Building a connection between co-workers through team building used to be far more simple and direct. Everything from collaborating in person to chatting over lunch and going out for happy hour was possible.
Even with so many options to stay virtually connected - through platforms like Zoom, Skype, Facetime, and Google Hangouts, we need to be a lot more creative with how we encourage team building. To make it easier for you, here are 3 fun and easy ideas to keep your team connected and engaged as we continue working from home:
#1 – SHOW AND TELL
Rather than just a regular Zoom check-in, why not try Show and Tell where each employee shares something from their home and explains why it’s important to them? It gives everyone an opportunity to showcase things they are passionate about (hobbies, prized positions, etc.) and is a fun way to get to know co-workers even better.
#2 – SCAVENGER HUNT
Make a list of household items people need to gather on a video call in real time. You can break people up into smaller teams or have individual players compete to gain the most points.
How it works: the assigned facilitator announces the item and the teams or individuals turn off their camera and search their homes for the item. First one back gets 10 points. Anyone else who shows the item gets 3 points. First one to reach ___ points wins!
This gets everyone up and moving for some fun and friendly competition.
#3 – SKYPE THE DISHES
Invite team members to share their favorite, easy recipes and pick one person to demonstrate it live – just like a cooking show. You’d be surprised how many amateur chefs you have in your midst. Not only do you get to try out new recipes, but you can also treat it like a virtual dinner party by including some games and engaging conversation centered around a delicious meal.
We’ve all heard the saying ‘work-life balance,’ but have you ever considered that it might be looking at our personal and professional lives the wrong way?
Work and life are intertwined. And it’s about time we start looking at it that way.
If we’re truly unable to separate our work and home selves, how do we make sure what remains is a whole, calm, focused, successful, and happy person? If you “tumble out of bed and into the kitchen,” what happens if that kitchen is now your office too? Here are some things to consider that might help you get closer to a work-life blend that makes sense for you.
#1 – SET PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL GOALS
A lot of people set professional goals they feel will make them successful in their career, but they ignore personal goal setting.
Determining what your personal goals are (health, relationships, etc.) will help you think about how your personal self and professional self align – or don’t. Identifying the gaps is an important step in finding an acceptable work-life blend.
#2 – PROFESSIONAL REFUELING
Many of us think of personal refueling this way: you go on a relaxing vacation. Then, by day two back at work, you’re stressed again.
Think about what refuels you professionally. What gets you excited about your career? Take time to reinvigorate yourself professionally whether it’s professional development courses or taking on new tasks.
#3 – ASK FOR SUPPORT
Hiding that you’re overwhelmed in your personal or professional life won’t help you to carve a path to work-life blend.
Let those in your personal support network know if you’re stressed and talk to colleagues or leaders if you’re doing too much at work. Once they know, they can be part of the solution and not part of the problem.
Get started on your path to work-life blend using the My Big Idea Planner.
Although many employees report that work-from-home has many upsides – like saving time and money on commuting, and offering more time for their personal life – it can also have downsides for a company's bottom line when teams feel disconnected and disengaged.
As many companies are embracing work-from-home for the duration of the pandemic and some even into the ‘new normal,’ it’s important to find effective and sustainable ways to keep employees engaged and teams connected.
Here are four ways to help keep your team engaged through work-from-home:
#1 – VIRTUAL TEAM HUDDLES
Teams used to stay updated on company projects and goals while chatting in the office. It was as simple as reaching out to a colleague across the desk and exchanging information on company activities. Now, many employees are left feeling out of the loop and excluded from important information, making it harder for teams to feel connected and engaged.
Holding regular virtual team huddles keeps everyone on the same page. You can use virtual communication channels like Zoom, Skype, Facetime, and Google Hangouts to bring your team together, clear up any confusion, ensure everyone is on task, and update everyone at the same time on important information on the regular.
#2 – GOAL SETTING
When your employees’ personal and professional goals are aligned with your business’ goals, it creates clarity and focus for both you and your team.
Effective goal setting means helping your employees set goals and supporting them as they work to achieve them. It also means communicating your goals to your team and keeping them specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely (SMART).
Here are some questions to consider:
#3 – ACKNOWLEDGE WORK-LIFE BLEND
As companies are becoming more and more flexible with their work arrangements, 'work-life balance’ no longer makes sense as an employee engagement strategy.
‘Work-life balance’ is a myth. And that’s becoming more apparent now as we work from home and our personal life and work life seem less and less distinct.
‘Work-life blend’ is about recognizing that the lines are blurred between ‘work’ and ‘life’, and that it sometimes means we need to prioritize one over the other.
Embracing work-life blend yields employees who come to work every day engaged and appreciative that they aren’t asked to leave their personal lives at the door. That benefit to the individual also benefits the business.
Employee engagement doesn’t have to be something separate from everyday behavior. Engaging employees through work-from-home comes from focusing on the overall wellness of your people.
When you address employees’ personal lives in terms of your business mandate, you’ll end up with a group of people who are well aligned and rowing in the same direction.
Here are some ideas to consider when using work-life blend to boost employee engagement:
#4 – EMBRACE GRATITUDE
Gratitude is a valuable currency in both business and personal relationships. Like money, it has value.
According to Salesforce Research’s Impact of Equality and Values Driven Business report, employees who feel a sense of belongingness at work are 5.3 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best.
Embracing gratitude in your business can be as simple as writing a thank you card to appreciate hard work. But, when you don’t just say that you care but also genuinely show it you increase the likelihood that everyone will be more productive and engaged than if their only incentives are money and vacation days.
Here are some ideas for embracing gratitude in your business:
Shows of gratitude to members of your team should be consistent and timely, and they should be performed in a manner that is most relevant to the recipient. For maximum impact, gratitude needs to be delivered in a form that will be appreciated.
Learn more about how embracing gratitude helps keep employees engaged in Michele Bailey’s book, The Currency of Gratitude.
Ask most leaders and they’ll say they’ve got a great organizational culture. But dig a little deeper and the reality is, simply because people in a company say good morning to each other and aren’t berating each other, doesn’t mean you’ve got a true corporate culture of collaboration, compassion and, most importantly for your business, productivity. So, your culture – or your internal brand – might not be as strong as you think.
Many leaders forget to include internal branding on their marketing radar. Yet, working on your internal brand is one of the most important first steps to take in marketing before you look to your outward-facing or consumer brand.
Creating a truly great culture means you’re branding from within, creating a group of internal brand ambassadors who live and breathe your brand. It impacts the way they work – from the way they answer their phones or respond to emails to the way they talk about your company at Aunt Doris’ birthday party. Happier, productive employees make a positive impact on your brand and your business growth.
The starting point for your cultural makeover is ensuring that your company goals are aligned with your employees’ goals. Once employees understand how their goals fit into your company’s objectives, they have a better understanding of their contribution, and they can achieve a better sense of work-life blend leading to more clarity and focus when they’re at their desks.
Remember that corporate culture is a process. You’ll need to re-evaluate, keep an open dialogue with employees and invest along the way. But it’s an investment that will pay dividends in keeping top talent focused and engaged.
As part of that process, you’ll also have to incorporate a principle that’s gaining a lot of ground in recent years: gratitude. For employers, showing gratitude could mean anything from a simple “thank you” to introducing wellness benefits.
Gratitude also plays a big role in keeping your top customers coming back for more. Unfortunately, a lot of companies and marketers confuse gratitude with “rewards” like promotions, coupons and sweepstakes.
The truth is that lower prices and coupons may generate more transactions, but at the end of day, they do nothing for loyalty. Customers are tired of the strong-arm actions of companies who press hard to upsell them. Rarely do these upsells benefit customers, and they know it.
With more turbulence in the marketplace, the economy and politically, people want to feel connected, and that they matter. A company showing customers they are grateful for them creates an emotional connection you can’t discount with a coupon.
Make your internal brand, culture and loyalty a priority, and you’ll be amazed by how far it will drive your business growth. Learn more about branding from within and cultivating loyalty in work-place in Michele Bailey’s book, The Currency of Gratitude.
You have heard it before in other ways: In order to appreciate others, you need to first appreciate yourself. We have talked and written a lot about how gratitude can drive results and strong business relationships to foster a successful workplace, but when it comes to looking after YOU, it is important to recognize and be grateful for what you bring to the table.
Self-gratitude has become increasingly more important in the chaotic, stress-inducing world we live in today and we wanted to provide 10 quick tips to recognize the most important person of all: You.
Have some other self-gratitude tips? Share them with us on Linkedin.
Unless you are working with robots (which is entirely possible) you are likely to work within a group of diverse individuals; all with unique personalities and skill sets. Folks often compare their work teams with the makeup of sports teams, and because we live in Canada, we’ll use hockey to set this one up.
A hockey team has a number of different roles and positions all responsible for a certain task on the ice. The first line centerman should be scoring goals, the big defensemen keeps the opposing team away from the net and the goalie keeps the puck out of the back of the net. The grizzled veteran may not be putting up points but can offer a lot of experience to help the team grow.
Ok, enough sports chatter. The point is that the individuals on our teams all have something unique to offer. It is important to find ways to draw out the best in others and showing gratitude in a few different ways can help your team achieve that Stanley cup… (AKA your work goals).
Here are a few ways to make your team will a strong sense of belonging:
Taking the time to work directly on the development of your team will not only help you foster a positive working relationship, but it will help you understand when your teammates are at their best. The quietest person in the room may simply require more time to develop a well-formed opinion or idea – and that is OK. But by knowing that, you can give them the time they need and call upon after the meeting, in an environment where they excel!
Someone on your team is good with numbers, someone can recite the daily news, and guaranteed someone has some hidden creative ideas. Take the time to understand who they are and when to call upon them.
There are little things you can do as a team that can go a long way to promote inclusiveness. Simple things like starting a team playlist can bring teams together while letting individuals share something personal about their style and influences. Team lunches (when they are allowed again) are great way to celebrate and bring the group together. The most important thing here, however, is to make sure no one gets left behind. Show your complete gratitude by extending an invite to the full team!
Gratitude is the foundation of the My Big Idea program, because we know that when kind acts are shared it sets the tone for a positive and productive workplace. There is no better way to establish a sense of belonging than to make those around you feel appreciated for the work that they do.
Whenever you get the chance, let your teammates know that what they do as part of your team is valued and watch how quickly your team comes together!