How to build workplace relationships with coworkers virtually
Psychologists have long identified the urge to feel connected to others as a basic human need, and interpersonal ties influence our mental health, physical health, and even how long we live for (Umberson & Montez, 2010).
Positive social connections include good workplace relationships, with many people spending as much time with their coworkers each week as they do with their family.
According to research, real, trust-based relationships boost job satisfaction, resulting in better engagement, higher productivity, longer employee retention, and even lower health-care expenses.
As work lives become more digital, and remote work, digital meetings, and remote and distributed teams become more commonplace, it’s important to understand how to build workplace relationships with coworkers virtually.
So let’s take a look at 5 reasons why building strong working relationships is so important, 6 unique challenges for remote teams, and 5 ways to build relationships virtually.
5 reasons why building strong working relationships is important
1. It boosts team morale
Employees' psychological states are often tied to their overall productivity in organizations. Having positive relationships with the people you spend several hours with each day at work may boost the team’s mood, which can increase your overall production as a team.
2. It boosts cooperation
When team members establish positive relationships with one another, they are more likely to perform effectively on a project. Working with colleagues you know and respect may motivate you to work to your full potential, and effective communication can help you deliver on your various responsibilities more efficiently. Collaboration among team members usually leads to reduced ambiguity in communication, as everyone has better clarity on their respective roles.
3. It promotes mental and physical health
According to studies on social relationships and health, people with strong social relationships are healthier and live longer lives than their more socially isolated friends. This holds true for both personal and professional relationships.
The following are some of the health advantages connected with healthy working relationships:
Increased longevity
Reduced blood pressure
Improved immune system performance
Less stress-related sickness
Enhances mental wellness (less depression and anxiety)
So, if you want to enhance your health, building excellent work relationships is beneficial.
4. It makes work more fun
People enjoy coming to work when they have good relationships with their coworkers. We feel encouraged and a sense of belonging. In addition, if we are grateful for where we are, this inspires us to do our best work.
When we are eager to begin working and collaborating with our team, we'll have a more enjoyable time at work, and more fun. This is a key reason why building positive workplace connections with coworkers is important.
If you form healthy relationships with your coworkers then everyone will feel well supported, and creating psychological safety is a key determinant of high performing teams.
5. It boosts creativity
Strong relationships with coworkers inspire you to think creatively. Working in an atmosphere where you feel comfortable expressing yourself may offer you the inspiration and encouragement you need to generate new ideas and concepts that can lead to more efficient and more creative ways of working.
Challenges for remote teams
Remote work has become increasingly popular for a variety of reasons. Businesses can save money on office space, and it can help them discover skilled personnel internationally in an otherwise competitive, local labor market. For employees, working on a remote team allows greater flexibility in work schedules, more opportunity to work from home, and can decrease cosy and stress associated with commuting.
But remote teams have some unique challenges that don’t exist for in-person teams, and need to be more purposeful when it come to relationship development.
Here are 5 challenges of working in a virtual team.
Fostering a collaborative culture
Fostering a collaborative culture can be a common problem for remote teams. The regular speed of discussions is slowed as distance increases, especially when there are difficult timezones to deal with.
For example, the technical team is based in Sweden, the marketing team is based in Australia, and customer service is based in Asia. Developing a collaborative culture might be more difficult without easy synchronous relationship building time for the whole team.
The effectiveness of your remote team's collaboration is a a determinant of the health of your organisation. Remote workers require regular interaction to feel connected, form productive relationships, and build trust.
2. Making team members feel included
Not obtaining the social vibe of a group can have a substantial detrimental influence on the mental health of distant employees. Employee engagement and productivity may suffer if they feel they are not part of your corporate culture.
We are always constructing a distinct version of ourselves. However, sometimes in our development, we lose sight of the importance of mental health in living a good life. Remote employees interact with fewer people in person, communicate mostly online, and some even live in remote locations with some degree of social isolation.
Research by Buffer looked into a similar topic of inclusion. It discovered that 19% of distant employees experience loneliness. Unlike what we might see on Facebook or Instagram, remote work does not just mean sitting on a beach in Bali sipping mojitos ;)
3. Team building and team development
When it comes to team-building exercises, working in remote teams adds an added degree of complexity. Getting together is relatively simple when your team is in one location. You can easily create enjoyable and interesting team-building events at the office or a local venue.
It is a common way to form new relationships and create trust. You can have drinks, make jokes, and might even travel home together. A fantastic, informal, team-building day!
But how can you manage team-building events when your team is dispersed?
Unless you are a venture funded start-up with deep pockets, you probably can't invite everyone to a retreat every couple of months. So looking virtual ways to build relationships with coworkers is key.
Although team-building exercises are becoming increasingly popular, surprisingly, 65% of remote workers say they have never participated in one.
4. Project management challenges
When you’re a manager of an in-office team, project management is simpler. You gather everyone in the conference room and talk about current development. But when managing a remote team, the conference room has to happen online with the help of communication and collaboration tools.
You can’t expect tasks and responsibilities for your remote employees to assign themselves. You need a system in place for checking in on the project status and keeping everyone in sync.
5. Communication challenges
A lot of comms in the modern workplace takes place remotely, and many remote teams spend lots of time on virtual meetings. But some interesting insights have surfaced around speed of communication and what that means for the amount of space you get in a virtual meeting.
According to a University of Iowa research, when we communicate in virtual surroundings, people who can type quickly appear more as leaders compared to their slow-typing counterparts.
"In a collaborative work situation, those who can type quicker can more rapidly convey their views and dictate the direction of a team, whereas individuals with inferior ability lag behind their counterparts," the authors write.
This has implications for cross cultural teams, especially in the case that people are working in their non native language.
6. Timezone challenges
If you are in a remote team with people all over the world, you will need to adjust to multiple time zones. Scheduling team meetings may be difficult when you have members who work at various hours. Although this may appear to be a difficult task, it may result in positive improvements for a team.
"This obstacle has also opened the door to a good discovery: we've found that we don't need to interact in real-time that much," the Groove firm stated in How Our Remote Team Manages Collaboration Across 9 Time Zones. And that, in many circumstances, real-time collaboration isn't the greatest method for a team to be effective and that real-time meetings don't always equal productivity.
5 ways to build relationships with coworkers virtually
Virtual team building exercises
Leaders of remote teams must always develop innovative methods to engage and connect remote team members. This helps develop and sustain good relationships inside the team, regardless of their location.
This is particularly important to integrate new hires and new teams, as staff must get to know and interact with one another. However, contrary to the past, when workers could engage in water cooler and coffee chats, breaking the ice can be more difficult.
Creating a set space for relationship building and being more purposeful is where virtual team-building exercises come into play.
There are numerous team-building activities you can undertake, like these virtual team games, which can help develop team relationships and strengthen communication and trust.
2. Effective asynchronous communication
Asynchronous communication is critical to master because it guarantees that everyone is aware of who is working on what and when, and aligned on goals and objectives. This should result in projects running more smoothly as things are done accurately and on time, and any roadblocks are addressed.
Effective asynchronous communication also helps build relationships in the team. For example you can use videos to share information with your colleague about a tasks or project, and throw in something fun or person that happened during your working day too.
3. Chat and share 'Good News'
Working remotely may be lonely, and sometimes you just need some non-work-related good news to brighten your day! By creating a 'good news' communication channel, you provide your team members a place to share positive things that have happened to them.
This channel does not have to be serious; it can be as easy as a coworker discussing small life achievements, or a small win at work. Whatever it is, sharing positive news can be a fantastic conversation starter and can bring teams closer together as they celebrate each other's wins.
4. Acknowledge each others work
Appreciation is a great way to strengthen relationships whether that be with remote or in-person employees. It might be that you do this asynchronously through written thanks or congratulations, synchronously on a video chat, or asynchronously on a video.
When people feel acknowledged and appreciated they are likely to feel closer affinity with their colleagues, and that’s a vital part of working well together as a team. Working together productively and professionally can help you to acquire a new feeling of appreciation for your coworkers, allowing you to start building positive relationships.
5. Arrange regular check-ins
Schedule frequent meetings with your remote team to keep engaged and discuss progress toward goal attainment, just as you would if they were in another office down the hall. Meet with your team frequently (one-on-one or in groups) to check in on the process, progress, and wellbeing.
The frequency is entirely up to you; some businesses like daily check-ins for 30 minutes, while others meet monthly for two hours.
So there you have it a comprehensive guide to building relationships with your coworkers virtually.
If you don’t know where to get started why not set up a game for your team - feel free to contact us if you’re interested in organising something for your remote team.