How do you handle the lack of in-person interaction when working remotely?

David Cagigas
11 replies

Replies

Manab Boruah
Currently, I work from the office. But when working from home, I ensured I got on a video call with my team members at least once every 2-3 days. And we talk about pop culture and the recent developments in the world before moving on to the task. This helped me create great bonding with my teammates.
David Cagigas
@manab_boruah That sounds like a great ritual everyone should have. A call to discuss music!
Ashrey Ignise R
Gotta invite the team up for beers later. In my experience, it is very easy to leave work relationships within Zoom. But when I took the initiative to invite everyone out for drinks, even if just once, working together for the next many months certainly became a lot more meaningful.
David Cagigas
@aignise We have drinks evening once every week! It really helps us bond better!
Janine N
we at Liffery are a fully remote team and have worked like this for months and I must say it has not been a problem so far. We have established some very simple routines some of which include: - Everyone sends a good morning gif in the common chat room, which is funny but at the same time lets other people know that they have started their working day, we do the same for lunch and when signing off for the day. We have pretty flexible working hours, so it's just nice to have a general idea of what's going on. - We prep remote working sessions and workshops and meetings well. I think this is something that should apply generally and not only to remote teams but knowing what you're working towards and making workshop sessions engaging for every single member is even more important for remote teams. - We do meet every three to six months and when we do, the focus is on having fun and hanging out, having dinners and beer :) We work a little bit too, but the main focus is enjoying each others company. Generally speaking, it is super dependent on your team's needs, but I really think lack of in-person interaction does not have to be a problem. I guess it is just this general shift where you don't get most of your personal interaction from your work colleagues, but rather from the people you live with or that are around you in local communities. Ah and also I think when used well (with preparation) and in sparingly solutions like this https://www.producthunt.com/prod... can kind of help bring a different form of engagement at times. I came across them a couple of weeks ago and am eager to try them out for one of our upcoming workshops.
David Cagigas
@janine_nitz Great advice! Thanks for sharing!
Chloe Cloudlett
it is difficult to achieve good results without proper communication and feedback.
Vic
I guess the team you build defines the lack or abundance of interaction. I’ve worked remotely with enthusiastic people who devoted a great amount of time to the project and were really good at following the structure of regular communication schedules which made the progress pretty smooth. If everyone’s on the same page and understand the goals clearly, then communication becomes seamless.
David Cagigas
@gorently I totally agree. Great communication is about the targets is the only way to go. Also, a sense of trust has to be built to go with it.