Developing a strong employee culture can be a difficult feat, but it is especially vital for leaders to do so in today’s remote and hybrid workplaces. No matter where they are located, team members need to build positive relationships with each other so that they can collaborate well both in person and in virtual meetings to achieve strategic business goals together.
When employees feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, opinions and experiences, it cultivates camaraderie, respect and goodwill among teammates and between teams, creating a dynamic that impacts the entire organization. Here, 16 members of Forbes Coaches Council discuss smart ideas that leaders can use to help employees get to know each other better and create more understanding within their organizations.
Forbes Coaches Council members share smart strategies to encourage team camaraderie.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Create Social Experiences During Work Hours
If you create experiences outside of work, such as attending a yoga workshop or an art class, then this will give way to organic conversations. Learning something with a group brings people together. The key element is making sure it is during working hours so the team can enjoy a break and not have to make other arrangements for childcare or anything outside of their regular schedule. - Gina Gomez, Gina Gomez & Associates
2. Participate In Photo Sharing
Photo sharing builds connections! Recently, I learned that one of my teams was routinely matching at-home photos with individuals. Imagine the theme: backyard, garage, Halloween costume or refrigerator. Individuals’ photos were anonymously assembled for presentation. In guessing the owners, the team learned more context about each other. It was both enjoyable and enlightening! - Marita Decker, FutureCourse Education
3. Ask Team Members What Matters Most
Often, “getting to know each other” activities are kept at a superficial level. To truly build goodwill and understanding, delve into who the person is and what matters most to them. Have people share an experience from the past that most defines them or someone in their past who had a significant impact. You will be amazed at how opening the doors to the past can create an impactful understanding. - Saba Hasanie, OSC Leadership Performance
4. Show Your Vulnerable Side
It is important for leaders to show their vulnerable side to their employees. This creates trust and authenticity. Create a safe, encouraging surrounding where everyone has a voice and there is no right or wrong. This should be lived every day and can also be fostered in workshops. Spend time with your employees, not only in meetings, and be truly interested. - Melissa Leich, Growfused
5. Facilitate A Quick, Interactive Exercise
In five minutes, have each person draw a series of images: one from early childhood, one from college age/leaving home, one from their first job, and one of them today. Then, have each person describe their pictures and (for speed) share how one of these areas shaped how they lead today. You’ll be surprised at what they learn about each other. - Neena Newberry, Newberry Solutions
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6. Utilize Hobbies And Skills As Icebreakers
Have each employee teach one another a hobby or skill they are eager to share as an ice-breaker. As participant instructors, these “teachers” will find it not as difficult to talk about themselves but instead focus on teaching and sharing. Conversely, the rest of the participants are not only learning a new skill but are also seeing the instructor’s personality and coaching style. - Kelly Huang, Coach Kelly Huang
7. Practice Personal Storytelling
For more than 10 years now, I’ve coached professional service firms to practice personal storytelling. I especially encourage leaders to tell personal stories to their teams because it creates trust and goodwill, even sympathy for the leader. When service firms foster a storytelling culture, they become far stronger and more resilient. It also enhances likability between people. - Randy Shattuck, The Shattuck Group
8. Organize Executive Breakout Sessions
Organize your own executive breakout in your meetings or at industry conference events. Make it informal if you have to, and invite people from across a spectrum. Host them, pay for a few drinks and organize something around ideas that matter to you. Let them know they are special and create your own breakout. As the host and originator, it will put you in a winning position, and goodwill follows. - John M. O’Connor, Career Pro Inc.
9. Cultivate Psychologically A Safe Environment
In my experience, creating a psychologically safe environment—an environment where people don’t feel hesitant to approach others and share their feelings, emotions and thoughts—is the foundational building block for people, teams and organizations. If we give people space and trust them, then people rock. Vulnerability-based trust is the DNA of the culture of an organization. - Nagesh Sharma, Flowsphere India Private Limited
10. Create Knowledge Transfer Sessions
Create knowledge transfer sessions or organizational TED Talks with a small icebreaker at the beginning. Play any game with them where they can share some personal experiences. Make them guess each other’s hobbies or preferences. Then get to the main part of exchanging knowledge. At the end, do speed networking. - Aina Alive, Bee Agile
11. Seek Authentic Connections
You need to see it to be it. Employees mirror leadership, so consistently seeking to authentically connect with your people means others will follow suit. As a leader, take the time before a meeting to check in with your people, share your experiences and demonstrate goodwill. Old-school thinking dictates authentic connection happens in proximity; modern thinking recognizes it as an intentional act. - Shamila Mhearban, Shamila M. Ltd
12.Take The Conversation Outside Of The Workplace
Go for lunch or dinner as a team, away from the day’s tasks and responsibilities. Encourage employees to get to know each other on a personal level, share their diverse experiences and build a bond and understanding. When people share something personal about themselves, it helps to create a more human connection between employees. - Giorgio Genaus, Genius Institute
13. Try Speed Networking
Speed networking is a great format to introduce people to one another rapidly and foster a connection. After brief introductions, longer sessions with moderators and guided questions can be utilized to encourage sharing and the creation of more goodwill and understanding. - Natasha Charles, Intuitive Coaching with Natasha Charles
14. Leverage A Volunteering Program
Companies today can create a much higher level of engagement and connection by leveraging an effective volunteering program. Recognizing shared values across the organization and allowing them to work together on issues they care about will create goodwill within your company and the communities where you operate. Volunteering is also effective for virtual teams. - Kathi Laughman, The Mackenzie Circle LLC
15. Provide Regular Opportunities To Build Trust
Team building can happen in any number of different settings. From weekend retreats and ropes courses to more intimate gatherings with opportunities to share and connect, the most important thing is that leaders provide regular opportunities for such interactions and establish an environment of psychological safety, mutual accountability and trust so that team members feel safe to share. - Jonathan H. Westover, Human Capital Innovations, LLC
16. Help Groups Be Of Service In Meaningful Ways
Recently, members of one of my client teams delivered lunch to a senior care facility in their community and spent time with the residents. They shared afterward that they felt profoundly grateful to be of service in a meaningful way and that the experience of being present for each other and the senior community allowed them to get to know one another in a new way that deepened connection. - Lisa Walsh, Beacon Executive Coaching
