7 Ways To Boost Team Connection In A Hybrid World
Updated: Jun 17, 2024
Expert Panelists are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within the areas of Business, Mindset, Leadership, Lifestyle, and Sustainability. Members of The Brainz Magazine community of experts will share their best tips, advice, ideas, and hacks on different topics.
Expert Panelists
1. Using the "power socket" approach
Plug into the power supply! Imagine connecting with all of your team. Imagine holding hands with everyone and then pushing your finger into the plug socket! A huge electrical surge boosts through you all... (Disclaimer: Please don't try this at home!!). But what this represents is the effortless ease with which team connectedness and growth can develop and spread. Suffice to say we don't have the space to talk about how to do all of this here, but one quick tip is this: As a Leader go Back to Basics and do the job from the shop floor and the bottom up. If you were entering your company now as an Intern or a newbie, do that job TODAY! And then tomorrow give yourself a little promotion, and do the next job up. And so on. r a week you will have a much fuller overview of each team, their roles, their needs, and how to collaborate and connect. Get stuck in. And plug in the power socket. For more information on the Power Socket Approach contact me at rebecca@harleystreettherapyclinic.com
2. Following your inner compass
Strengths. What are you really good at and how can you leverage it throughout your career.? Often times we focus on our areas to improve, but less frequently think about ways to leverage what we do well. Although it is important to grow our skill set, it is just as important to know where we add real value in relationships, work, and life. What are your true strengths? How do you continue to utilize them? What are the benefits of finding opportunities to use them to the fullest?
3. Focusing on what you enjoy
One thing I have discovered in working with team members over the years is to make sure that everyone is working on things they enjoy. A team member’s performance impacts everyone on the team, so if things are not getting accomplished or if there is a sense of disconnection, it’s time to ask questions like “What would you really like to be doing? What is actually fun for you to work on? Is there someone else we could add to the team to do the things that you don’t like to do?” Making this simple inquiry every few months keeps everyone motivated, inspired and working on the things they do best, which creates greater for everyone on the team.
4. Emphasizing connections
Our world is truly becoming hybrid and increasingly virtual. However, human connection and relationships are still the single most important predictors of happiness, fulfillment, joy, and meaning. It is particularly important to emphasize connection by:
Introducing and acknowledging everyone during a virtual meeting
Encouraging active participation
Encouraging the use of video, especially during a small and key meeting
Encouraging some live component and real-time interactions, particularly for high stake meetings where possible and
Periodically checking in with all team members to ensure their participation and engagement.
Increasingly virtual world is here to stay. It is up to us not to lose the human touch!
Ketan Kulkarni, SavvyPhysician
5. Encouraging the team to pitch into meetings
Connection and belonging needs a solid foundation of trust. I like to think of trust like a bank account - there are actions/behaviours that are like deposits to that account - they build trust. One way to build trust is to encourage regular and early contributions in meetings. If you ask for contributions from everyone at the start of a meeting, people will feel more comfortable to contribute as the meeting goes on. Keep it simple - even a check-in like "on a scale of 1 to 10, how fully present are you right now?" or "what's one word to describe your weekend?".
6. Being aware of cultural differences and approach
Use diversity as an asset and learn from other cultures’ styles. Seek common cultural ground and adapt how you communicate depending on the target audience. Take differences in decision-making into account. One approach doesn’t fit everyone! Use an appropriate voice, language, and cultural norms that are appropriate to your speaker. And never forget you are dealing with complex individuals with certain universal needs. By doing so, you are more likely to create a culture of empowerment and psychological safety.
7. Being organized, caring and fair
Team Connection in today’s Hybrid World is largely linked to managers’ ability to practice an Augmented Management: a Human Management that is more attentive, more organized and fairer than ever before.
Attentive to the remotely working teams’ needs, as distance can create a loss of information and reinforces inequalities, means dedicating time to assess the team’s state and organizing more informal meetings at work that include activities that serve the group and promote collective intelligence.
Organized and fair to ensure that the set-up framework is clear and equitable to all team members. For instance, having a number of remote working days available among which team members can pick their preferred remote working days.
