COVID-19 and the resulting social distancing have turned the remote-work setup to the new normal. But the shift was well in the works even before 2020, thanks to the level of accessibility and efficiency that the internet allows us to achieve.
A remote-work setup benefits companies in the form of reduced overhead costs and borderless recruitment, and gives employees the opportunity to work practically from any corner of the world. What it doesn’t allow us to do is actually connect with each other beyond a professional capacity. The emotional aspect of working with teams is still missing from the remote setup.
As people continue to work in isolation from their teams, it becomes more and more challenging to see each other not just as “human resources” or colleagues, but as humans. When teams lack a strong bonding and feel aloof from each other, it can lead to a drop in employee satisfaction and hamper productivity.
This is why it becomes really important for companies to invest some time and effort into team building. While companies have refined a lot of business-related processes in a virtual setting, the practice of team-building with remote employees still has a long way to go before it’s not just effective, but also fun.
Why remote-team building might be more challenging than in-person
- With everything happening online, people reach a saturation point after which they’d rather log off and spend some time away from the screen.
- When people think of team building activities, it’s usually in-person activities, retreats, and happy hours.
- Remote-team building tools aren’t as accessible or well developed to create as meaningful an experience as in-person activities can.
While nothing beats in-person conversations and experiences, it’s time to try out new ways of staying connected. When leveraged properly, modern technology can help us spend meaningful time with each other without being in the same physical location.
It’s all about creating a good experience for your team
Yes, team building exercises have a positive impact on business processes and allow for smoother functioning of the company, but that shouldn’t be the end goal. In a world full of strict deadlines and high OKRs, let’s also aim to create a good working environment for our teams.
So make sure your team is an integral part of planning and executing the activities, and they don’t consider it to be just another HR drill that they have to attend. Make sure to take feedback and inputs from them on how remote team building can be improved and actually apply whatever changes are possible. Surely, you’ll be able to bring your team together beyond just a professional level, even if they’re continents apart.
