Working remotely is far from working in the office. Suddenly you have to  confront space, time, the ties between colleagues, and the way of communicating in a different way. The work environment changes, and the way in which trust is generated among the team as well . Although many of these challenges remain unresolved today in some teams, more and more employees are opting for a 100% remote model, so we have to tackle them and solve them as soon as possible. If you realize that trust and communication problems are being generated in your remote team, one of your first priorities should be to resolve this problem. In this article we are going to help you discover how to build trust in remote teams.

Trust is extremely important when working in a remote team. In the world of teleworking, where it is much more difficult to supervise your employees in a traditional and police manner , there is no other choice but to trust our team. But that confidence has to be worked on, it doesn’t appear overnight because you want it very strongly. Sometimes, simply working correctly throughout the day is enough to build that trust, but here we are going to give you some little tricks to foster that trust in remote teams.

Encourage open and transparent communication

Create a virtual communication space so your team can share information, collaborate and discuss strategies. If team members see that communication flows freely between them without filters or intermediaries, this team will have less reason to think that there are groups with privileged information, gossip, or distrust the communicative intentions of the team. rest of the team or superior.

Work so that the people in your organization are not afraid to ask questions, to propose ideas, to participate. And provide all the information that your employees need to do their job correctly. 

Avoid inappropriate tools and provide training correctly

The success and performance of remote teams often depends on the technology they use on a daily basis . That is why it is very important to provide them with the most useful technology for them and to train them appropriately to avoid stressful situations . Providing them with the most appropriate technology and making them learn to use it is key so that everyone works in a much more comfortable way , something that will improve the work environment.

If you are looking for fun and interesting training tools with game elements, you can take a look at tools like Walnut o Catalog.

Track your team’s mood

Sometimes we are so obsessed with achieving goals or numbers that we forget about the mood of our employees. We leave aside everything that does not directly serve to achieve the objectives or KPIs. Although this is obviously important because in the end we must be accountable for achieving or not achieving the objectives, we cannot leave aside the mood of our team members, or leave it for the last of our to-do list. For this reason it is interesting to do frequent checkups. We can use online forms such as Google Forms or Typeform, one-on-one meetings through é s video call, or use exclusive tools for this function. A tool that helps us could be Zeppelean. Zeppelean is a tool for making evaluations, and among them we can make evaluations about the mood of our teams. It also presents gamification elements to keep the team’s spirits high . You can find more information about Zeppelean here .

Having our own dashboard with the mood of our team can help us make better decisions when it comes to generating a good work environment and when it comes to generating trust among the team

• You may be interested: Strategies and tools to create a feedback culture in remote teams

Carry out online teambuilding activities that build trust

When we talk about team building, we often think of those fun outdoor activities that we did with the entire team when we had not yet heard of the coronavirus. These activities are difficult to replicate in a world where our employees are working remotely. But there are activities that can be carried out online, and there are even activities with very specific objectives, beyond having a pleasant time. Games with objectives such as improving communication, feedback or work environment. Next we are going to talk to you about three games: DigiKudos, DigiReta and DigiCrea. These are three very economical activities, very easy to use , and that will help you generate a much more efficient team that trusts itself .

DIGIKUDOS

DigiKudos is a remote team building game to give and receive feedback from the team. Taking turns, each player must give the feedback that the two cards indicate randomly.

In this way we create a safe and fun space to recognize the efforts of others , to build trust among the team and to find areas for improvement. You can find a demo of the game at this link! Remember that it is a demo version with limited content, so the random cards tend to repeat themselves. The full version has much more content. You can find more information and price of this game here .  

The best thing is that we don’t need to complicate our lives to play. We only need the team to make a video call, and for the facilitator to share their screen with the open game. Therefore it is perfect to play both in person in a meeting room and remotely. Or even in a mixed environment where half the team is remote and the other half is in the meeting room

DIGICREA

We are used to activities to get to know each other better, activities to disconnect from the work day and fun activities that generate bonds between the team But what if the remote team building activity also serves to create innovative ideas that we can apply in our work environment to improve it? That is the key to DigiCrea. When you press the button, four animated cards appear randomly. We will have 10 minutes to generate ideas among all the members who meet the conditions indicated in the cards. We can all play at the same time, or compete in teams to see who comes up with the craziest and most useful idea.

Improving the work environment (or even more interesting: improving it together with creativity and teamwork) can be a key piece to creating a team that trusts its members. 

You can find a demo of the game in this link to try it for free!

DIGIRETA

Have the team get to know each other better or discover curiosities about them in a fun and enjoyable way. Because one way to improve trust between the team is for their relationship to be closer and more daily . , not strictly professional. Taking turns, each person decides whether they prefer a random TRUTH or DARE card. TRUTH letters encourage telling personal anecdotes or confessions. The CHALLENGE cards contain a fun test to do in front of the webcam. Laughter is guaranteed !

As with DigiCrea, we will only need the team to start a video call with their usual tool, and for someone to share their screen with the game open. 

You can find a demo of the game at this link!

You can also find more information and price of this game here.

As a leader you must set an example

If you want the team to trust each other and trust you , you are the first to take that step. Practice by example. No matter how many activities we do, no matter how much strategy we carry out when it comes to building trust, all these efforts will collapse if you do not trust your team .

Allows employees to participate in decisions

Making decisions and taking responsibility for those decisions is part of the leader’s job . But there is a difference between making the decision according to your own criteria, and having the entire team participate and debate a decision that may be relevant to them before you make the decision. It does not mean that everything has to be decided according to a consensus, as we have said, the leader ‘s responsibility is to assume the consequences of those decisions and therefore he must make the decision he deems appropriate. Furthermore , it is assumed that if a person ends up in a position of responsibility it is because they have skills and knowledge that other employees do not have . But at least you can take the thoughts and opinions of employees into account when making that decision. Feeling that their leader has listened to them before making a decision helps create a space of trust, a space where employees feel valued and heard.

Avoid at all costs toxic behaviors such as behind-the-scenes criticism, whether professional or work-related.

Unfortunately, office gossip has become commonplace in too many companies. But these bad habits generate a toxic and negative work environment. The people on your team are going to be afraid to be themselves and express their opinion if any mistake can be used against them and will provoke criticism behind their backs. And even if you don’t know if Whether they are criticizing him or not, the fact of knowing that if other colleagues criticize him in front of him makes it come to this person’s mind that they are probably also speaking badly about him or her. This uncertainty is not positive in a work environment and is the opposite of creating a space of trust. We must work very hard on the company culture so that this does not happen. Even take action if we detect these behaviors and address them in the appropriate way, making it clear that they cannot be allowed. Many leaders turn a blind eye to these behaviors because they are seen from a personal perspective and not a professional perspective. But in the end we are people, we are not robots. Everything personal ends up affecting our professional life.

In conclusion, in such an aggressive business world we do not usually give the importance that trust between team members needs. But these details are what end up making the difference between a team that works at high performance, and one that ends up doing a mediocre job. Encourage transparency and communication, empower your team and connect on a personal level with all of them. Andif you have doubts and don’t know where to start, start with something very simple: talk to them. That can be the basisto build that trust that we are looking for. 

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Do you want to start with something quick and easy? Try one of the GamiTeams games!