Remote teams

Digital teams  

Working remotely is even more common post-2020, and it may be that you work closely with people for years without ever meeting them in person. Forming professional relationships with your coworkers is essential for trusting each other and for making work a more fun place.  

Hand signals 

It is hard sometimes to keep conversation flowing without accidentally talking over each other in virtual meetings. Implementing hand signals can make communication much smoother, as well as ensuring that it is not only the louder or more confident voices that are heard. Here is an example of hand signals.

Setting limits  

When working remotely, especially when working from your home, it can be difficult to have clearly defined boundaries between work and non-work time. Ensure that you and your team set clear boundaries and off-work hours, and respect these when set. This may mean that one team member starts and ends their day earlier so that they can be with their kids after school, or that someone takes Tuesday morning off for a class. 

This recognises and respects our lives outside of work, and enables us to be more present when working. 

Put this into practice 

Start using check ins and checkouts 

• Check Ins 

  • At the start of a call, ask everyone in turn (each person choosing the next person) to share how they feel coming to the meeting 

    • If someone shares something heavy, make space for it  

  • Add in creative check ins. Some we at Climate 2025 have used include: 

    • What is your favorite book/film/drink to order at a cafe/breakfast/etc? 

    • If one species were an alien, which one would it be? 

    • What song/music do you listen to when you’re working/are feeling down? 

    • What is the highest altitude you’ve ever been to? 

    • What is one thing you think is gross that everyone seems to love? 

    • If you could teleport to anywhere in the world, where would you go?

    • Would you travel into space? 

• Checkouts 

  • At the end of the call, before rushing off, ask everyone in turn to share how they are feeling or where they are at the end of the meeting 

Further resources 

• List of check in questions: InHerSight

• Group icebreaker ideas and some helpful do’s and don’ts: NAF

• Virtual team building activities: Museum Hack