Working well together when apart

One of these that has come to the forefront over recent years has been the shift to hybrid and remote working.

How do leaders build a sense of connection and collaboration when team members live in different locations and even within different time zones?

In essence, leadership principles stay the same, however we need new tactics and ways to ensure that we are fostering connection between individuals and a culture of trust where everyone is supported and encouraged.

So, as leaders what do we need to be mindful of? Here are perhaps a few suggestions: 

Choosing the Tech  

“What we need to do with tech is figure out how to help it serve us instead of us serving it,” says Love It or Leave It author and happiness consultant Samantha Clarke. There are so many tools to choose from, it’s not always easy to know what will work best for everyone. So, use a democratic approach - rather than enforcing a particular tool on everyone which is rather disempowering, create discussion amongst colleagues in deciding what tools to implement and what to change.  

Wellbeing  

The question ‘how are you?’ needs to be even more at the forefront of our thinking when working in the virtual world. The small exchanges that we have with one another when physically in an office aren’t there online, so leaders need to continue to check-in with their teams.  

Communication  

Communication is key - find ways to keep in contact. Some might suggest a ‘my virtual door is always open’ policy however, this rarely works as efficiently as one would hope. A proper scheduled weekly one-to-one meeting is a much better way to facilitate communication, and a pre-scheduled hour a day maybe for ‘office hours’ is perhaps a way to facilitate time-sensitive communication.  

Building rapport  

Trust is foundational to productive and healthy teams. Therefore, we must find ways to build that trust virtually. Organise virtual coffees and lunch breaks from time to time. Try using ‘trios’ as a method for people in an organisation to connect - Put people together in a group of three from different teams and areas of the organisation and allow them to meet up online to discuss how things are going or share any thoughts or problems they might be facing. This is a great way to provide support, but also a way for people to get to know other people. Then after a few months or so swap the groups and put people in different trios.  

Clarity  

There’s nothing worse when you’re trying to focus on a project and you’re being bombarded with notifications. Conversely, it’s incredibly frustrating when you’re trying to get an answer from someone and they’re not responding. There needs to be clarity in expectations. We need to find ways where we can have those times of quick conversation and then times of deeper, focused work. Encourage individuals to create their own boundaries so they can divide their time and work accordingly and enable the team to share this with one another, so that people know how others work.  

Meetings  

Back-to-back meetings are never a good idea, but we can be prone to having them even more when online. You can lead by example on this and ensure that breaks are had between meetings. Meetings don’t have to be an hour! Have shorter meetings and stay on point - or if the meeting requires more time, have breaks within it. Think about setting out standard meeting etiquette for all meetings, and be clear on the expectations surrounding behaviours online and how meetings are conducted.

A sense of togetherness as a team is not about all being in the same location - it’s about fostering the right conditions for it to flourish, and that can happen virtually so long as we as leaders are willing to do what it takes to ensure so.