How to Connect With Your Team, No Matter Where They Are

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What began as a pandemic necessity - remote work -? has become the norm, and the numbers show no signs of slowing. A recent Gallup poll indicates that 52% of workers are on a hybrid schedule, and 28% are now fully remote. Companies like Microsoft have found that remote work helps their employees to be more productive. While remote work represents a win-win situation in many ways, some things are much more challenging.?

Early in the pandemic, when leaving home involved real and personal danger, many of us rapidly implemented technical methods like video conferencing. While helpful, the limitations of this technology were soon apparent. Despite our ability to speak with and see each other in real time, it’s difficult to collaborate when you’re telling someone they’re “on mute” for the 10th time. Michael Peachey, former COO and Head of Product at Zerowall.ai and an expert in customer experience, calls these small, imperceptible annoyances “micro-stressors.” Small challenges, like hunting for the mute button or noisy notifications, add up over time, taking up our attention and eating away at our capacity for human connection.?

Connection and cooperation are necessary for a healthy and productive work environment, virtual or not. However, there is a vast difference between sending a message or delivering a speech and making a genuine connection. While long-distance meetings present new challenges, there are two simple things anyone can do to help foster authentic connection.?

Pay attention to who is in the “room”?

This may seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many overlook this simple solution. Many leaders over-value getting through an agenda, inadvertently neglecting what the people in the room need from them. When most or all meetings are remote, it is even easier to unwittingly ignore people.?

Leaders need to take stock of who is in the room, even if that “room” is a computer screen. When a leader only turns to people in mechanical ways or always pays attention to the same people, motivation can wane and morale deteriorate. Ask yourself who might not be speaking up and invite them to do so. Learn to politely interrupt those who dominate to make room for others and shake the impression that they are favored. If a chronic interrupter doesn’t alter their behavior, it’s ok to get more pointed. The interrupter won’t like it, but everyone else will breathe a sigh of relief.?

Ask what they need?

When leaders demonstrate their care for their team’s personal and professional wellbeing, connection comes naturally. An effective question that works for both individuals and teams: “What do you need to succeed?” The answers will vary according to the context, but there are almost always insights to be gained.?

Leaders will learn from what people say, but also from how willing or reticent they are to respond.? When people don’t feel connected, the responses tend to be predictable, stilted, and generic. These behaviors are a clue, not to be diagnosed, but to inspire curiosity.?

It is easy to default to assumptions about why people do or do not participate, but the cause might not be easily remedied.? When people provide responses that reveal needs or frustrations, the leader and others have the opportunity to make improvements, and do so together.?

While the venue for conversations may have changed, merely talking about the effects - good and bad -? and how to improve, breeds connection.?

My newest book, Meta-Leadership: How to See What Others Don’t and Make Great Decisions, draws on a vast body of research from psychology and business to show how great leaders can improve their judgment and decision-making for stronger, more profitable results.?

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