Connection in the time of Coronoavirus

Team building while working remotely is challenging under normal circumstances. Team building with a new team, all hired in January, while living through a pandemic is next-level.

Here are favorite takeaways learned in the first five weeks of Illinois' stay-at-home order:

Make time to take time

Each week I gather our new team together to facilitate various learning experiences during the stay-at-home order. We dive deep into techinical content and explore broad social-emotional aspects of working from home.

We started to hold a pause at the beginning of our meetings to bring space to connect, reflect and grab time before we do the hard work of learning. Our pause varies by meeting and number of attendees.

Begin with a question, asking: "How are you?" Schedule 15 extra minutes and allow a slow start to your meeting. Wave hello, look at each other, share your meeting spaces. We get unstuck as a team when we are able to gather in connection together.

Embrace the ice breaker

There is a book called "2,000 Questions About Me," picked up from the local discount store this summer. What a gift!

I begin each meeting with an ice breaker to deepen our knowledge of each other beyond the walls of work. These ice breakers find their way into my social Zoom life as well!

Try irreverent questions: "Have you ever slipped on a banana?" Experiment with profound questions: "Name a visionary in your life who inspires you."

Ice breakers bring us together through shared inqury. We can connect as a team (and get unstuck) as we reflect on a happy time, a person we love, or an unexpected deep thought.

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Get deeper and enhance your remote team building

• https://hbr.org/2019/02/the-surprising-power-of-simply-asking-coworkers-how-theyre-doing

• https://www.fivebelow.com/2000-questions-about-me-journal.html