It’s hard to maintain a strong team culture in the workplace. And it’s even harder to maintain team culture during stressful times… like during a worldwide pandemic for instance.
When there is mandatory physical distancing, we need to rely on our co-workers and teams more then before to be a positive support system and keep the business running as smoothly as possible. Staying connected virtually and maintaining those team bonds is challenging.
Harvard research shows that a “connected team is a motivated team”.
Some of us may have unfortunately experienced seeing team members laid off due to COVID-19. And that can have incredibly emotional and damaging impacts to the team and company culture. When employees start to fear for their job security and are living in a perpetual state of uncertainty of what will happen tomorrow, it’s imperative to invest in banding together when times get tough.
Invest in your team culture so that your people, the integral component of every business, can thrive.
Insert breaks and fun into each day
We get it, times are really hard right now. Work is difficult with all the changes being thrown your way. But that doesn’t mean you can work 24/7, or over-work your staff, and not expect things to crash and burn. A better way to improve overall mood and boost morale is to make time each day for breaks and fun activities that will engage and lighten spirits.
People need time to de-stress and relax; add some banter back into the work day. Whether it’s getting everyone to do a 60 second dance break during your next Zoom meeting, hosting a 15 minute meditation session once or twice a week, or planning virtual coffee breaks with co-workers during the day – there’s countless small and inexpensive ways to keep your teams connected and show you care.
Maintain transparent and honest communication
Honesty is the best policy. It’s a phrase we’ve most likely all heard before. And it applies to every relationship – personal and professional. People appreciate transparency, no one wants to feel like they’re being left in the dark.
Especially in this time of uncertainty in the workplace, having open conversations with employees about the realities of the business can go a long way to strengthen team bonds. Even though it may be difficult to have the hard conversations about the financials, this type of information gives clarity and reasoning to why certain business decisions need to be made.
Evaluate and revamp your processes
Just because a particular process worked well before, doesn’t mean it will be the best solution forever. Things change. Things break down. Being agile and having the ability to adapt as a team and business is critical for survival.
Now that most of us are working from home, let’s evaluate and brainstorm ways we can revamp the way we did things to maintain that team culture and stay connected virtually. A great way to do that is to keep the communication going with an online chat platform. There are many internal team communication apps out there such as Slack and Microsoft Teams. And for workflow management some popular tools include Asana, Jira and Trello.
One online platform that combines chat, video and workflow management is Chatnels. Yes, it’s the new AI-powered chat platform that we’ve been working on. Because we care about you and helping you keep your team culture thriving, the app is free to try for 90 days. Sign up today – test it out to see if it works for you.
I hope these tips were helpful. Remember to take care of yourself, take care of your team and the business will take care of itself. Even the small things like starting every conversation with “How are you today?” will make a difference.
Happy people = happy business.
While you cannot control everything, do your best to implement those key tips into your day-to-day life and you’ll be rewarded with a stronger team by your side (virtually).
