Whether we like it or not, we have all had remoteness thrust upon us – and, indeed, some don’t only like it, they love it!  No dressing up, no long commute, no queuing for sandwiches. 

But the downside?  Wall to wall Zoom calls, using personal space for work, juggling responsibilities. 

In addition, leaders worry about how they can engage team members and build a healthy culture when they are interviewing, recruiting, inducting and managing people remotely.  And some well-known employers are saying ‘keep working from home’ to their employees.  So, how can leaders build a strong, engaged, remote team? 

Whether working remotely or not, the regular team meeting is THE team development tool – but few leaders recognise this, and team meetings are seen more as a duty than an opportunity.  Regular meeting?  Agenda circulated?  All in attendance?  All updates covered?  Action list distributed?  Cue lack of energy. 

Before you read any further, think about how you would like your team to change over the next 12 months?  Would you like it to be more strategic, proactive, collegiate?  Then think about how you could use your regular team meeting to develop these qualities.  Let’s imagine that you want to build a more collegiate team where people share ideas and support each other.  You can tell the team that you want them to be more collegiate – it’s good advice that may work.  Or, at your next team meeting, you can invite members of the team to acknowledge colleagues who have supported them.  This sends a really strong message: ‘we are encouraged to be collegiate on this team’. 

My take on leadership is that it happens through a series of important conversations – most of them 1:1:  interview, induction, goal-setting, delegation, feedback, performance management, coaching, etc.  While each of these conversations can develop the individual – it is the team meeting that supports the development of collective leadership: they are usually the only time and place where the whole team is together and can ‘do’ being a team: they are the equivalent of the family dinner: a time to stay connected, support each other and have the odd spat.