Five Tips to Maintain Team Cohesion During Social Distancing

For employers who can operate remotely, the challenge is how to maintain teamwork and camaraderie while complying with social distancing.

Without much warning, in the last two weeks, companies have released workers to comply with state “stay-at-home” orders.  More likely than not, most employers do not have a business continuity plan in place. Here are some tips for leading your team and adding a few teambuilding ice breakers:

It’s hard enough to manage myself, let alone a team.  The good thing is that we can adapt to the disruptions caused by COVID-19, and here are a few ideas to help you: 

1. Communicate your plan to maintain continuity.
   1. Create a daily huddle call. Set a standard time to dial in via conference call or attend an online meeting. 
   2. Utilize a shared communication platform such as Microsoft Teams or Basecamp.
   3. Check-in at least once a day. Also, offer a five-minute a 1:1 meeting for each team member to address personal concerns. Remember to model empathy and good listening skills.

2. Be flexible with your expectations and outcomes.  Be mindful of supporting your team by clearly communicating tasks, target goals or deliverables, and metrics to be achieved.  
3. Be a resource for your team. Create a virtual schedule or instant messaging to contact you for assistance. 
4. Add a fun team building activity to your huddle.  Some ideas are online scavenger hunts, online Jeopardy, and online sing that tune.
5. Create a TGIF message to rally your team and send virtual high-5’s for tasks or goals accomplished.

Hopefully, these five tips will help you create virtual interactions to maintain safe social contact, and keep your team engaged in continuing to perform and contribute, and have a little fun.