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More and more workers are conducting their jobs from inside their own homes and potentially never encountering their colleagues in person. This reality calls for innovative and accessible approaches to building remote teams. As a manager, you want to build a team that becomes a cohesive group of people all aiming in the same direction. This smart article from Perkbox outlines steps you can take and tools you can use to make both onsite and remote workers feel intrinsic to their team’s daily life.

Take-Aways

• Building and sustaining cohesive remote teams require managers to forge strong connections with remote workers.
• Undertake team-building activities to maintain links among remote workers.
• A variety of strategies using online tools can help you build your team.
• Friendly competition can encourage relationships among team members.

Summary

Building and sustaining cohesive remote teams require managers to forge strong connections with remote workers.

Remote team building is important for increasing morale, empowering workers, and establishing a strong company culture. Managers overseeing teams with off-site members must take on the challenge of connecting with their employees across geographies.

A burst of virtual team-building activities can improve a company’s culture. Workers become happier and perform better when they feel recognized and appreciated. Such managerial efforts also pay off in better collaboration and communication. And, of course, strengthening each individual worker benefits the entire team and the company.

“Having a sense of team spirit will ensure that your remote team is able to combine their talents and strengths and trust each other; for remote workers, team building is even more important because it contributes to efficient communication. ”

Platforms like Perkbox allow managers to celebrate their employees’ achievements with virtual broadcasts. Highlighting staff members’ achievements helps co-workers understand each other’s work — a critical piece of creating a cohesive unit, establishing mutual appreciation, and nurturing a healthy company culture.

Such practices influence the quality of work the company produces, based on the assumption that co-workers who are comfortable with each other will be more effective. Consider initiatives like Donut for Slack, which enables team members to organize virtual coffee dates. This allows pairs of colleagues to socialize.

Undertake team-building activities to maintain links among remote workers.

A team leader’s commitment to building a cohesive virtual team should be plain from the start. Years of experiences drawn from SaaS companies working with teams whose members may never meet, as well as the imposed separations of the COVID pandemic, have produced a wealth of meaningful ideas managers can use to cultivate a sense of belonging among far-flung team members. Managers must exercise flexibility and creativity to put these ideas into action.

“For teams who never meet face to face, there are plenty of solutions to mimic office banter and create real human connections.”

The trend toward companies operating exclusively as online entities feeds the need to help remote employees feel like part of a unified team.

With Sococo, team members work together “side by side” from anywhere in the world. This virtual office workspace encourages efficient collaboration via a range of channels, including voice, chat, video, and screen sharing. This effort to make individuals feel as if they’re working in the same physical space creates a unique dynamic that fosters cooperation and friendship.

On the fun side, tools like Jukebot recognize music as a powerful instrument of connection. Users invite their team members to share their music preferences, and co-workers can host after-work Zoom get-togethers featuring music everyone likes.

A variety of strategies using online tools can help you build your team.

A company’s emphasis on building great working relationships starts with great onboarding. You can use onboarding tools like GreetBot to bring new employees into your culture. GreetBot tells freshly hired team members everything they need to know, introduces them to the team, and gives them the resources they require to get a successful start.

If you hold virtual company events or meetings, follow an agenda so everyone is aware of the session’s plan and purpose. Invite remote workers to participate just like their in-person counterparts.

Virtual gatherings around shared interests like books or fitness can translate into engaging book clubs or remote workout sessions. Holding “show-and-learn” sessions enables staff members to demonstrate or teach unique skills and talents. Also consider online “good news” discussions, employee recognition events, shared snapshots, a beverage break on Friday afternoons, and joint lunches or meditation sessions. Organize volunteer campaigns, such as a virtual trash-collecting challenge, where team members work together — in different locations— to clean up the environment.

“While Slack and video chat are easy to use, that’s not all that remote teams need to work together— they also need to know who to speak to and feel empowered to reach out.”

Almost half a decade of Zoom meetings have made the app familiar and manageable for remote workers everywhere. More than a tool for official meetings, Zoom can facilitate fun get-togethers. Consider instituting a “virtual breakroom,” where employees can meet during their downtime and share stories of their personal lives.

Gather is a new tool designed to imitate a physical workplace. Thanks to the unique feeling of space it creates in an online environment, it provides opportunities for employees to bump into each other in virtual office hallways and common rooms.

Friendly competition can encourage relationships among team members.

Games like Plop, which team members can play on Slack, use quiz questions as icebreakers to encourage employees to pay attention to each other’s profiles. Trivia games are also terrific for building friendships and connections.

“Take out the guesswork by simply asking your employees what they would like to do in terms of team building activities…create a healthy mix of fun games and structured programs for recognition and rewards, so you can really grow your company culture and nurture true connections.”

Strava is good for encouraging camaraderie through athletic competition. This tool lets participants compare their workouts, swims, or morning jogs and share photographs. It also enables team leaders to host fitness challenges. Members can regularly check in with their coworkers and can acknowledge and celebrate their teammates’ achievements even as they work to do better.

About the Author

Perkbox is a global benefits and rewards platform that helps businesses care for and connect with on-site and remote workers.