Building Connection Among Your Employees: Creating a Stronger Workplace Community
Connection and personal relationships among your team are crucial for driving business performance. A connected team benefits from key strengths, including improved employee engagement, stronger organisational resilience, and more effective internal networks.
In this blog post, we will delve into practical strategies and activities that will help you establish and nurture a strong sense of connection among your employees, whether they work in the same office or remotely. We'll explore both work-related and social activities to foster a cohesive and vibrant workplace community.
Work-related activities
Building connection among employees starts within the work context. By creating new activities or tweaking existing ones, you can help employees to connect while getting work done:
Team/Department/Company Meetings: Beyond business updates
You almost certainly already have regular team, department, and company meetings and updates. While these are essential for keeping employees informed about progress and strategy, they also present an opportunity for connection-building. Consider these adjustments to build connection during these meetings:
Encourage openness and sharing: Cultivate a supportive environment where everyone feels comfortable expressing their thoughts and ideas, especially in smaller groups. When leaders and managers openly share their hopes and concerns, it encourages team members to do the same.
Incorporate icebreaker activities: Kickstart meetings with fun icebreaker activities or check-ins to create a positive and friendly atmosphere, allowing everyone to learn more about each other.
Recognise achievements and milestones: Celebrate both individual and team accomplishments during these meetings to foster a sense of collective success and reinforce the bonds between team members.
Lunch and Learn Sessions: Blending professional development and social connection
Lunch and learn sessions offer a fantastic opportunity to combine professional growth with social bonding. Consider organising informal sessions during lunch breaks, where employees can share their knowledge, expertise, or personal hobbies. Here are some ideas to make these sessions engaging:
Rotating speakers: Give different team members the chance to share their areas of expertise or passions, creating a diverse range of topics for discussion.
Interactive activities: Incorporate interactive elements like quizzes, demonstrations, or hands-on exercises to make the sessions more engaging and participatory.
Foster learning communities: Encourage employees to form learning communities based on shared interests or skills, where they can explore topics of mutual interest in more depth.
Shadowing Sessions: Learning and connecting across roles
Shadowing sessions provide an opportunity for team members to learn from one another, develop new skills, and foster connections across different roles or departments. Implement effective shadowing sessions with these tips:
Pairing system: Match employees from different teams or roles, prioritizing those teams that have a direct impact on each other's work.
Structured guidance: Establish clear goals and guidelines for the shadowing sessions, ensuring participants understand what they can learn and achieve.
Reflection and feedback: Encourage participants to reflect on their experiences and provide feedback to each other, promoting continuous learning and improvement.
Dedicated Breakout Areas in the Office: Spaces for relaxation and connection
Designated breakout areas in the office can serve as spaces where employees can relax, socialise, and build connections. Here are a few ways to create inviting breakout areas:
Comfortable seating arrangements: Provide a mix of comfortable seating options like couches, bean bags, and communal tables to give a bit of variety and encourage interaction.
Recreational activities: Add some games, puzzles, or other recreational activities that encourage employees to take breaks together and engage in a little friendly competition
Theme-based spaces: Create themed breakout areas that reflect your company culture or the interests of your employees. For example, a reading nook, a gaming corner, or a coffee bar can attract like-minded individuals and spark conversations
In-Person Social Activities
While building connection within the workplace is crucial, activities outside of work take connection to another level that cannot be achieved solely through work-related strategies. Explore the following in-person activities to foster deeper connections among your employees:
Team/Department/Company Socials: Unwinding and bonding together
Employees say that their preferred way to build connection and relationships is through regular after-work socials. Here are a few ideas to make these socials memorable and enjoyable, all of which can easily be achieved by using Gather:
Be guided by people’s preferences: Find out what your team really wants to do, and to plan your socials around those preferences in a way that feels fair and inclusive
Add some variety: Try to have a good range of activities and venues, as that will help to spark different kinds of conversations and so better deepen connections among your team
Allow time to plan: If you want high attendance and a good choice of venues, make sure that you get your socials in the calendar well in advance. How far in advance will depend on the size of the social - from four weeks for small team socials, to six months or more for large company-wide socials
Forming Sports Teams: Camaraderie through friendly competition
Sports can be a great way to bring employees together, promote a healthy lifestyle, and create a bit of friendly competition. Encourage your employees to form sports teams within the company, and consider the following tips:
Varied sports options: Offer a range of sports options to cater to different interests and abilities. From football and basketball to tennis and running clubs, provide opportunities for everyone to participate.
Internal tournaments: Organise friendly internal tournaments or matches where teams can compete against each other, building team spirit and camaraderie.
Support and resources: If you can, provide the necessary resources, such as equipment or training facilities, to support the sports teams and encourage employee participation.
Team-Building Trips: Creating lasting memories and strong bonds
Team-building trips offer a chance for employees to bond, recharge, and create lasting memories together. Consider the following ideas for organising impactful team-building trips:
Retreats: Plan retreats in serene and picturesque locations where employees can engage in team-building activities, workshops, and relaxation exercises.
Adventure outings: Arrange adventure-based trips like hiking, kayaking, or camping, which not only promote teamwork but also provide opportunities for personal growth and overcoming challenges.
Cultural exploration: Explore new cities or cultural sites together, creating a sense of adventure, appreciation for diversity, and shared experiences.
Virtual Social Activities
To build connection in today's remote and hybrid work settings, it is crucial to include virtual activities in your strategies. These activities are convenient, inclusive, and require relatively less effort compared to in-person events. Here are some virtual activities that can help strengthen your workplace community:
Virtual Socials: Fun and relaxing virtual gatherings
Virtual socials allow colleagues to come together, relax, and have fun, even when physically apart. Here are a few ideas to make virtual socials engaging and enjoyable:
Virtual happy hours: Organise virtual happy hours where employees can unwind, share stories, and enjoy a beverage from the comfort of their homes.
Themed events: Plan themed activities, such as costume contests or trivia challenges, to create a lively and interactive atmosphere.
Show and tell sessions: Encourage employees to share their hobbies, talents, or interesting experiences through virtual show and tell sessions
Virtual Team-Building: Strengthening remote team bonds
Virtual team-building activities are designed to strengthen relationships, boost morale, and promote collaboration among remote teams. Consider the following ideas for virtual team-building:
Online games and challenges: Engage employees in virtual team-building games, puzzles, or challenges that require cooperation, problem-solving, and communication.
Virtual escape rooms: Participate in virtual escape room experiences, where teams work together to solve puzzles and escape a virtual scenario within a time limit.
Online Fitness Challenges: Promoting wellness and team spirit
Promoting wellness and an active lifestyle can also help strengthen the sense of community within your company, even in virtual settings. Consider the following online fitness challenges:
Virtual fitness classes: Organise virtual fitness classes or wellness sessions, such as yoga, dance, or workout sessions, to promote physical well-being and encourage team participation.
Step challenges: Encourage employees to track their steps or physical activity using fitness apps or devices and create friendly step challenges to promote movement and motivate each other.
Building a strong workplace community requires a wide range of tools and strategies, both within and outside the workplace. At Gather, we understand the importance of building strong workplace connections. Our app helps you organise inclusive, reliable, and varied socials, making it easier and more effective to bring your team together. Start using Gather today and effortlessly build a closer-knit team.