Working from home has become an essential part of today’s work culture. In the last two years, companies have adapted to remote workers and it has become common.
Unity usually evolves among employees in a physical workplace. Accountability takes place when people can always be there for them. They can help each other to finish their tasks. Encouragement can also happen along the way.
When you think about remote workers, they have a hard time establishing this kind of mutual support. They work virtually, so employees may not have the opportunity to create unity. They’re a group working on the same goal but different locations. It can be hard for them to establish a connection with each other. As a result, they can find it hard to create unity.
You have to know what’s best for your employees. You do not want them to be like robots. Employees aren’t emotionless. They tend to work more when they’re engaged. You want them to be more productive and happy. And by giving them activities to enhance their unity and closeness, they can surprise you.
Here are some tips and activities on how to foster unity among your employees.
Bring out shared rituals
Reminisce about the things that you always do in the office. Ask your workers for suggestions that could foster engagement with each other. You can ask them questions like, “What do people look forward to?” “How can we bring office experience to remote work?” Let them share their ideas (we can call it their rituals), and have them vote. The one with the most votes can become your workers’ ritual. Just by doing that, you can create unity among them!
One example of an idea is when you schedule a meeting. Make a video call to bring them out in one place. But the meeting isn’t about the stuff that employees work on, or where they report on what they do. The meeting should be a break time for them to get a snack, or a drink (like coffee) for a certain number of minutes. You can give them a break and let them stand, rather than sit the whole day working. Let them talk with each other and you can let them ask their co-workers about what they are working on. That way, they have an activity in common. It gives them an opportunity to work on their unity and closeness.
These rituals should give them the time to be close and united. You may be surprised at how, suddenly, they can work more efficiently than you thought.
Give them a fun experience at work
Always make space for fun. You should always check to see if your team is doing well, or else you won’t get the results you’re expecting from them.
“When people aren’t having any fun, they seldom produce good work”. Fun at work is an important factor in the well-being of employees. A sense of fun helps people have a more favorable mindset, making them more productive.
Many projects need brainstorming and collaboration. Fun encourages open communication. It gives an opportunity to all members to contribute their thoughts. Then they can proceed with their tasks at hand – whether big or small – knowing that they were heard. Cohesion and closeness come as a result since they are striving to achieve one goal. You cannot get unity and closeness without fun.
Another tip is to reduce unnecessary work to increase employee motivation. That way, they can see the fun in working. Don’t add more problems to their tasks but let them do one thing at a time. You don’t want to make them see their work as a problem. And also, give your team the opportunity to voice their thoughts. This helps increase productivity and lets them engage with you. Do not give them the ‘boss’ vibe or ‘I am the leader’ vibe. Treat them as though they’re not a burden. Thinking that they’re a burden is no fun at all, for you or for them.
Don’t forget to give them fun activities. Give them a time where they can feel a sense of fun and relief. Fun and games for a period of time can give them the unity and closeness that they need.
(Want to see some fun examples? Click here.)
Bring more focus on communication and consistency
It’s important for teams to have effective communication. The more communication between employees, the better. It makes for a safe environment for them. Creating a safe medium of communication (where they can share and give ideas) opens lots of opportunities. These opportunities include unity and closeness with one another.
Constant communication helps workers understand their objectives and what they should do next. This is to make sure that they’re on the same page as they work toward their goal. Think of it as a baton-passing group marathon. Once a teammate reaches another teammate, the baton will be passed (like the result of their work) until eventually the goal is reached. Without effective communication, they’ll take a long time to finish the task and reach their goal in their work. Some of them will stumble. It will break the unity and closeness that we want them to achieve. Productivity will decrease, and that can become a big problem.
Another important factor is consistency in direction. In every communication, you need to help your employees stay focused on the goal, values, and processes that will help them get there. This also increases productivity and fosters unity.
Add a theme to their workplace
It would be boring to only have one theme in an employee’s workplace. Adding a theme is an effective way to foster unity among your diverse remote teams. Think of it as having a virtual wing or separate space in the office that is just for them. It can give everyone a meaningful impact on their work by giving them some choice about their “surroundings.”.
Regardless of their age or location, employees can manage to work in unity. Give control to teams on what theme they want to execute. Let them change the background of the company’s virtual meet platform. Of course, don’t forget the outfits! Themed environments can give workers more productivity. This could give them a fresh, new feeling when they work on projects.
One example is a Hawaii theme. In a meeting, let the team that chose the Hawaii theme give preparation ideas to all the employees. That includes you. They’ll make everyone download a background, create drinks, or even share recipes for food. Those things create unity and closeness with the idea the theme gives them.
Make the team choose themes according to the goal of the team. They should be according to projects (whether they’re about fashion, vacation, or parties). With that in mind, unity and closeness across choosing a theme would have a high impact on the employees. They can boost their work, particularly in the theme of the project that can give them more ideas. It would bring them higher productivity while helping them enjoy their workplace.
Do regular video calls
Global companies with remote workers need a connection with each other. Video calls are the only way that they can achieve that. Teams should always do this on a regular basis so that in case a crisis occurs, they can help each other. This will make sure that they’ll have the chance to create unity and closeness with their team.
Frequent video calls can create transparency. That makes an impact on how teams can manage their own groups. By working together they can solve any work problems that come up. Being secretive (which leads to competition) will only bring the team down. With transparency, they’ll see the problems each one is facing. They can help one another by lifting up each other. This can create the solution to solve any problem they might meet. Workers should think that their office mates are not a competition; they are family.
These video calls are useful in checking how a worker is doing. When they are ill, or to celebrate finished work, they can do video calls. Make your teams comfortable in dealing with their problems as well as their successes. Workers should feel empathy with one another. When someone is absent, the rest of the team can still finish the job to meet the requirements of their task. This solidarity encourages a feeling of unity and mutual support, causing them to be more productive.
Be considerate when scheduling meetings
Remote workers are in different time zones. Some employees may have a problem dealing with the time when they should work. So, teams should be considerate when scheduling meetings. They should work on schedules that work for everyone.
Team members should not check-in too early or too late. Make them agree on a scheduled time. This makes them feel they have a say in the process and promotes accountability and efficiency. Make them feel like they’re part of the team when agreeing on a schedule that works for everyone.
Deadlines are important. By giving teams the freedom to schedule their meetings, they can become goal-oriented. They can choose a time where each of them can bring out a result of their work. This measures their skills as well. Scheduling a meeting after they finish a job would give them an idea of how much time they need to finish a project. This way they can get a feel for each other’s capabilities.
Meetings are updates to make sure that workers make progress for the company. But sometimes they bring pressure. Think of them as opportunities. A meeting creates a chance to bring people together. Let your teams handle the meeting time when they have to create projects together.
Align your team with your mission
Don’t let your team of remote workers fail away from your company’s mission. Workers are like soldiers. They have to have a clear goal in mind so that they can finish a task according to the mission. Remote teams struggle when they forget the mission of your company.
Give your remote teams a clear vision of your goals. Align them around it. As remote teams grow in size, it’s always important to remember the reason why they’re working together. Boost their motivation with passion. A support system can help them remember why the things they do matter – they’re on a mission to change the world. This way you bring them into alignment with the vision, which fosters unity among the remote teams. Aligning them to your mission will give them an identity as being part of the company. This shared identity and mindset will make them feel like they are a part of something larger than themselves.
A company is like a body. It has many parts, but its actions come from the same mind. The mission will give them the idea of having the same goal. It gives them the productivity that unity offers.
The mission is not to make the company look good, it’s to do what the company has set out to do. Mission gives the workers the unity that they need to achieve better results.
Big or small win, celebrate with them
It’s important to always show gratitude. A simple ‘congratulations’ can bring a smile to a person’s face. It can make them remember the day people greet them. How much more can it be encouraging if you say that to a team? That’s a lot of smiles. Remote workers might have a hard time doing their tasks. But, there’s always a big or small win to find in their work. Go, celebrate with them! There’s nothing wrong with that, right?
But it doesn’t mean that you should always spend a lot on celebrations. There are many ways to celebrate with them, like:
- Send them an email that says “great job for today”
- Offer them a snack together
- Give them a longer break time
That way the team can look forward to finishing their tasks well. Celebrations can generate enthusiasm as a team, and stimulate employees to give each other help so they can reach milestones. The workers will feel like a team as they look forward to what you can do to celebrate with them.
CONCLUSION
It’s important to note that when it comes to remote workers, they can often feel disconnected. Unity can solve that problem. Don’t treat them like robots, emotionless, working solely for the paycheck. Today, we give you these tips to shake up their routine with some activities that will help boost cohesion and closeness. Give them lots of opportunities to get to know each other well, and they may achieve more than you expect.
