Connecting in a Remote World

It is March 2021 and by now you have been working remotely for a year, possibly with a few trips to a quiet and less-than-normal office environment during the year. Hiding behind glass partitions and masks, walking past people like you are wearing an inflatable rubber ring so as not to dare come within a few meters of each other. The almost suspicious “hello” as your atmospheres cross paths.

Company cultures, once vibrant with buzzing kitchen rooms, open and vibrant offices, with creativity flowing between teams – have all but gone into hibernation. The random chat about dogs, cats, children, the stolen KitKat out of the fridge… seems all but a distant memory. That intangible thing that meant no matter how hard work was, how testing that customer was, how tight that deadline was, you still looked forward to going in each day if for nothing else but the craic and banter.

Yes, productivity is still good. Yes, customers are still going live. Yes, development is still going strong but what are we losing that we can’t even see or quantify on a spreadsheet? That connection of who we are as people, not just the work we perform each day? Have we numbed our compassion, caring, and understanding? The inspiration and drive from overhearing another’s ideas and thoughts? Do we know how our teams are really feeling any given day? Do we even care? Have we become so focused on our own work, our own deadlines that we have created a virtual tunnel vision with one purpose – to get work done! Have we lost sight of the person who is working right next to us?

Even in person you can never truly know what your team is feeling but you can learn to read their sighs, twitches, tone, language, and many other things day-in and day-out sitting close to them. These cues might spark a quick “are you ok?”, “I can see you are struggling there; can I do anything to help you out?” or simply “you fancy a coffee break?”

In a remote world you cannot react in the moment when someone is struggling unless they reach out for help? So, what can you do? Many options have become popular especially in the last year - coffee calls on Zoom, company social events on Teams, Kahoot quizzes and many more. While each has merit in its own right, if you truly want to engage with your team and check in with them the best place to start is with regular one-to-ones.

When the term one-to-one is mentioned initially in a company, it can be met with skepticism and almost always followed with a string of questions, “how long should it be? How often? I don’t have time for that!” It is true, if you want to feel the full benefit of a one-to-one with your team members, regular one-to-ones are best. But this is not always possible and in a fast-paced, agile world where every hour is planned, taking the time to check in can sometimes seem a burden not worth having.

But what is the cost of not taking this time?