Remote, Not Distant

Remote, Not Distant Plot Summary

Introduction

The world of work has been forever changed. As teams shifted to remote environments, many discovered that while physical distance increased, true connection doesn't require shared office space. Yet this transition hasn't been without challenges. Leaders struggle to maintain culture, employees wrestle with isolation, and organizations search for new ways to collaborate effectively across digital spaces. Creating a thriving remote team isn't about recreating office dynamics online—it's about intentionally designing something better. When we reimagine connection rather than merely transpose it, we unlock unprecedented potential. This book provides a practical roadmap for cultivating teams that aren't just functioning remotely, but genuinely thriving together, regardless of physical location. Through proven frameworks and real-world examples, you'll discover how to transform distance from an obstacle into an advantage for building stronger, more resilient, and deeply connected teams.

Chapter 1: Reset Your Mindset for Remote Culture

Remote work requires more than just technological adjustments—it demands a fundamental shift in how we think about workplace culture. The traditional office-centric view assumes culture happens organically through physical proximity, but thriving remote teams understand that culture must be designed intentionally, regardless of location. When Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that employees would return to the office three days a week, he faced unexpected backlash. A group of 80 employees wrote a letter challenging the policy, stating they had "delivered the same quality of products and services that Apple is known for, all while working almost completely remotely." The employees felt ignored by messages suggesting everyone was "eager to reconnect in person," when many preferred remote arrangements. The letter writers believed Apple's policy forced them to choose between "either a combination of our families, our well-being, and being empowered to do our best work, or being a part of Apple." This scenario highlights how many organizations fail to understand that workplace culture isn't tied to physical space. Companies like GitLab, Doist, and Google have been experimenting with remote work for over a decade, continuously evolving their approaches. What sets successful remote-first organizations apart is their obsession with designing culture intentionally, with clarity and transparency at the forefront. The mindset shift begins with moving from input to impact. Instead of rewarding visibility and long hours, evaluate people based on results. Google uses OKRs (objectives and key results) at both organizational and team levels, creating what VP of Digital Work Experience Prasad Setty calls a "binding contract" among team members. This encourages people to think in terms of contribution rather than mere presence. "As long as the goals are clear and OKRs are clear, you don't need to monitor activity/input," Setty explained. Another crucial shift involves rethinking the office itself. Base­camp's CEO Jason Fried argued as far back as 2013 that "work doesn't happen at work" because modern offices have become interruption factories. The future workplace is no longer office-centric. Consider the office as the new offsite—a space for special occasions like brainstorming, launching new teams, or celebrating wins, rather than daily routine. To reset your culture for remote success, start by letting go of control and becoming a facilitator. Trust your team beyond what feels comfortable. Supercharge the trust battery, as Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke calls it, and embrace transparency. Most importantly, leave no one behind by creating equal experiences for both remote and on-site employees through practices like "virtual jet lag sharing" where everyone takes turns accommodating different time zones.

Chapter 2: Create a Shared Purpose Across Distance

Purpose is the invisible thread that connects team members regardless of physical distance. It provides clarity and focus, especially during times of crisis or transition. Organizations with strong purpose don't just work together; their members genuinely care for each other. Collaboration and alignment become natural byproducts when teams unite around a shared future. Airbnb discovered this power when its founders realized they stood for something deeper than just accommodations. They evolved their company's purpose to reflect why they truly exist: "Create a world where anyone can belong anywhere." This purpose became their North Star, guiding difficult decisions during the pandemic when travel halted and the company had to let go of nearly 25% of its workforce. CEO Brian Chesky didn't delegate this painful task to HR but shared the news himself in an open letter. He treated departing employees with dignity, offering comprehensive severance packages, prolonged health benefits, and creating an Alumni Talent Directory to help them find new jobs. As Chesky reflected: "In a crisis, you have three choices. You could do less than is expected of you, you can do what is expected of you, or you can do more than is expected of you. A crisis is a spotlight. It's a moment to demonstrate your values and lead by example." By acting in accordance with its purpose, Airbnb showed that having a purpose isn't just about inspirational words—it requires authentic commitment, especially during challenging times. Beyond company-wide purpose, team-specific purpose plays a crucial role in distributed environments. Research shows that when people have a stronger connection to their team, they are 2.3 times more likely to be fully engaged. A team purpose helps align members by providing a reason for why the team exists and clarifying how a specific team contributes to the organization's broader goals. It translates the overarching "why" into a simpler, more relatable version. Creating this shared future requires defining what your team truly values and rewards. As VMware's co-director Charles O'Reilly put it: "Your culture is the behaviors you reward and punish." True culture happens when no one is watching—it's the result of actions, not just words. US Bank learned this lesson painfully when they fired employee Emily James for giving $20 of her own money to help a stranded customer on Christmas Eve, despite their stated value of "doing the right thing." To unite your remote team around purpose, start by clarifying your priorities through "even over" statements. These declarations help resolve conflicts between two good options. For example, "Employees' happiness, even over customers' happiness" or "Speed, even over perfection." Such clarity becomes especially valuable in a hybrid environment where tensions between individual needs and team preferences naturally arise. With a clear shared purpose, remote teams can maintain alignment while still honoring the flexibility and autonomy that makes remote work successful.

Chapter 3: Build Psychological Safety in Virtual Spaces

Belonging is fundamental to human experience. When team members feel they truly belong, performance increases by 56%, resulting in better business outcomes and healthier workplace culture. This sense of connection becomes even more critical when employees are physically distant from one another. Psychological safety—what Harvard professor Amy Edmondson defines as "the shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking"—forms the foundation of belonging in remote teams. It means people can bring their full selves to work, speak out, and challenge the status quo without fear of retaliation. Yet according to Gallup, only 30% of employees strongly agree that their opinions count at work, revealing a significant opportunity for improvement. When the strategy team at Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles and Dallas hit rock bottom one year into the pandemic, they discovered the importance of psychological safety firsthand. Working remotely had taken its toll, leaving team members disconnected and lacking the sense of belonging they once had. The team broke into groups, with one focused specifically on psychological safety. Every week, one person would take the stage to share their story. The head of strategy went first, modeling vulnerability by sharing his background and reflecting on his privilege transparently. This created space for others to be vulnerable too. Sarah Parsa Nguyen, who spearheaded the psychological safety program, reflected: "The key learning is that we can't control what's happening on the outside, but we can control the way we feel about it on the inside. That behavior can shift our behavior toward ourselves and others." The initiative extended beyond individual sharing to community engagement, with employees donating time to local food banks and prioritizing diverse, community-based vendors. Building psychological safety in virtual spaces requires climbing what might be called the "Psychological Safety Ladder." Level 1 starts with creating a welcoming environment where team members feel safe to bring their whole selves to work. Level 2 advances to fostering courageous conversations where people can contribute unique skills, speak up about tough issues, and disagree respectfully. Level 3 culminates in innovation, where challenging the status quo, learning from mistakes, and experimentation become the norm. Simple practices can help teams climb this ladder. Check-in rounds at the beginning of meetings help people share what's on their minds. The 5-Second Rule—pausing for five seconds after asking a question—creates space for reflection and encourages quieter voices to contribute. Deliberately designing virtual collaboration to protect introverts from extroverts ensures all voices are heard. And adopting principles like "silence = disagreement" helps surface hidden concerns before they fester. Feedback plays an especially crucial role in psychological safety, yet it often becomes a source of anxiety. The traditional approach to feedback as a corrective action makes people feel attacked. Instead, transform feedback into a gift by shifting from annual performance reviews to casual, regular conversations, encouraging people to request rather than just receive feedback, and focusing on the future rather than rehashing past issues. When giving feedback remotely, assume positive intent, manage conflict in the open, and take breaks when needed to create thoughtful responses.

Chapter 4: Master Asynchronous Collaboration

Our traditional understanding of collaboration is fundamentally broken. The push for hyper-collaboration often drains people and may undermine performance rather than enhance it. Research by UC Berkeley professor Morten T. Hansen shows that collaboration can slow down teams and projects; sometimes the cost isn't worth the time and effort. As Hansen explains, "Too often a business leader asks, 'How can we get people to collaborate more?' That's the wrong question. It should be, 'Will collaboration on this project create or destroy value?'" This misunderstanding became starkly apparent when companies were forced to work remotely during the pandemic. Many organizations simply carried old habits into the new environment, approaching collaboration as something that needed to happen synchronously, with everyone reviewing information, making decisions, or brainstorming together. The result was an overload of Zoom meetings, shorter breaks, and an expectation that employees would be available outside regular working hours. Serial entrepreneurs Torben Friehe and Yann Leretaille experienced this shift firsthand. When they founded 1aim in 2012, they were adamant that employees had to work locally. "As an engineering-focused company, we believed that great technology and culture could only happen under one roof," they told me. Yet when they sold 1aim and started their new company Wingback, they decided to go fully remote from day one. The first strategic decision was adopting an async-first approach, requiring them to set up a knowledge base, intentionally define the culture, and codify expected behaviors long before their first employees started. Mastering asynchronous collaboration means understanding that collaboration defines what we want to achieve together—our shared purpose and goals—but doesn't necessarily require working simultaneously. Synchronous communication happens when everyone interacts in real-time, while asynchronous collaboration takes place when interactions can be time-shifted. The latter adapts better to flexible schedules, relieving the pressure to respond immediately and allowing people to contribute at their own pace. To thrive in a hybrid workplace, teams should identify six distinct modes of work: Focus Work (deep, heads-down tasks requiring concentration), Deep Collaboration (team-based projects requiring full attention), Regular Collaboration (standard meetings and interactions), Learning (acquiring new knowledge or skills), Casual Collaboration (impromptu social interactions), and Unplugged time (mental breaks and recharging). Each mode serves a different purpose and requires appropriate boundaries. Mars Wrigley's global packaging team implemented "Focus Fridays" where all team members block out their calendars and no meetings are allowed. William Singleton explained how he came up with the idea: "Getting in the car to go to the office or back from work was a natural boundary. Once I found myself boundlessly working, I realized I had to recreate an artificial version of the commute." This insight inspired him to block time for his entire team to do focused work without interruptions. To master asynchronous collaboration, start by documenting everything to create a single source of truth that everyone can access. Keep meetings small and short, using the "two-pizza rule" from Amazon—don't invite more people than you can feed with two pizzas. Design your team cadence intentionally, with clear agreements about response times for different communication channels. Most importantly, make meetings optional and truly the last resort, defaulting to asynchronous communication whenever possible. This approach creates a more inclusive culture that works better across time zones and provides flexibility for all team members.

Chapter 5: Design Freedom with Accountability

Autonomy is proving to be more effective than mere engagement for driving innovative behavior. When German publishing company Gruner + Jahr questioned whether they needed company-wide rules for office presence, they tasked data scientist Jonas Wolter to investigate. His research found no evidence that remote work harmed culture, information exchange, or collaboration. In fact, teams that worked fully remotely reported higher satisfaction, though those primarily in the office also showed positive results. The key factor wasn't location—it was choice. "We started the research with one question: Would people want to come back to the office? The answer we have found so far is that there's no one-size-fits-all solution," Wolter reported. "We couldn't find one single reason to support that we need a company-wide set of rules that define our employees' presence at the office." Future Forum's research shows similar patterns: remote workers reported better experiences than others in areas such as work-life balance, ability to focus, access to resources, and stress levels. To release agility in a remote environment, organizations must first define their hybrid work model on a spectrum ranging from "office-first" (limited remote flexibility) to "remote-first" (remote as the default). Each model comes with tradeoffs. Apple's expectation for three specific office days reflects a remote-friendly approach, while HubSpot's model allows employees to choose between three buckets (@office, @flex, and @home) based on their preferences. The more flexibility offered, the better the outcomes—but also the more intentional the design must be. The key principle behind successful remote teams is treating people like adults. Netflix demonstrated this by eliminating its traditional travel policy, replacing complex rules with the simple guideline "Act in Netflix's best interest." This approach provides criteria rather than instructions, allowing employees to make the best choices given their context. Surprisingly, this has reduced Netflix's travel costs compared to when they had a detailed policy manual. Many leaders resist this approach because they operate from negative assumptions about employee motivation, what MIT professor Douglas McGregor called "Theory X" thinking. This mindset assumes people dislike work and need tight control. In contrast, "Theory Y" presumes people are self-directed and naturally motivated by autonomy, purpose, and mastery. The assumptions organizations make about people often become self-fulfilling prophecies and form significant obstacles to creating flexible workplaces. To design freedom with accountability, revisit rules and norms with an eye toward those that may be limiting rather than enabling. Institute flexible scheduling that allows team members to design their own workdays. Define collaboration times when synchronous work is expected, but protect focus time for deep work. Establish clear response protocols for different communication channels to prevent constant interruptions. Create escalation rules for true emergencies, such as Slack's approach where urgent after-hours matters require text messages to personal phones rather than workplace messaging platforms. Perhaps most importantly, distribute decision-making authority. Decentralizing decisions increases both speed and quality. Amazon distinguishes between "Type 1" decisions (complex, high-risk choices requiring careful deliberation) and "Type 2" decisions (everyday operational choices that should be made by those closest to the issues). Remote teams need explicit clarity about who decides what and how decisions are documented. Creating a "decision page" for important choices helps track context, input, and outcomes, while enabling asynchronous participation in the process.

Chapter 6: Establish Rituals That Connect Remote Teams

Culture is what we do repeatedly. Team rituals not only bring culture to life but can shape and transform it. Successful organizations have long used rituals to bring people together, but the pandemic made their importance more apparent than ever. At Fannie Mae, a senior change management team faced the challenge of keeping employees connected while working remotely. They created a "team walk" ritual where everyone goes for a walk around their neighborhood at the same time, often with their dogs, while on a group call discussing non-work topics. They also transformed an in-person spiritual discussion into a weekly virtual meeting where team members reflect on their thoughts from different religious perspectives. As senior manager Katya Sylvester told me, "This ritual created a space to be better human beings. Now it's easier to ask for help and support. Whatever comes up, the team rises up. Take care of what you need to do; we'll take care of your work." Frederick Pferdt, chief innovation evangelist at Google, defines rituals as "tangible acts done routinely that carry value and meaning." Unlike habits or routines, rituals require more consciousness and effort. They are symbolic shared experiences that strengthen bonds, heighten morale, reinforce culture, and increase belonging. Through repetition, rituals reinforce positive behaviors and emotions, creating what IDEO's CEO Tim Brown calls "a constant nudging so that, over time, a culture learns to do something naturally and intuitively." The New Zealand All Blacks rugby team, one of the most successful sports teams in history, practices a ritual called "sweeping the sheds" where players clean their locker room after every practice and match. This team ritual is designed to show thanks, build humility, and reinforce that all members are equal. Such rituals transform behavior through symbolic actions that represent deeper values. Well-designed rituals for remote teams can address five key areas. First, they help team members get to know each other better through activities like GitLab's "Juice Box" chats that bring employees' children and family members together. Second, they celebrate culture through practices like Dropbox sending new employees unlabeled boxes with cupcake ingredients (the cupcake represents their value of "delight"). Third, they reinforce positive behaviors through rituals like Heiligenfeld's bell-ringing practice that creates a pause when meetings go off track. Fourth, rituals increase belonging through activities like creating team playlists or virtual bonfires like those held by Hotjar. Finally, they improve virtual collaboration through practices like Atlassian's "Design Detention" where teams work together in the same virtual space without interruptions. Even asynchronous rituals can be effective, as Zappos demonstrated by sending employees herb garden kits during the pandemic and encouraging them to post photos of their gardens and dishes, maintaining their community garden tradition in a distributed form. To design effective team rituals, consider what will trigger them (specific times or events), create a clear beginning-middle-end structure, define the emotional transformation you want to achieve, determine the appropriate frequency, and ensure they play a symbolic role that connects to your team's identity. Most importantly, don't overthink it—start simple and iterate. As Tim Brown advises, "Build the first thing you can, then move to more sophisticated versions later."

Summary

Building connected remote teams isn't about recreating office dynamics online—it's about intentionally designing something better. Throughout this journey, we've explored how to reset culture mindsets, create shared purpose, build psychological safety, master asynchronous collaboration, design freedom with accountability, and establish connecting rituals. These elements form a comprehensive framework for teams to thrive regardless of physical distance. As Gruner + Jahr discovered in their research, location isn't what determines team success—choice and intentional design are the decisive factors. "People used to design their personal lives around work. Now they want to organize work around their personal lives," as we've seen throughout successful remote-first organizations. Today, take one concrete step toward intentionality by identifying your team's current collaboration patterns and discussing which of the six work modes would benefit from more structured boundaries. By deliberately designing how your team works together across distance, you'll transform remote work from a challenge into your greatest competitive advantage.

About Author

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Gustavo Razzetti

Gustavo Razzetti is the CEO and founder of Fearless Culture, a culture design consultancy that helps teams do the best work of their lives. For more than 20 years, Razzetti has helped leaders from Fortune 500s, startups, nonprofits, and everything in between on every continent but Antarctica. Gustavo is also the creator of the Culture Design Canvas, a framework used by thousands of teams and organizations across the world to map, assess, and design their culture. In addition to his consulting work with clients, Gustavo regularly speaks with leaders and teams about culture change, teamwork, and hybrid workplaces. His coaching and tools have helped countless executives and teams develop work environments where people collaborate to accelerate individual and collective performance. A prolific writer and author of four books on culture change, Gustavo’s insights have been featured in The New York Times, Psychology Today, Forbes, BBC, and Fortune, among others.

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