Building a team virtually like you never did face to face
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
We experience more and more that we have to build trust and community for new teams and for new members of existing teams.
As humans, we much rely on our five senses, and a good idea could be to try to stimulate them even in remote environments.
Even the senses supported by collaboration tools, which is hearing and seeing, could be possible better stimulated, e.g. by adding a project melody, tune or song (some companies use songs that employees sing still today, why not try it with a project team) or for seeing you could add logos, signs, GIFs, maybe short sentences with team beliefs.
But also the other senses can be stimulated, and I put my hope on you to come up with additional ideas:
- smell - why not define a nice scent as a project smell and send everybody a small vial with it and jointly at the beginning of each call take a joint smell? You should chose a smell that everybody is OK with, some people are allergic.
- taste - same - chose a project icecream or apple candy - the sugar in it will also improve the positive emotion
- touch - we all miss shaking hands or hugging others. You could use a soft touch mascot or a squeeze ball or small massage device to share the feelings of touch
- breathing - why not do a small (60-90 seconds) yoga breathing exercise that energizes
Start small, with stimulating 2-3 senses at the beginning of meetings and see how the team likes it. Maybe experiment a bit. Then you can extend to all senses and also using some stimuli during the meeting (e.g. recognise members by squeezing a ball, hug somebody virtually by sniffing a scent with him or her).
The beauty is, when we meet face to face we often do this stuff automatically, if at all, and we are not embarrassed as it comes naturally. Now we can and have to plan for it, execute and monitor it (and that is our turf), we may feel strange with some of this stuff - but hey, we are the leaders.
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Nov 13, 2020 11:48 AM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
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I know what I'll be doing at 4:20 with my virtual project team, Thomas, to engage a few other senses ;-) (Hey, it's legal in Canada!)
Kiron
Kiron I never took you for a guy who is 420 friendly. Interesting to know :D You’re a man of many interests my friend.
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1 reply by Kiron Bondale
Nov 14, 2020 12:55 PM
Kiron Bondale
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I was just thinking it would be a good way to get your entire team in the "right" mood and help to reduce stress at the same time, but a good shot of Balvenie 12 year Doublewood would do the trick as well!
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Good ideas Thomas.
I’d go for Wine or Whiskey ... JW or Single Malt. As a matter of fact, we just received a whiskey bottle to the office the other day from our peers as a cheers to us. Saving Changes...
Kiron I never took you for a guy who is 420 friendly. Interesting to know :D You’re a man of many interests my friend.
I was just thinking it would be a good way to get your entire team in the "right" mood and help to reduce stress at the same time, but a good shot of Balvenie 12 year Doublewood would do the trick as well! Saving Changes...
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