While there can be more organic opportunities to build community in person, the remote environment requires you to be more intentional about how you build a sense of belonging…and the investment is significantly worth it. Cultivating better relationships can translate into a decrease in conflict and tension and an increase in engagement, retention, and productivity levels for better results.
Here are some things you can do to build community while working remotely:
1. Connect as a large group before jumping into the work. You can create quality connection opportunities to get to know each other beyond roles so you can learn about each other as people, find common interests, and collaborate more effectively. It is helpful to give your team context for these intentional team cohesion moments so they can grasp the purpose. So instead of just adopting a new routine of connection and maybe surprising others, let your team know that you are going to be intentional about time for team building because you think it will have a positive impact on the work you do together.
Before virtual meetings, you can begin with getting-to-know-you or check-in questions. Depending on the size of your team, for small teams less than 8, you can do a quick go-around so everybody can take 30 seconds to respond. For larger teams, you can rotate so some members answer for one meeting and the others respond for the next meeting.
Here are some questions to get you started:
· What is a highlight or lowlight of the week?
· Tell us about the last time you were really excited about something.
· What is something you love about your team?
· What’s the best piece of media you’ve consumed recently?
· What is one thing you are proud of this week?
· What is something you want to spend less time doing?
1A. Connect on a 1:1 basis before jumping into the work. You can utilize the breakout room so people can spend a couple of minutes in pairs discussing. Chit-chat may have the perception in parts of the US as a waste of time to spend 8 minutes, but in Latin America, 20 minutes would not be enough time because they view the relationship piece as part of the work and enjoy viewing colleagues as friends. While we all have different comfort levels, once teams form the habit, it can become their favorite part of the meeting because it sets the foundation for deeper conversations and better working relationships.
2. Coffee chats. If your team is small enough and you know everybody, you can organize a broader coffee chat campaign, especially within cross-functional teams so you can get to know other people in the company. You can have themed questions for the month so there is no pressure to come up with prompts, and so the company will all be talking about the same topics, which adds another level of connection. After that, you can transition to other ways to connect by learning about each other’s backgrounds, roles, and career goals. Here are some themed questions you can begin with:
· Tell me about your favorite teacher.
· Tell me about your favorite comedian.
· Tell me about your favorite kind of music.
· What’s one goal you are working on?
3. Book club. People who learn together grow together. Pick a book that can yield great professional and personal conversations and connect biweekly or monthly to cover a few chapters. To share ownership, each member can rotate facilitation duties, provide a brief overview of the chapter and lead the discussion. It is an excellent opportunity to connect and share around the value of learning, as well as provide the opportunity for many people to lead a meeting and improve their facilitation skills and for others to see a multitude of different styles in running events.
4. Interest groups. You can have your team list interests, and then they can form groups around them. Aylia Elian, Senior Director of Talent and Leadership Development at Hilton, shares some of the groups that were created such as for parents, peloton users, movies, books, and recipes. You would be surprised by some topics that bring people together and allow for great friendships to forge.
5. Other structured activities designed for connection. A big part of these connections is time for self-disclosure, which can help build trust and relationships. It is always nice when leaders are part of the process so they can show another side to them and allow for more substantial relationship building.
5A. Values exercise. Values are the most important driving force in our daily lives, yet very few share them with coworkers. You can do an exercise where you get people thinking about their values, how they were formed, and how they practice them today. If people like the exercise, they can do something with purpose and goals.
5B. Picture share. Pick a theme for a picture, such as favorite places to work. Get employees to take photos of their desk, workspaces, or their go-to coffee shops and share them with the group. This can be a fun insight into how and where people like to work and could spark ideas among others to expand on what they already do. Another option could be to share an essential aspect of their lives. Maybe it is a photo of their hobby or an interest, and then they can share why it is so meaningful. Another variation is to have people send a picture of something important without being in it and then people have to guess who the image belongs to as a light and fun way to engage.
5C. Interesting facts. You can do something similar to the picture activity, but share interesting facts instead. Have people send you a brief fact and then read it in the meeting, and everybody can guess who they think the fact belongs to. The person can turn their fact into a little story or add additional details. It is fun to learn who grew up on a farm and drove a tracker at age 6 or who has an extensive wine collection and spent over $500 on one bottle of wine.
5D. Social hour. You can be deliberate about building your genuine connection. You can set up breakout rooms and have speed sessions where people get to know each other for 10 mins and then rotate. It is always helpful to share the intention behind the meeting, beyond just having the opportunity to connect with your peers and foster community, it helps strengthen your relationship and networking skills more broadly.
5E. Celebrating birthdays. Do you know when it is your teammate’s birthday? If so, what do you do to make it a memorable moment? How about if everybody went around the room and, for 30 seconds, talked about what they are most grateful for and what they wish for this person this year? If the group is large, you can have them add it to the chat and call on a few people to share.
6. Unstructured time. Having a place where people can drop by and connect informally can be helpful.
As an important reminder, be careful not to do something that crazy uncle would do and share with no filters that make others feel uncomfortable. It would be like showing up to a work event in a speedo or showing up on zoom in your bathrobe That’s great that you feel authentic, but you want to be attuned to the environment and keep it professional. Similarly, no need to reveal your anger management classes or all the things you are working on with your therapist, opt for mature self-disclosure because there is a way to be work-appropriate and authentic at the same time.
6A. Remote lunch together. You can offer a zoom link for people to have lunch together and hang out. Conversations around food are always the most interesting, and sharing a meal can be a nice break in the day and time that people cherish and look forward to.
6B. Water cooler slack channel. There can be a dedicated channel for connection. People can discuss birthday celebrations, weekend hobbies, or other areas of interest. This informal communication can help people get to know each other.
7. In-person offsites or retreats. At least once or twice a year, it is nice to bring people together to break the script, be in a new place, have excursions together, and get valuable planning work accomplished. Part of the time can be used for working sessions, part of the time can be used for intentional team bonding, and part can be on developing skills. Topics around strategy, communication, motivation, burnout, productivity, and self-management can be valuable territory to explore.
8. Culture or connection-building committee. You can have a dedicated planning committee of 3 or 4 who spend time thinking about these connection moments, which can take a lot of time when done right. You can also rotate the members on the committee every quarter, so a wide variety of activities and interests are represented. This can also get more people involved and invested in the success of this initiative.
Making time to build team community and foster a healthy and engaged culture is worth every minute. It is a great way to increase engagement and make people happy and excited to work with people they know well and enjoy.
Quote of the day: “We are but each other’s keeper.” -Author Abhijit Naskar
Q: What is your favorite community-building activity? Comment and share below; we would love to hear from you!
The next blog in this series 4/11 will focus on the importance of recognition.
As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to create enjoyable remote work experiences for themselves and their teams, contact me to explore this topic further.
What’s your favorite way to build remote community?