Everything has changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Health and safety have become the top priority. Therefore, different organizations have quickly shifted from a face-to-face environment into a fully remote workplace allowing the employees to work outside a traditional office setting. They can work everywhere, such as in the employees’ homes, a shared or private space.
The demand for this type of flexible working arrangement has significantly increased, requiring several organizations to train their employees on various online working styles. Employees are now required to use different digital tools and devices. However, although the popularity of remote work is on the rise, organizations need some help, including the need for meaningful connections with their team.
This article will guide you in making meaningful connections with your remote team.
1. Have A Before-Work Team Routine
It is crucial to ensure your team’s mental and emotional health. One of the challenges in a remote working setup is social isolation. Therefore, allow ample time to talk or have a little session with your team.
You can start your day by having a coffee date with them. Try to connect with them before starting to talk about business. Or you can assign one of your employees to a wellness session like yoga.
2. Host A Virtual Happy Hour
Several virtual happy hour ideas can help you. To host a virtual happy hour, you can set aside an hour a week after the workday ends and use video conferencing platforms.
You can ask your team to wear their favorite shirt and share their most memorable work experiences while partaking in their favorite beverage. Doing this, you can learn a lot of things about them, including their side hustle and other projects. Your team can also talk about how they spend their weekends, holidays, or any day outside of work.
3. Schedule A Regular Staff Meeting
Standardizing your organization’s interaction process is vital to maintaining open communication. You should use a video meeting platform to communicate with your team. Unlike phone calls, video conferencing helps you observe your team’s body language. You must ensure that everyone has the opportunity to speak to make them feel that they’re involved.
In conducting a video meeting, it’s optional to talk about work all the time. It would also be best if your team members could talk about non-work-related topics. Allow them to tackle things about the things they love, such as their favorite movie, personal preferences, and many others. When you allow them to discuss things that are not work-related, you’re helping them to build stronger relationships among themselves. Additionally, if they can understand each other, it will be easier for you to avoid misunderstandings and resolve conflicts.
4. Maintain A Team Collaboration
Remote work should support effective collaboration within an organization. Given the situation, you must encourage everyone to use video conferencing software for regular team meetings and one-on-one check-ins. Set clear communication guidelines and expectations for responding to messages and requests. Encourage the use of virtual water cooler spaces, such as chat rooms or forums, for casual conversation and building team cohesion.
If you are leading your team, make an effort to check in with every team member regularly and provide support as needed. It’s also important to recognize that remote work can be isolating, so it’s important to make an effort to foster a sense of community and connection within the team.
5. Have Fun
Work is hard and stressful. Therefore, you should let your staff live their lives to the fullest. Let them enjoy, have fun, and do exciting things. To do this, you can initiate fun chat groups where they can share funny stories. They can share memes, song ideas, and jokes that can put a smile on their faces and ease their burden. When you show care toward them, you can develop a deeper connection with them.
On the other hand, if you want them to be more culturally involved, you can use the chat groups to brainstorm and gather their ideas. You can set a virtual lunch date with them. All you need to do is to hop on a video call and have lunch with them. Please encourage them to join and chit-chat or play games like quarantine bingo.
Conclusion
You must ensure that you can create a meaningful connection with your team despite the distance. To do this, you must maintain open communication to foster empathy, alignment, and deep understanding. Moreover, having a deeper connection with your team will improve the organization’s collaboration and productivity. Most importantly, developing better cross-functional communication may lower the risk of team silos.
