What social distancing actually means for the vast majority of us is physical separation from our friends, families and work colleagues.
This is hard for social and emotional reasons but also a potential disaster for high-performing (or that aspire to be high-performing) teams.
Research has proven that sporting and military elites as well as the most productive and innovative teams in business share a constant drumbeat of physical connection.
They laugh together. They work in close proximity. They share, what from the outside appears to be an abnormal amount of, physical touches.
When working remotely from your teammates the chemistry built up over thousands and thousands of tiny interactions like these will dissipate. The danger is in the longer term it could be lost forever.
In face-to-face interactions much of these things happen without thinking. When working remotely we need to make a conscious effort to make sure we are still doing as many of them as possible.
Your aim is to be constantly signalling to your teammates. It can be hard work and slightly alien at first but you will get back what you put in.
Make speaking by video your default
Even if just to speak for a minute. If you’d have previously swung your chair around or walked 5 metres to ask a question, now jump on Zoom, Teams or Skype. Replicate the short, sharp and focussed conversations you would have in an office.
Lots of short meetings beat one long one
Keep your discipline on meetings so that energy levels are boosted not depleted. Is a daily whole team meeting a good idea if it increases the feeling of remoteness in the majority of the team?
Be really interested in how people are
Ask the people you are talking to how they are (we all need to be doing this a lot at the moment) but then make sure to follow up on what they have said so they know you were really listening and care.
Look them in the eye
Eye contact is so important as a tool to build and cement strong relationships. This is tough on a video call - it is far too easy to just become another brick in the wall of faces. When speaking look directly at your camera just as you would look a teammate in the eye. I know of one CEO who has put eyes either side of his laptop camera to remind him this is where his focus needs to be.
Tell stories
Stories make humanity what it is so tell stories just as you would over a cup of tea, your bank of desks or in the pub after work. Make them funny if you can – remember great teams laugh together.
Active listening
Hopefully we are all pressing mute on our conference and video calls but there are still opportunities to show others you are really listening. Smile, nod and look engaged. Be overly attentive and pick up on what others have said during your conversation just as you would do when face-to-face.
Choose your words with care
How do you want people to think, feel and then act after you have spoken? It’s a rule in life generally but when people are remote and potentially lonely this matters even more.