How To Get The Team Feeling Back Like A Team Again?
When working from home it can be hard to feel like you’re in a team, as you feel like you are working alone. Even though you may have team calls and chats its not quite the same as the buzz of the office. So, it’s the little things in those team interactions that counts, make sure on calls you don’t just go straight into work mode asking and talking about work. Make time to have little chats just about the day to day, even if its just the great British conversation of what you have eaten through the day. Everyone loves to talk about food, what they have eaten, and what they going to eat is always a great conversation starter, especially when you can’t really go many places or do much else. These little conversations just make people feel more back in a team, as it’s the little day to day chats that really make the difference. It will also make work calls flow much easier and give a greater sense of belonging and togetherness.
Check in on team members, ask if they are ok, ask them what they like about working from home and what they don’t like. Tell them how you feel about working from home, as once you open up to people you will find they will be much more open with you. Normally when in the office you would be able to see from someone’s expressions and behaviour if they were having a bad day, and you would ask about it and chat it through and try to help. Working from home this becomes a little more difficult as you can’t tell from people’s expressions as much, as you only see them a short time on a call or not at all. So, make sure you make time to ask and share, you would always make sure your team members are ok in the office, so now it’s even more important than ever to check in on them. Knowing your team members are there for you and care how you feel will really help with that sense you are still a team.
Keep everyone updated, normally in the office everyone would talk to each other, so would know what was going on and the outcome of meetings and others calls. When working from home these conversations don’t happen, so make sure you keep everyone in the loop. Otherwise just simply forgetting to tell someone something that they then hear from someone else, can make them feel left out and unimportant.
Finally make sure you get a date in for a get together, even if you have to rearrange. It gives people something to look forward to and then they will know they will see everyone again. It could be a team building event on a small scale, or a picnic in the park. Having a date in just helps give people something to plan and get excited about seeing all the team again.
