We form trusted relationships with others through meeting and interacting in person. Our natural disposition is to bond face to face or in person. This has changed for all sorts of reasons and there is a significant shift from the traditional in office set up to the remote team. The risk of disengaged employees due to the online work set up, has increased and if you delve further into the statistics, you will find that employees that work online only or mostly in isolated environments with limited interaction, suffer from higher levels of depression.
*As Simon Sinek rightly said, ‘If you don’t understand people, you don’t understand business’. All customers, clients, employees are people who need more than transactional interaction.
**Gallup’s 2022 State of the Workplace study revealed that 60% of the workforce detach from work and 19% are miserable about it. On average, we spend four decades of our lives working. That is a solid number of years invested in what we do to survive and earn.
Disengaged employees experience increased stress, worry and pain. In addition, once disengaged, we take uncomfortable work experiences home, causing poor personal relationships. Spilling over into our personal space and community (societal impact).
If you are leading or managing, here are a few proactive suggestions to increase trust and loyalty online with your team.
- Have meaningful and purpose driven conversations.
Life is busy. Step back with your team. Use a temperature check. Ask, on a scale from 1 – 5, how are you feeling? How was this week? Better yet, use a fun app. if it’s a large team. Let everyone get an idea of what the atmosphere is like in the team. This opens the door to engage and show each other support outside of the meeting.
- Respect boundaries.
Honour the team’s time and get to know their personal style of communicating and working. Provide clear roles and rules.
- Vary the use of video camera.
During the pandemic, we increased our use of video calls as a necessity. Yet, long term use of the camera can be draining and cause sensory overload. There is still something beautiful about the old school approach to how we communicate. The most prided form of interaction is still in person and on the telephone. Its personal and intentional.
- Don’t make assumptions.
Diverse language, background and values, accentuates misunderstanding, miscommunication, and confusion. Ask the team to share something unique about who they are and why. Acknowledge similarities and appreciate differences together. Build connection.
- Be inclusive.
Make everyone feel part of the team. Allow team members the space and time to share or engage with the topic at hand. Ask for collective input one by one if it is a small group and for larger, use an app like Mentimeter. You could ask open ended questions at the end of each agenda item if you have time. Examples: does anyone have any comments, input, or concerns before we move on? And pause to give the group time to respond. At close, do a final check about the meeting. How did the team feel that went? Were all opinions and views included into the discussion? Ask, how can we improve going forward? Encourage diversity of voice.
Relationship building is a daily task. Even more so when it is remote and the environment is fast, busy and demanding. This does not mean a lot of “work” or overwork or helicoptering or daily interaction. Less is more in communication, unless it is a crisis.
I encourage you to think about the list of recommendations above. Test them out. Think them over. Enjoy the experience. And do reach out if something interesting comes up and you would like to share what you learned.
* 99U. “Simon Sinek: If You Don’t Understand People, You Don’t Understand Business.” YouTube, 16 Nov. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=llKvV8_T95M
** Gallup, Inc. “State of the Global Workplace Report – Gallup.” Gallup.com, 23 Sept. 2022, www.gallup.com/workplace/349484/state-of-the-global-workplace.aspx.
