If you’re sick of hearing about Covid, the workplace, or Covid and the workplace, you’re certainly not alone. Nearly two years into the pandemic, employers and employees are exhausted and ready to move on.
Like it or not, though, traditional office arrangements as we know them will probably never be the same. This means that managers who accept this new workplace order will be far better positioned to navigate its unique challenges—and opportunities. And that’s where knowing how to build trust in a remote team is so crucial.
Whether your organization leans more toward in-person attendance or working from home depends on its specific needs. But one thing’s for sure: the virtual workplace is here to stay. The repercussions of this shift are monumental, especially when it comes to employee relationships. The bonds that tie team members to one another must be rebuilt.
Don’t Forget to Bring the Popcorn
Who needs Netflix when 80% of companies are making changes to hybrid work but only half have communicated them to their people.
You’d be hard-pressed to find an organization that hasn’t experienced some degree of fracturing since the pandemic began. Social connections have eroded, and cultural cohesion has been strained.
The challenges of working remotely, the clumsy process of figuring out what returning to the office could look like, the erosion of work life balance and the mass exodus of workers fed up with cultures that make them feel devalued have further eroded employees’ sense of community.
On top of all that, most virtual team communication has been with our immediate colleagues and focused largely on the tasks at hand. It’s hardly a surprise that research from Microsoft suggests that cross-functional collaboration went down by 25% during the pandemic.
Put this all together and you create a culture of low trust at best and one hampered by suspicion at worst. That’s the bad news. The good news is that there are real steps you can take to piece your team back together.
So, how do you build trust in a hybrid team? Read on to find out.
Here’s How You Can Build Trust in a Remote Team
Redefine Your “We”
It’s not exactly news to observe that humans are a tribal species. We bind with and narrowly identify ourselves as members of our immediate group. By default, those outside the group are “other”—and thus not likely to be given the benefit of the doubt, much less trusted. In a work context, it means that binary, we-they thinking will intensify if cross-functional connections aren’t strengthened.
The solution, then, is to enable people to reestablish shared identities. Binding them to one another helps reorient their brains to new relationships and see colleagues who were once “they” with fresh eyes.
Some More Resources We Found on Working Virtually:
Studies bear this out. Research from NYU psychologist Jay J. Van Bavel has found that our brains can reduce previously held biases about others when we perceive them to be part of the same team. In 2018, Van Bavel’s team used brain imaging tests to measure the effect of telling participants that people they were implicitly biased toward were “on [their] new team.”
The study, which measured participants’ amygdalas, revealed that these biases decreased dramatically after this news was offered. Point being, the closer we affiliate people with “our” tribe, the more open we are to them. The solution requires broadening the definition of “we,” whether you’re in a conference room or attending a video call at home in your pajamas.
How Do You Build Trust in a Hybrid Workplace?
Every manager has their own method for building trust in virtual teams. If you find that a recommended approach isn’t working for you, even one that seems like everybody’s using, don’t sweat it—try something else and see how things go.
Accelerating Belonging and Meaning = Strong Hybrid Teams
Building strong relationships, especially with those who work in different departments, is challenging in “normal” times. Doubly (triply?) so when you haven’t physically seen or spoken to someone in many months.
If your organization’s gone hybrid for the foreseeable future, consider doing a reboot. By having remote workers “meet for the first time (again),” you can press the reset button on relationships that may have become frayed or worse, rekindling their sense of team in a way that better aligns with your organization’s new, online-heavy context.
An Example of How to Build Trust in a Remote Team
Here’s an example from a client we recently worked with. Over the course of the pandemic, a number of changes had swept across one of the client’s divisions: a new organizational design, new people, and shifts in people’s roles. Coupled with the stress surrounding the pandemic itself, these developments had caused a lot of turmoil, albeit much of it understandable.
We came up with the idea of doing a comprehensive re-onboarding of everyone in the organization. Team leaders realized that if we didn’t level the playing field for everyone, building trust in remote teams would take too long—so we went ahead and built it.
The centerpiece of our efforts was a two-day session of round-robin conversations that offered people a chance to start over. As part of the exercise, everyone was asked to share their responses to five prompts:
- The most significant thing that’s different about me since the pandemic started is…
- The thing I’m most concerned about returning to work in our hybrid approach is…
- I’m most excited about this team’s ability to…
- The help I need to be successful on this team is…
- The contribution I feel I can make to your success is…
It was a heartfelt two days, full of emotions and surprises for the group. Even veteran employees remarked that they appreciated the opportunity to see their colleagues in a fresh light; others appreciated the opportunity to start accelerating their relationships with newer colleagues.
“My default position with other departments has been to assume the worst. But when they showed up with that level of commitment to me, I knew I had to trust them,” one participant explained.
This exercise can work just as well in a remote environment as it does face to face. If you go the former route, though, be sure to break up any large groups, as people are much more comfortable being vulnerable within more intimate settings.
Create Shared Learning in Your Hybrid Teams
Creating opportunities for remote employees to learn together is another tried-and-true way to bring people together in a hybrid workplace. When we learn, we grow. So why not grow together?
In a business context, learning isn’t just about development: it’s achieved whenever we broaden our perspectives, whatever the topic. The process of learning together is a trust-building exercise.
Even something as low-key as a book club offers an opportunity to learn. It requires giving and taking, listening, rapport-building, and other invaluable exchanges. During the discussion participants’ bonds strengthen. Learning neutralizes differences and forces you to find common ground, paving the way to growth.
Robert A. Heinlein
“I never learned from a man who agreed with me.”
When it comes to helping cross-functional leaders learn together, we like to immerse them in leadership development cohorts. In nearly a dozen organizations, we’ve built cohorts of 12–16 leaders who journey together in their own learning and formation for 6–12 months. The content is focused on key skills and knowledge they need to drive the shared results their functions must produce.
How Do You Build Trust in a Virtual Workplace? Learn More:
More recently, we’ve oriented the content to better reflect how organizations ought to think about virtual leadership development.
Teams in small remote settings spend time on real projects aligned to strategic goals that create added value for the organization, and pairs of “peer coaches” are assigned to meet weekly to exchange feedback and advice on identified development areas.
I’ve found that the relationships that form during these cohort journeys remain deep for years beyond their initial time together.
Embracing the Remote Environment
As you bring leaders back to your “new normal,” invest in their development by establishing cohort learning communities that will bind them to one another and their shared organizational aspirations. They will naturally cascade their newfound broader orientation down to their teams, who in turn will connect more effectively with their cross-functional peers.
There’s no need to be scared of the virtual environment and hybrid workplace. While virtual teams may require a different approach to building trust, with a little creativity and patience your cohort of in-office and remote workers can find their footing and thrive, no matter what the world has in store.
Follow these steps and you’ll soon discover you know just how you can make a successful hybrid workplace.