The Virtual Watercooler: How to Nurture Culture & Connectivity Remotely

Whether you’re a seasoned remote worker or you’re adapting to working from home for the first time, you’ve probably noticed one thing missing in your daily work routine – human connectivity. Remote work can be isolating and demands creative ways to engage with your colleagues. There’s no crossing of paths in the hallway and no physical “water cooler” where you can ask your colleague how their weekend or meeting went. It’s these physical spaces that organically allow conversations that lead to collaboration, client success stories and employee engagement. 

Now more than ever, it’s important that we stay connected with our colleagues, whether it’s work-related or to see what’s new in their lives. Below are a few tips and tricks to promote a healthy sense of community and employee engagement remotely.   

Leverage Remote Events 

At SurePoint, we’ve come up with a few virtual events to keep us connected. However, every company culture is unique. Get creative and have fun. Virtual meetings can be hosted on platforms such as Zoom, GoTo Meeting, Google Hangouts and others.  

• Virtual Book Club: Have people submit ideas and vote on the most popular or choose a book that sparks curiosity and dialogue. 
• Virtual Happy Hour: When the clock strikes 4:30 p.m., grab your favorite beverage and sign onto the virtual meeting platform of your choice.  
• Lunch and Learns: Topics can drive personal, team or business growth.
• Virtual Potlucks: We all cook the same item and discuss how it went/share tips and techniques.

Utilize Chat Tools 

Instant messaging platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Slack gives you the opportunity to “pop-over” to someone’s desk virtually and ask a quick question or chat. You can also set up themed channels within the platform to encourage discussions you would normally have in the office. Below are a few channel suggestions:  

• All Employee General Channel: Important company-wide updates. 
• Kudos: Want to recognize a teammate for a job well done? Thank a colleague for going above and beyond? Congratulate a co-worker on a promotion? 
• Celebrating Life Events: Got engaged? Bought a new home? Use this channel to share the good news. 
• Fun Stuff: Kids, pets, Jimmy Fallon sketches. You get the point. 
• Staying Healthy: Share a workout video or a great streaming class; healthy recipes; tips on how to adapt to working remotely and not feeling isolated. Anything to do with health and wellness goes here. 
• Brainfood: Interesting articles, research, trends you’re seeing out there in the world. It doesn’t have to be industry-specific, but something that sparks curiosity and conversation (e.g. podcasts, TED-talks, HBR articles).

Pick Up the Phone 

Resist the urge to continue that email chain discussion. Take it offline! Seize the opportunity to discuss things in real-time (and solve things faster) while connecting with your colleagues.  

Chat Face-to-Facein Video Meetings 

Seeing your co-worker’s face can go a long way in feeling connected. We encourage video chats whenever possible.  

Give Your Emails Personality 

I’m sure you’ve heard the famous statistic that 93 percent of communication is non-verbal. As humans, we’re programmed to read our co-worker’s tone, eye twitches and facial expressions as we’re communicating with one another. We rely heavily on non-verbal cues and are sometimes unaware of how we come across via email. A “cold” email reply can give zero social context to the person you’re interacting with and cause confusion. There’s a stigma that personality in emails is unprofessional but assess your situation. Use your intuition for what’s culturally appropriate. Insert an exclamation point into your communication or an emoji. Even through written words, a person can hear a smile (see what I did there)! 

How are you staying connected with your colleagues? 

About SurePoint Technologies

SurePoint Technologies is a leading provider of financial and practice management software to law firms nationwide. For more than 40 years, law firms have relied on SurePoint’s tailored enterprise software to drastically improve workflow and maximize financial performance. With a community of nearly 50,000 members, SurePoint continues to transform the legal industry by enabling law firms to unlock higher performance by freeing lawyers of administrative burdens so they can spend far more time focusing on their clients and their practice. Learn more at surepoint.com.