4 Steps to Building Strong Relationships with Your Remote Team

Work relationships can help you build resilience. But what happens if you work remotely? Do you still get the benefits?

The short answer is yes. The approach to building those relationships just needs some tweaking.

And it's worth the effort because research continuously shows that healthy relationships with colleagues improve resilience, motivation, altruism, trust, job satisfaction, engagement, health, and individual and team performance (read more here and here). And it can be challenging to do that when you work remotely.

Here are a few tips to help you build strong connections with coworkers when you (or they) work remotely.

1. Be intentional and proactive.

Rather than waiting for coworkers to reach out to you, initiate conversation. Simple check-ins go a long way. Yes, everyone is busy but no one is too busy to appreciate being thought of.

This is particularly important if you are a team lead/manager. Checking in on your team routinely to hear how they truly are doing not just where they are at with deliverables is critical to establishing rapport, identifying potential engagement issues and burnout risks, and building team cohesion.

2. Be a giver and a receiver.

How can you use your strengths to support your colleagues? How can your colleagues use their strengths to support you and strengthen your weaknesses? Being a team player is about supporting colleagues, offering to help, and also recognizing that you cannot and should not do it all by yourself. It’s OK to ask for help. Collaboration and teamwork strengthen relationships.

3. Express gratitude and recognition.

Expressing and receiving gratitude and recognition can help prevent burnout. One of the symptoms of burnout is cynicism and detachment from one’s job. Another is the loss of “self-efficacy,” meaning one’s belief that they are able to do what they need to do.

Data from one study shows that employees are 29% more likely to report burnout when there is no company-wide recognition strategy in place. And reducing recognition makes burnout 48% more likely.

If you’re not senior enough to change the entire organization's rewards strategy, you can express gratitude publicly for a colleague’s contributions. Start there.

4. Work on and invest in yourself.

If you don’t have a healthy relationship with yourself, you won’t have one with colleagues (or friends, or romantic partners). A healthy relationship with yourself includes self-awareness, self-compassion, a growth mindset, boundary setting and enforcement, and prioritizing self-care.

You’ll notice that these tips are applicable to remote, hybrid, and in-person teams. The innate needs don’t change. How we meet them does.

TLDR

Remote team-building takes more intention and proactivity (which is why that tip is first) and relies on forms of communication like Zoom, Teams, Slack, etc. But that’s the how.

The what is the same. So, when in doubt, ask yourself, how would I do this if I was in the same building or room with my colleague(s)? Ok, how can I have that same impact through digital communication? The answer will be a great starting point.

Want a simple way to strengthen any relationship? Click here to download this free 3-step exercise.