Building a sense of belonging in a remote team is crucial for engagement and productivity. Start with regular check-ins to foster open communication. Organize virtual team-building activities to strengthen relationships and celebrate achievements to make team members feel valued. Encourage collaboration through shared projects and involve everyone in setting goals for a shared vision. Foster inclusivity by soliciting diverse input and promote personal connections through casual conversations. Invest in professional development opportunities and establish clear team norms. Finally, create a culture of constructive feedback to build trust and transparency, ensuring a cohesive and engaged team.

Additionally, I believe that practising positive reinforcement, acknowledging each individual's efforts within the group and on a one-to one basis is also important. Taking into consideration all team members' needs, challenges and constraints (internet connections, needs for a certain equipment, work-personal life balance, etc) while planning online meetings, phases of inputs, etc is essential. For example, asking/listening to your team members to identify needs, whether they face any impairment and what kind of specific support they require, or not showing any annoyance if a child passes by when a parent works from home, makes a real difference. Finally regular progress updates and equitable division of time and attention is crucial.

Focus on personal connection over content, especially on the occasions you are face to face. If you rarely meet in person, go very light on meeting agendas. Spend time together doing interesting things that create more shared experience. This also builds trust, which makes the remote work that follows much more efficient and easy. I have learned more about my colleagues over a long dinner or afternoon at a museum. Research shows that we quickly forget information, but long remember if there is a positive emotion attached to it.