How to Keep the Team Connected When Working From Home
Change is hard, especially when we are not choosing it.
The pandemic is forcing us to rethink how we live, work, and play, even if it is just temporary.
You’ve made the decision for health and safety reasons to have the team work from home, at least for now.
This can be new territory for many businesses. How to you keep connection alive when you’re not in the same physical space?
Here are some tips to keep the team feeling together even if you can’t be together.
Be honest- Be transparent with the team in terms of what they can expect with their jobs, pay, and the work dynamic going forward. This is the hard part, especially if, as the business owner, you’re not able to be as accommodating as you would like. But in a sea of unknowns, it’s best to be as honest as you can with the team. Communicate changes and updates as they become available.
Get creative- If you’re used to working in the same space every day, it’s time to get creative with communication. Don’t cancel meetings, have them via Zoom instead. Instead of long emails, send out a universal Loom video to the team to keep a feeling of connection. And hey, you know those hand held devices we use to take pictures, text, and scroll through social media? They can also be used to make phone calls! (oh, THAT’S why they call them “phones!”) Check in on team members with regular phone calls to see how they are doing.
Stay informed- As a leader in your organization, keep up with local health officials and make sure the team is informed with facts about what is going on in your area, how to prepare and be safe, and how changes will affect your business and their work.
Advocate for self care- Music, reading, writing, spending time with family… these are all ways that we can stay calm amongst the chaos. Encourage the team to make time for self care, to share what they are doing, and to be a support system for each other.
Create a shareable document- Start a team document that everyone can contribute to so project progress can be kept in one place and shared so everyone is in the loop. Don’t have any team projects going on? Start this document anyway so people can share tips about working from home and how they are staying safe and sane during this time.
Don’t forget to make time for play- Allowing for joy can feel strange right now, but it’s still so important (for our mental health AND immune systems). Make it a team sport- create an internet scavenger hunt or play virtual team member trivia with co-workers to stay connected while you’re apart.
Things will be different once we get through this. We just might find that by being forced to be apart, it will bring us closer together.
Take care of yourselves and each other.
See you on the other side!