Engagement is more difficult when you can’t do it face-to-face. We lose a lot of our communication capabilities when we’re not together in person. Ninety-three percent of how we communicate is through our tone and our body language. While working remotely does make it difficult sometimes to engage, there are creative ways to connect with your team members. Just think outside of the box!
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main.” – John Donne
At Achilles, we’ve increased the number of virtual team meetings we have to weekly so that we can stay connected and engaged. At least once a week we have a scheduled video conference – it usually takes no more than 15-30 minutes tops, but it does give us a chance to make sure we’re communicating regularly and setting the expectation that we all stay in touch. We also use our “All Employees” email address to invite each other to “side-bar” or “small group” collaboration meetings, which we call “round-tables”. It’s an opportunity to leverage the brainpower from all of our HR professional colleagues towards specific problems or issues specific to a client’s current situation. These are held via video conference as well and help to keep the collaborative spirit of Achilles Group alive in these days of social distancing.
Some other out-of-the-box ideas: How about a “Meet My Pet” or “Meet My Home Office” video conference? Or a weekly request for fun photos of your employees enjoying their social distancing with family or friends that you then share as a collage once a week or month? You could consider holding a walking meeting or virtual happy hour. Many of the apps we’re using, like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, are available on our phones. It’s all about finding ways to share an experience even though your employees aren’t physically together.
Feel the need to give back to your communities? Find an opportunity to give blood or host some type of group activity that supports your community that you don’t have to be together to do. Maybe you set a time or date to take an hour or half-day to give blood at your local blood bank. The point is, it doesn’t necessarily have to be work-focused to get your people engaged in their work again; you just need ideas that draw people together!
Is your business struggling with remote engagement? We can help with that. Contact Jennifer Heylmun at 281-469-1800 or by email at Jennifer.heylmun@achillesgroup.com to schedule a Discovery meeting.
