Work from Home Series: Staying Engaged with Your Team

Series: Staying Positive and Productive While Working from Home

Staying Engaged with Your Team

In my last video I suggested what I see as the three key factors to successfully working from home; creating a separate work space, staying engaged with our coworkers and finding ways to stay productive and disciplined. Today, we’ll discuss how to stay engaged!

This can be a very lonely time leaving many of us feeling isolated. The occasional chat by the coffee station no longer exists. Today I have some tips to help maintain some level of engagement to help us stay connected.

Set up regular conference calls to check in
One of the things we’ve done at my company is to establish standing meetings to ensure that there is regular communication. I personally have a 1:1 call set up with my boss, we have a management meeting to discuss any challenges amongst the team and finally we have a meeting where the entire team is on, and we move around the virtual room for updates on everyone’s current workload. We don’t require the use of webcameras, but it’s strongly encouraged. Which brings me to point number 2…

Use your web camera
I can hear some people groaning over the notion of appearing on camera including myself. There are times when I don’t particularly feel like it either. But I can’t emphasize enough the value here. Being able to see faces and facial expressions is so important for open communication. Not only does it bolster the sense of engagement but it minimizes miscommunications that can happen when you can’t see someone’s face! The whole dynamic of the conversation is changed for the better.

Use screen share
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been on the phone, pointing to my computer screen only to remind myself that nobody can see me! Screen share can be a great replacement for walking our team members through whatever issue is at hand. Being able to show someone the spreadsheet is infinitely more valuable than just emailing that spreadsheet and talking your way through it. If I have a specific point on that spreadsheet I want to point out, it’s much easier and more efficient to do so using screen share.

Pick up the phone
There are so many times that I find myself in an e-mail thread that keeps going on and on do to misunderstandings or the complexity of the topic at hand. And it’s easy to do since it’s right there. I often have to remind myself that this particular conversation is too complex for e-mail and pick up the phone to talk through it. Usually we can clear up the matter in minutes versus hours of emails. You can always send an e-mail afterward summarizing the conversation.


Find a buddy
Without the occasional office chat, this can create feelings of isolation and increase the likelihood of disengagement. If you have a particular friend at work or a colleague that you respect, set up a pact to touch bases with one another to chat offline about non-business matters.