3 people at random each

week for a 30 min catch up / get to know you call.

A triad means you always get a dynamic group

from a cross section of the team.

This builds relationships and breaks silos across

product, eng, ops, growth, etc
Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry
 Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry

9. Host retreats 2x a year

Regularly gathering your team in person is one of

the most important things you can do.

2x a year ended up being the perfect cadence for

us.

We split our time: 33% work & strategy, 33%

personal connection, and 33% downtime & fun.
 Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry

The biggest mistake I see companies make is

trying to get too much work done on a retreat.

Connections get accelerated so much through

great memories and shared experiences.

You can have everyone record footage for a vlog

to let the memories carry through to the next
retreat.
 Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry

10. Donate money together

At a team retreat we divided our team into groups

of 4 with one goal: give away $10,000 in $100 at
a time.

With 50 people on the team that meant each

group had to find about 12 charities to support.

Then we regrouped to share who we donated to

& why.
 Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry

What followed were the best stories that made

for connection points:

Someone donated to education grants because

they were first in their family to go to college.

Cancer research because they'd lost a loved one.

Pet rescue because that's where they'd found a

best friend.
 Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry

...and so many more.

$100 isn't that much, so it would be fair to argue

the money would be better donated to a single
charity, but our main goal was life stories and
points of connection.

Give it a try with your team.

You'll all get a peek into what your coworkers

value & why.
 Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry

Don't let anyone tell you company culture is

defined by free lunches and ping pong tables.

Culture is trust, clear feedback, focused work,

meaningful connection, and a shared mission.
 Nathan Barry
@nathanbarry

Thanks for reading.

If this was helpful, share it to help

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