It’s about making sure that your interactions don’t only focus around work or generic small talk. There is a balance to strike here between showing a genuine interest and being too intrusive, which is different for each individual. Share an article you read about something you know they enjoy, or check in on a personal project they’ve talked about in the past. Be curious and interestedĪsk questions about topics you know your colleagues are passionate about. The card will sit on their desk as a tangible reminder of the appreciation you showed. It lasts so much longer than the warm glow from a congratulatory email or phone call. It doesn’t feel like much, but receiving a card from a colleague never fails to put a smile on my face. Send a card to congratulate a team member on successful completion of a project, to mark a work anniversary, or to thank them for going above and beyond in support of the team. This is something I learnt from my Roots + Wings co-founder Shivonne.
We celebrated wins and commiserated about challenges. And we learnt more about what each other valued outside of work. It meant we all knew when a colleague was struggling with a particular project and could offer to help out if needed. This is a great way to reassure your team that they can share negatives as well as positives.
This could be work related or not, big or small. My team started every team meeting with a ‘Rose and Thorn’ check-in, sharing something good and something bad about their week. How can you maintain human connection whilst working remotely? Roses and Thorns It makes for better teamwork, a positive atmosphere and the opportunity to lean on each other when needed. Recognising this allows our co-workers to bring their full selves to work. No-one exists as a job title and a set of KPIs – we are all three-dimensional people with lives outside of work. What I learnt is that physical distance means you need to work hard at maintaining human connection with your colleagues. I moved out of London in 2016 and starting working remotely – and managing my team remotely – long before it was normalised by the pandemic. And if you feel the need to oversee how your colleagues spend every minute of their working day you’ve got bigger problems of trust to overcome.īut spending all day in front of a screen and only interacting with colleagues over Zoom and Teams can reduce your teammates to their two-dimensional avatars. Creative uses of technology can recreate random catch-ups or brainstorming opportunities. Managers bemoan the lack of watercooler chats, spontaneous moments of inspiration, or their inability to monitor staff performance. There are thousands of articles sharing opinions on what companies have ‘lost’ over the past two years with staff working from home. So I wanted to share some ideas for how to keep in touch with your colleagues’ humanity when working at a distance. Two years of a pandemic airborne virus has made us rightly cautious about hugging family and close friends, let alone colleagues.īut human connection is the biggest thing we’re all missing out on as we sit alone at our home desks. In 2022, it might seem strange to write a blog about team-building on National Hugging Day.
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