How to Build Community in a Virtual World: Fostering Connection and Care in Remote Workplaces

A sense of belonging and connection is essential for any flourishing workplace, and even more so in one where some or many of the staff work remotely. If most of your team connections are virtual, how do you infuse a sense of community and caring?

Along with modeling care from your senior leadership team, consider how to maximize opportunities for relationship building and connection through multiple touchpoints. Make the most of your one-on-one and team meetings, to reinforce a caring culture throughout your workplace.

Model Caring from the Top

Senior leaders set the tone for caring and connection by how they participate in both team meetings and informal opportunities such as staff prayer gatherings. As a leader, do you open up and share with transparency? Can staff see that you also face challenges in life? When senior leaders show an appropriate level of vulnerability, they give space for staff members to be comfortable sharing their needs as well.

One-on-One Time

A key opportunity for connection is during regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings between a supervisor and staff person. Supervisors should be encouraged to take time to ask questions and listen. Simple questions can build bonds of connection, especially if the time doesn’t feel rushed.

• How are you doing?
• What’s going well?
• What are you struggling with?
• How can I support you?

Take notes during these meetings so you can remember concerns that your employee shared. Then circle back at your next meeting to see how they are doing with a specific need. This shows that your questions are genuine, and you really do care about their life, rather than just checking off a list.

Also, make sure your direct reports, especially new staff members, know that they can reach out to you between meetings. Encourage them to send an email or a note on Teams, or your preferred communication platform. More frequent communication means problems and concerns won’t fester between meetings. And your openness to having continued dialogue will build a foundation of care and connection. Consider how these informal but important moments of communication might happen in a physical office, and make sure that you are offering just as much, if not more connection for virtual work.

In addition, be open to impromptu conversations. If someone sends a note on Teams that would make a fruitful conversation, check if they have time for a short call right then. This will facilitate connection and idea sharing that may happen in a hallway conversation in a physical office. More touchpoints offer additional connectivity to deepen relationships and also foster collaboration on organizational goals.

Team Meetings

Remember that in a remote workplace, often the only interaction that staff has with their team is during an occasional video call. For this reason, video calls need to include relational time, rather than just being focused on business. Plan your meeting agenda to include relational interactions such as sharing stories and personal updates.

During our leadership team meetings at Best Christian Workplaces, we often notice and comment about the fact that we spent a considerable amount of time catching up and telling stories during our weekly meetings. We give ourselves permission for this instead of making ourselves feel guilty for not using the time more “productively.” In the long run, time spent on relationship building provides a foundation for effective teamwork and the ability to get work done together. It is vital to provide extra time to nurture relationship-building in virtual environments.

Maximize Connection in Larger Meetings

In any meeting, in-person or virtual, a skilled facilitator will look for ways to engage both introverts and extroverts or elicit input from verbal processors and internal processors. While this is also a challenge for people who work in the same office space together, it is even more important to keep this in mind in virtual settings such as video meetings to ensure that there are opportunities for everyone to feel heard.

Provide important discussion questions in advance so that the internal processors can come prepared to share. During the meeting, watch facial expressions closely and look for indications that someone might have something to say. This requires you to be constantly scanning everyone’s video feed as much as possible. Call out those who might need encouragement to contribute and who won’t be put off by being called on. Consider sending private messages to others during the meeting to encourage them to speak up and share. Inviting all of your staff to speak up or type into the chat during calls gives more flexibility to people’s preferences and comfort levels for communicating during group calls.

If there are more than 5 or 6 people on a video call, it’s difficult to engage everyone. Consider meeting structure and agendas carefully to include connection time. Make use of breakout rooms in larger meetings, even for short segments, to facilitate conversations and idea-sharing on a smaller basis. This provides the opportunity for more people to contribute ideas, and then for the whole group to hear summaries of what the small groups discussed. Breakouts are also effective in creating a more informal space for interacting and getting to know people.

Extending the Caring Atmosphere

While senior leaders and supervisors want to set the tone for caring connection among their staff, encourage peers to also reach out and build connections. A simple way we have equipped our staff to show care for each other is by providing stamped cards that they can send for any reason to a fellow staff member. Simple, small steps of care build a community and foundation for connection.

Recently several members of our Best Christian Workplaces team faced unexpected and challenging family crises. Our staff was motivated to pray and encourage these team members, and they wanted to rally around their colleagues in a practical way. The staff worked together to provide DoorDash gift cards to help with meals, so their colleagues could put their energy into their family needs. This was a meaningful and simple gesture, and it was a visible fruit of a caring environment among our team.

In-Person Investment

If most of your staff are in a home office and a few are remote, pay careful attention to how you treat the remote employees when they come to the home office. In addition to practical needs such as a workspace during their visit, make sure to schedule connection time with as many different people and teams as possible. Make them feel welcome and valued during this time. An investment in their connection during in-person visits will enhance their ability to work together with home office staff when they are back in the field.

If most or all of your staff are remote, invest in time that is in-person and connective. Best Christian Workplaces has been having an annual staff retreat for several years. This time is highly relational, focusing on creating shared experiences and memories that provide a foundation for future work together. We focus on an agenda that is not heavily informational or training-oriented but emphasizes bonding and connection.

When a Staff Person Needs More Care

Whether you are a Christian leader in a marketplace business or a Christian ministry, sometimes a staff person will need more than caring and empathetic relationships. They may need a referral for professional help to get them through a difficult situation. Make sure all your staff, especially supervisors, are aware of services available through your health care benefits or Employee Assistance Program. Smaller organizations may not have such formalized programs but can designate a point person to be aware of local counseling resources.

In addition, many Christian-led businesses have found that a corporate chaplain is a great resource to provide care and support for their staff. To learn more listen to Larry Griffith of Corporate Chaplains of America share about “How Corporate Chaplains Foster a Caring Culture” on a recent Flourishing Culture Leadership Podcast.

Next Steps

Fostering a caring culture isn’t a one-time project, but an ongoing posture of attention to relational connections. The next step in your growth in this area might be in rethinking the structure and agendas for one-on-one meetings, or team meetings. Do you struggle to provide time for relational connection? Can you extend your meeting time, or off-load a business item to provide space for more interaction?

Perhaps you already have a solid foundation of relational connection in your regular rhythm of meetings and communication. You might decide to budget the time and money for a more significant investment in staff bonding through a staff retreat.

Whatever you decide for your next steps, your investment in caring shows your team that you value them as people created in God’s image. Employees who are relationally connected in a caring workplace are more likely to bring their whole energy to help fulfill the mission of your organization.