Creating socio-economic ties with remote colleagues with help in building close and supportive connections, even while working in a hybrid environment.
In a post-Covid world, people now seek a much more personalized and flexible work environment, which includes building closer and stronger relationships with those they work with. During 2020, the use of technology-supported communication significantly escalated due to businesses having to force employees to work from home possible. As a result, we have lost the sense of in-person connection.
What are socio-economic ties? This is described as the relational connections formed between people in society. This means that work-related interactions as well as organic interactions allow colleagues to create stronger relationships in the work environment. The relationships have the power to support various organizational structures, as well as drive innovation and facilitate the spread of information to help make changes work.
Despite majority of businesses planning for a hybrid future, leaders should place focus on rebuilding organic socio-economic ties as they assist in sparking collaborative and innovative business results.
Apprenticeship
In an in-person work environment, apprenticeship is much easier to facilitate as a natural and organic relationship. In a virtual world, this requires a lot more planning and can prove to be much more difficult. Team members tend to become more diverse and geographically distributed as the desire to work remotely increases. Priority should be placed on nurturing and reinforcing these ties to create apprenticeship relationships that are of high functionality and value for the employee.
Inclusive Solutions
Creating unique and individual approaches specific to certain groups will be fundamental in rebuilding organic connections. The younger generation of employees, new employees, and introverts struggle more when trying to contribute to team situations, as well as feeling engaged and creative while working remotely and communicating digitally. This is mainly due to loss of spontaneous connections and interactions.
View virtual and in-person solutions as a powerful complement
It is important to remember how much has been achieved virtually, despite the challenges it has brought to light. Virtual relationships have allowed for friends and family to connect, even while on opposite sides of the world. It is no secret that many businesses would much prefer to return to the pre-pandemic in-person relationships, however research has shown that 75% of employees would ideally prefer to work from home between 2-3 days per week.
Today, businesses need to find a balance between virtual and in-person teams. Leaders are able to track productivity, employees should be in control of how and where they want to work. This would allow employees to decide which option works better for them based on their productivity level and lifestyle. Various employee groups will be able to tailor their preferred working model to their needs and preferences.
The combination of the above three strategies will enhance socio-economic ties and will encourage a sense of belonging through meaningful in-person actions.
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This article was originally published on:
https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-organization-blog/socio-emotional-ties-a-secret-ingredient-to-success
