How to build team connection when working completely remotely
Building interpersonal connection is much harder when teammates have never met in person and have no chance of coming into a physical office. This lack of face time makes it very difficult to feel genuinely connected to colleagues, leaving remote teams struggling to maintain the same level of cohesion as in-person groups.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Planning occasional on-site all-hands meetingsDid this help you?
- 2Making casual phone calls to engineers to chatDid this help you?
- 3Sharing information in ways that respect time zonesDid this help you?
- 4Setting up short weekly async updatesDid this help you?
- 5Creating a team values statement collaborativelyDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Speaking personally, it's very difficult to feel connected to someone you've never met in person.”source ↗
“I find that seeking the same level of interpersonal connection for remote teams is harder, (my team is fully remote not a chance of coming to the office for us).”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4How to manage remote IT infrastructure without a dedicated team
- 2Why is my entire day eaten up by meetings and micromanagement?
- 7What to do when half your team quits and isn't replaced
- 2Why is team member availability and production always a guess?
- 3How to remotely patch an air-gapped network without USB drives
- 2How to delegate responsibilities to a small team