How can you design a virtual workplace that promotes social interaction and reduces isolation?

Be purposeful in laying out the foundations of how your people will interact with each other. e.g. don't leave anything to chance. Have things in place such as: - Purpose of interactions - Set aside time for specific types of interactions - Allow the team to communicate using the channels that they naturally gravitate towards - sometimes we can push a channel for communication because leadership want to utilise a platform that was purchased - but your people may communicate with each other using a completely different platform. Embrace this versus labour away at using what "YOU" think is the right channel

As I mentioned above, use the communication or social tools that best resonate with how your people want to communicate with each other. Don't force a tool onto them just because leaders feel it's effective. Test this and iterate... It's ok if one channel doesn't work, try something else... If a virtual team environment means working from home (where family members or pets might pop up behind you during online meetings), make it ok for that to happen. If there's one thing that Covid has taught us, is that we're in this together!

As mentioned earlier, making social interaction as a team needs to be purposeful so that there's value for both parties. Be careful of the overkill of virtual meeting after virtual meeting which become relentless and drain your energy. Think about short, sharp, purposeful catch-ups with an agreed agenda ahead of the meeting. Stick to that time. Be respectful of other's time and start / finish on time as well.

Allow for a more social channel where the team get to share gifs or memes with each other as a fun activity. This builds morale and a connectedness that can still be achieved virtually! It's everyone's responsibility to keep the chat going, but it can also be helpful to have assigned moderators who help drive the interactions. Make sure you share that role around from time-to-time as it can be tiring. Also, don't be alarmed if social chat is quiet for a morning or couple of days. We all need a break from banter sometimes.

Beyond socialization for its own sake, encourage employees to build and sustain a strong social network, with bonding and bridging connections, to others in your organization. Employees with a strong social network and social capital tend to have more resilience, to have better wellbeing, and to be more engaged.

In my opinion, this needs to be designed really well and include development plans, coaching sessions (formal and informal). There are so many platforms that offer development on anything from compliance, to technical skills, and even soft skills. Remember that this can be a video, a podcast, a curated list of readings with summaries. Create a culture within the team where your people learn themselves, then share their learnings (or working out loud as it's sometimes called) with the rest of their team. Peer to peer transfer of knowledge is a powerful thing. Don't be afraid of "group sourced knowledge" like Wikipedia.