Just about every company right now is working on the best way to function in this new environment of social distancing. The remote work structure, with so many shifting to working from home has organizations struggling to maintain connectivity and key relationships amongst staff.

Here are 2 ways you can build stronger teams virtually. Maintaining strong team relationships is obviously very important at any time, but it becomes particularly important when staff have been forced to work remotely from each other. The impact can be seen in overall team morale, a decrease in effective communication and a drop-off in productivity.

With many of us now having to rely on technology to connect, which can often take away a level of personal connection, it’s important to focus on not just maintaining the team bond, but even strengthening it.

(if you’d like to learn more about our custom designed Team Building programs, drop us a line)

Here are 2 tips for building stronger teams in a virtual environment

1) Schedule a Daily Virtual Meet-Up Start your day, end your day, or schedule in the middle, but putting a daily virtual check-in on the schedule for your team is a great way to add continuity, connectivity and bonding to your group.

This makes sure the connections don’t slip as your organization adapts to working remotely. Make it quick, 15 minutes or so, keep it positive, try to add some laughter and encourage everyone to share something.

This is also a great opportunity for team members to get to know each other better, to see another side of a colleague, or to have some insight into their perspective…be it a glimpse into their home life (children, pet’s, other family members, favorite room in their home, art), or whatever.

(Improving your presentation skills, both when presenting in person and when presenting virtually, is easier than you might think. We work with clients to help them confidently communicate their story, deliver presentations that connect and impactful tips for engaging when presenting – contact us to find out more. Presentation Skills Workshops in Dallas…and everywhere).

2) One-on-One Connections So you have the group meet-ups every day, now very intentionally add in time for one-to-one connections with staff. These can be brief, and in fact should be, but they’re an impactful extension of the above and can be very meaningful for staff. Think of them as the substitute for all the times you would have a quick chat with a colleague when passing by their office, or desk, or stopping to chat in the hall, at lunch, etc. Those occur naturally around the workplace all day, every day. That now needs to become an intentional outreach.

And hang in there! Every team member will be impacted by the situation differently and will be reacting in their own unique way. Continue to stay connected to the individual, and the larger team, approaching everything with empathy and acknowledging how they are feeling.

It is possible to come out of this current situation with a team that is even closer than they were before.

Good luck!

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Improv to Improve is a Dallas-based corporate training company that uses applied improv as the basis for the work they do with their clients in the areas of team building, change management, improving overall corporate culture, organizational storytelling, presentations skills for leaders, for sales teams, for customer service teams, etc.

Contact Alex or Kayce to chat about how they might be a fit to work with you and your group with their Corporate Workshops in the Dallas area

Alex (Alex@improvtoimprove.org) or Kayce (Kayce@improvtoimprove.org)

You can also check out Vancouver TheatreSports, based in Canada, for team building in Vancouver, or a variety of corporate workshops. They’ve been working with corporate clients throughout Canada with their improv-based workshops.

Corporate Workshops in Vancouver (and throughout Canada)