Remote work presents numerous challenges to businesses and team members, and one of the biggest ones is building relationships. It’s much more difficult to keep in touch and build authentic connections when you are limited to virtual interactions. However, difficult does not mean impossible! Here are some of our favorite tips for building relationships when working virtually.
5 Tips for Building Relationships Virtually
- Don’t Forget to Say Good Morning: Would you ever walk in the office and not say good morning to your coworkers as you see them in the kitchen or walk by their cubicle? Most would say, never. So, when working virtually, don’t forget to say good morning. Hop on your internal chat tool (Microsoft Teams, Zoom Desktop Chat, Skype, etc.) and say good morning. Ask them how their morning is going. Check in with each other.
- Never Assume: Things that come across easily when communicating in person, like changes in your tone of voice to indicate a joke or a smile to show you aren’t upset, do not come across as easily virtually. Never assume when building relationships. Especially when first starting to work together, ask questions to learn more about them and be deliberate with your words. When working, try to use “we” instead of “you” to clearly show you are interested in working as part of the same team for success.
- Don’t Just Stick to Business: It might sound counter-intuitive, but you should never just stick to business when building relationships virtually. Just like you would have small talk in the office, try to work that into your virtual relationships. Share a funny story about your pet or ask where they went to college. Practice treating your online interactions like your in-person ones.
- Get Some Face Time: Even if you can’t be face-to-face in real life, you can be face-to-face virtually! Try to incorporate regular video calls in with your regular conference calls. Remote teammates can often feel detached from their co-workers, and seeing a friendly face can help a great deal while building relationships.
- Validate Your Coworkers: Make sure that you are regularly taking time to recognize the awesome work of your fellow workers. Let your boss or co-worker know that you appreciate the hard work they did or that you were impressed by something they worked on to practice building relationships remotely. These small positive interactions are often forgotten when tied to a computer screen.
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Practice Building Relationships Virtually with Zenith Performance Solutions
Zenith Performance Solutions wants to transform the ways that you and your employees learn. We offer a comprehensive range of training course design services, including updating existing courses and consulting. We work with companies of every size to create innovative and instructionally sound materials that boost employee performance and satisfy your objectives. To learn more, please contact us by calling (970) 409-4013.