Every team goes through the team formation stages. It takes a while for things to settle into a rhythm and flow, where people are unguarded around one another and just perform. When you work together on the same site everyday, you would think this is rapid, but without great leadership, poor behaviours can stick and a toxic enviroment can become the norm. When you have some or all of your people working remotely, teambuilding must become a priority.
01
Forming
Whether it's a brand new team, a new team member or boss, the team returns to forming. Everyone is on their best behaviour, polite and members act independently. There is no real teamwork. There maybe some common goals, but trust is low and people remain guarded. The more influential or mature team members set the culture and norms in this phase. Discussion in meetings focuses on defining the scope of the task, how to approach it, and similar concerns. To move forward, team building must focus on laying clear goals, boundaries, values and norms, and encourage members to build trust with one another.
02
Storming
Though we hate conflict, it is inevitable in team formation. In fact, healthy conflict actually moves the team forward quickly and creates trust. Unhealthy conflict breaks it and requires strong leadership to help members navigate through. Members are becoming more unguarded with one another. They voice their opinions and show their true personality and working styles. People try to find their place within the group and some members might play power games to gain influence. Disagreements and personality clashes must be resolved before the team can progress out of this stage. Some teams never progress from here and storming becomes the norm.
03
Norming to performing
In the norming phase, everyone knows each others strengths, styles and quirks. They have sussed each other out and a day to day rhythm arises. They become unified around a common goal, and each member understand their role and responsibilities. From here, leaders can dial up performance by stretching and empowering others. They motivate, inspire and develop team members and keep everyone moving. The leader sets the direction, the team makes the decisions and works together to achieve the outcomes. It feels good.
When you’re not all together in person every day, team building will be done differently. Good communication, support, joint and visible goals become even more essential. Having fun together and creating opportunities to come together to share moments and experiences is vital, especially with new starters.
Managers of remote teams need to be constantly leading new ways to engage and connect remote employees. This includes building and maintaining strong relationships within the team, no matter where they are. When the team is separated geographically, team building, forming relationships and maintaining a sense of belonging requires constant focus. Without it, isolation, exclusion and cliques form and disengagement creeps in.
Remote teambuilding activities
1. Create breakouts rooms or places to connect. In person, people can grab a coffee together, share lunch or just wander over to each other’s desks for an informal chat. Encouraging your remote workers into the office from time to time will help, but if this isn't possible, you can create the environment online.
Virtual offices will become more important in the future. Perhaps everyone logs on at a specified time each day and works together over video. People drop in and out as they take calls or join other meetings, just like in the physical world, but while they are present, they can ask questions, share ideas and brainstorm. Casual conversations flow after people get used to working this way. If this doesn't work for you, then simply arrange virtual breakout rooms where people can log in and simply catch up. The leader needs to encourage inclusion, so the space feels like a welcoming community and soon becomes the norm.
IT IS NOT A MEETING
2. Virtual Company Conferences and Events. Most organisations understand the value or offsite days, whether it's a monthly meeting or an annual conference. If it's still possible to fly everyone in, then of course try and keep the in-person events, if not move it online. Run them in the same way you would a physical event, with an agenda, guest speakers, presentation and breakout sessions. You could send everyone a cream tea or coffee kit to have together. You have access to worldwide experts and speakers who will join you for an hour and run a master class for you. You can be as creative as you like. It really helps bring the team together and adds some excitement to their schedule. The only difference is everyone joins in over video.
3. Celebrate and recognise. Bringing people together to celebrate good news, project milestones, even birthdays is a great way to inject some fun. I have even run virtual baby showers for team members. One of the great benefits of being a team is having people around to keep you going, motivate and encourage you. When leaders encourage celebration and recognition, it becomes part of the culture. Before you know it, others will simply pick up the phone to give thanks to others. Online rewards, recognition and gamification platforms will become more normal in the future. People can log on give praise, award badges, or celebrate successes together.
4. Learn together. Successful companies learn together. They share insights, wisdom, and hacks. They are open minded and open hearted when learning. Whether you introduce a monthly learning programme facilitated by an expert or invite team members to do a "show and tell" style session, you are fostering an inclusive development environment where the team grows together. It also allows the team to take an interest in the skills of one another and appreciate their knowledge!
5. Strategy sessions. I love a good strategy session where the team comes together to vision the future and create a plan of action around it. Perhaps once a month, pose a problem or key topic and ask members to create a vision board of possibilities. Perhaps ask them to present what they would do if they were CEO. Then generate a conversation. Not only does it get everyone thinking about the future, but it also allows other to see how others view the world. It breaks down barriers and could potentially spark some real strategic gems.
6. Grab a coffee. My old boss once encouraged me to have a coffee with each team member every quarter to simply talk, connect, network, and build relationships. It was brilliant advice. In fact, even though I work remotely now, I always schedule coffee breaks with people and build connections. In the future of work, the informal chat will become a strategic priority and simply "just the way we do things around here".
7. Fun and games. Most offsite session will include some kind of game, icebreaker or activity. Bringing in a fun day Friday or monthly social is a great idea. Some teams regularly have Wednesday night curry club, where everyone cooks or orders in a curry and then socialise together. Social events online with the sole purpose of having fun will become more normal. Perhaps you organise a quiz night, a murder mystery night, virtual reality sessions or race nights, the online gaming platforms will become increasingly popular. For the bigger budgets, hiring a band to play a concert or a comedian or magician for the team won't feel that unusual.
Discover more from 3WH
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.