Promoting the Sense of Happiness in Virtual Teams

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In today’s podcast episode we interview Leigh Ann Rodgers, Founder and CEO of Better Teams. Better Teams is a company that offers services in team facilitation, team building , executive coaching, learning & development, virtual meeting facilitation, and leadership and communication training. Today’s topics are focused on promoting the sense of happiness in virtual teams, three keys to maintaining productive work teams, and activities to improve employee engagement and retention for teams as they Team Anywhere.

What Leigh Ann Learned Over the Course of the Pandemic

When the pandemic struck the whole world, organizational teams were in disarray. However, humans as we are, we were able to create virtual and hybrid working environments only months after the surge of COVID cases. Leigh Ann was surprised at the leaders who were able to move to virtual meetings in ways that turned out much better and beneficial than some face to face interactions.

3 Keys to Maintaining Productive and Happy Teams

Check in a lot with your team – Being busy with work is normal, but not checking on how your team is doing is not supportive. Leaders need to build trust and ensure that areas of need, concern, trust, focus, skill development, or support are addressed immediately.
Engage the team in a variety of ways – Each team and individual on each team is unique. Each has different ways of learning, working, and collaborating. And as a leader it is your responsibility to increase engagement through establishing some sort of personal relationship with team members despite the hybrid work setup.
Establish alignment – Align team members around goals, roles and methods. Since change is constant, leaders should build spaces and infrastructures to constantly align strategy, everyday actions, and accountability.

The 3 Characteristics of Happiness in Assessing Virtual Teams

According to Leigh Ann, there are three (3) characteristics of happiness that need to be present to increase team member engagement, productivity, and retention.

Connectedness – Do team members feel connected to each other and their leaders? Without connection, there is lack of camaraderie and happiness.
Engagement – Do team members feel engaged in their work? Do they have fun? Do they like what they are doing? Less engagement means less productivity and higher attrition.
Fulfillment – Is the work that they are doing aligned to what really matters and makes a difference? Leaders should instill in team members the importance and value of their job. This motivates and provides a great sense of satisfaction.

Connection Activities to Build Team Engagement

A sense of happiness can be achieved in hybrid virtual teams through implementation of regular connection activities. Leigh Ann shared the Inspiring Heroes Activity as an example. This activity allows team members to freely discuss the characteristics of their favorite hero, fictional or real. This sharing allows a discussion of common traits among the heroes and provides insight into each participant. This, in turn, increases engagement and connections within the team.

Who is Leigh Ann Rodgers?

Driven by the mission to positively impact corporate culture and cultivate high-performing, happy teams, Leigh Ann Rodgers is recognized by leaders around the world for her ability to get resistant teams to engage in transformational dialogue, collaborate on how to work better together, and increase satisfaction and retention. Throughout her career, she’s worked alongside leaders of the most well-known Fortune Global 500 brands across the globe. Her flagship offerings include the Better Teams Model and Assessment, Team Consultant Academy, The Better Teams Community – FORWARD, and the Leading Better Teams podcast.