How can you build strong relationships with colleagues while working remotely?

Easily, one of the biggest challenges remote workers face is remembering to keep in touch! When it’s just you in your home office (or you’re plugged in at the coffee shop), it can be easy to forget that you’ve got a team that would love to chat with you about work or even life outside of work. Set aside time once/twice a week to check in with your boss and coworkers.For example, schedule a Monday morning meeting/ mid week virtual coffee break or lunch with coworkers and talk about whatever you would if you were meeting in person.Schedule tasks that involve team collaboration in pairs/groups.Schedule one on one or group training sessions regularly.Rotate teams each week etc.

Face to face are hard to beat, however remote working has a lot of benefits and the new way which we work! Some key points to keep the team bond when working remotely: ??Regular meetings on teams. ??Weekly informal catch up, this could be a 20-30 minute quick fire round to talk about something you achieved that's not work related. ??Dates in the diary to meet up face to face!

It's important to schedule regular meetings, and not just relying on remembering to catch up. When things get busy, it's easy to miss these regular catch up meetings for long periods. Don't be afraid to have a team catch up meeting even if there isn't anything specific to talk about. Simply check in with your team, and if all is on track, end the meeting early. Remember that meeting end times aren't a goal, they are a planned maximum time for the meeting.

It’s important to establish some in-person connection, without that it is extremely challenging for new people coming in to feel like they are part of a team when work is 98% virtual. Cameras on during smaller meetings especially when you’re talking, trying to have a few minutes to freely chat before the meeting starts can help give a sense of connection. We have lost the ‘space’ between meetings and heads down that offered a bit of social connection that feeds our work selves. What can we bring from our past in-person work lives and adapt to the virtual?

To make your team feel included, its important that we communicate frequently with the team not necessary on the work related topics but a catch-up over coffee could also help.

Give your team opportunities and permission to share their successes and project wins. Actually take the time to schedule meetings that entirely focus on progress being made and milestones being hit, without detracting from the celebration with any negative comments. Consider whether some sort of gameification for your team could be used to create mini opportunities for success to be celebrated. Remember that you don't need to finish a project entirely, to find some smaller wins along the way.

In my experience, it's been incredibly beneficial to schedule regular "catch up" meetings with my team. We talk about the past weekend, upcoming personal events, pets, TV shows, vacation plans, etc. I find that sharing interests and getting to know a person as an individual - especially in a remote environment - builds trust. Trust is paramount in virtual teams! Establishing this personal connection is key to showing appreciation as well. Celebrating achievements and milestones is much more genuine and impactful when you have a close, friendly relationship with the individual.

I guess the best is to allow team to speak about the achievements and challenges in a very friendly way. Connecting on special occassions would also be a great step to make the employees feel included as a part of team.

Making team and individual progress visible is incredibly important to ensuring everyone is working together on the most important things for success. A key tool in doing so, is a shared plan. This can be a simple as a word document or email, but more sophisticated options are available such as Trello or Microsoft Planner. Put milestones onto your plans and remember to celebrate success as the team achieves them.

Informal activities help boost engagement in a unique way. I've established a remote company book club, which has been a fun way to connect on a deeper level with colleagues from various teams. It's a low-pressure, informal activity that allows for a monthly chat with a purpose. It also exposes common interests, which builds trust and forges more meaningful connections - key principles in remote teams!

Informal activities are a great way to deepen work relationships. Establishing meaningful connections with colleagues fosters trust, empathy, and open communication, forming a robust foundation for a strong professional relationship. Such connections significantly elevate morale, encourage teamwork, and enhance productivity by creating a supportive and cohesive work environment where individuals feel valued and understood.

For me this is the most important principle, the need to get to know your colleagues through conversations beyond work With modern remote work tools there are so many options and mini apps that can be added to Teams/Zoom etc that you can really have some fun virtual coffee calls to get to know one another

If presented with an opportunity to be a coach, take it without a second thought. Helping others to achieve their goals is certainly rewarding and just a nice thing to do, but you will find that you get a lot professionally at the same time. Not only will others recognise you for your expertise and enthusiasm, but it's a chance for you to improve your communication skills, and also to learn from the person you are coaching. There will be things they know that you didn't, and approaches they use to solve problems you hadn't thought of. Coaching typically also involves some sort of planning on your side, which can make you think more deeply about a particular topic, or issue faced by the person you are coaching.