Remote work has been the overring business concept over the last few years, for obvious reasons. Many people are looking to get the balance right, but one of the things that can suffer as a result of a remote and dispersed workforce is the feeling of being in a team. So if you are trying to increase that team feeling to boost productivity, what are the things you have to bear in mind?
By Team Savant
Image: Marissa Grootes
Regular Meetups
As obvious as it sounds, having regular meetups helps to reinforce that bond. But of course, it's not easy to get everybody in the same room at the same time. Therefore, you've got to make sure that every member of the team has an overriding purpose to actually turn up. Team building exercises are one of those things that can be very beneficial because it doesn't just get people out of the home, but gets them out of the office as well. Team development companies like www.hiddendoor.com.au provide a variety of experiences so you can really foster that notion of teamwork but also nurture friendship. We can't emphasise this enough, because if you start to increase the bonds of empathy and friendship, it becomes easier to collaborate.
Empower Members of the Team
Your remote employees need freedom and the responsibility to operate independently, and when there are issues that require escalation, you've got to ensure that your team feel empowered enough to either speak up or let you know that they need more support, especially when it comes to something like collaboration. This is why having one-to-one meetings is still a vital part of the process of improving people's attitudes within a team. The whole concept of the one-to-one meeting can be lost in the ether, especially when we’re talking about remote work, but it doesn't hurt to school yourself up in the basics. A resource like https://hypercontext.com provides a great resource for effective one-to-one meetings to ensure that you are able to get everything from an employee, but also give them the platform they need to voice their opinions.
Regular Recognition
We have to remember that everybody's goals need to be aligned, which means that we’ve got to communicate the big picture and work on providing that common purpose for every member of staff. When we have a shared purpose, this automatically helps people to feel more like a team. The hardest thing to do is to build a team sensibility when everybody is dispersed, and the fact is that any small business can do this, but it's about communicating that shared purpose. When people feel like they are on their own, they will inevitably start to wonder what they are doing which contributes to the bigger picture. Over communicating is so important in these circumstances because it forges connectivity. Frequent and regular communication was pivotal to every business prior to the pandemic, but now as more people are working from home, we need to prioritise it even more.