Grace was so over remote work. Sure, her former commute was a pain, but she missed the laughs, the lunches, the light interruptions that made her feel part of something. Post-pandemic isolation left her craving connection and a real sense of community.
So when she landed a role at a hybrid company promising a “vibrant work culture,” she jumped in. But the promise fell flat.
Instead of community, she found herself on the outside looking in:
- Inside jokes that no one explained
- Information was kept close to the vest
- Group lunches that few people attended
- Desks were empty even on “anchor” days
- Meetings were full of fluff, low on substance
- Communication channels were ambiguous and confusing
- Expressions of gratitude and recognition were MIA
- Alternate viewpoints were silenced or ignored
Ironically, Grace had felt more connected working fully remote. Her motivation faded. Her manager barely noticed. Three months in, she was ready to walk.
Why does community matter so much?
Because it’s about more than proximity. Community means being seen, valued, and respected. It fuels connection, belonging and purpose, and it’s something nearly everyone wants. In a world where more people are feeling increasingly lonely, creating a sense of community is not optional. It’s essential.
The myth: Simply working onsite automatically creates belonging.
The truth: Many in-person teams invest less in building community, assuming it’ll happen organically. It doesn’t.
Why should leaders care?
- Employees with strong workplace connections are 3.5x more engaged (Gallup)
- Strong social support lowers workplace depression by 37% (APA)
- 74% of hybrid workers say social connection drives their motivation (McKinsey)
- Teams with high connection report 23% higher satisfaction (McKinsey)
How to build community—anywhere:
It takes presence, intention, and small, meaningful actions. Many of these ideas can be applied in a variety of settings: in-person, all-virtual and hybrid. And most don’t cost anything, except time and presence.
1. Co-create team norms. Involve everyone in shaping the principles and norms about how you work together. Revisit regularly.
2. Clarify communication channels. Define where and how people connect formally and informally, synchronously and asynchronously, work-related and social. Make it easy for people in different time zones to participate. Encourage team members to take ownership of certain channels, which might rotate.
3. Embed growth and connection into roles: Set up buddy systems, job shadowing, or peer mentoring within or across teams. Assign cross-functional projects to foster connections and build trust. Keep everyone aware of relevant conferences, available training classes and seminars, and encourage people to share “trip reports” afterward with the team.
4. Foster casual connections: Try random coffee chats, open office hours, or periodic breakfasts or lunches with senior leaders for randomly-assigned groups of employees. Use games or other exercises that are quick, fun and easy to set up and play, either during team meetings or asynchronously.
5. Share fun facts: Ask team members to complete a “fun facts to know and tell” (or “personal operating system”) sheet to post and share with other team members. Include information such as languages spoken, places lived and worked, special gifts, communication preferences, DiSC (or MBTI, etc.) profile, hobbies, interests, favorite vacation spots, family and pets. This helps people to identify common interests and form new bonds and help integrate new team members more easily.
6. Make celebrations and giving thanks a team event: Offer tangible expressions of gratitude or acknowledgement for a job well done. Gift cards for food-delivery apps, online shopping sites, handwritten notes of appreciation or concern, and acknowledging moments like birthdays or anniversaries all send messages that people are seen as whole humans, vs. simply workers.
7. Respect cultural differences: Create a safe space for people to openly discuss the benefits and challenges that differences might present to the team. Create a team contract that reflects these differences. Encourage people to teach (or better yet, show) each other their special customs, rituals, meals, and holiday celebrations, either during team meetings or by recording videos or photos that can be posted in a shared space. Invite team members to include important location and religious holidays in your shared team calendar.
8. Prioritize in-person when it counts: This is especially important at certain junctures, such as a team kick-off, a major project launch, celebrating a key milestone. Can’t gather the whole team? Aim for a local majority. Business conferences or training programs may offer opportunities to pull team members together beforehand or afterwards. When traveling for work, leaders should consider extending their trips to visit remote employees.
9. Invest in team-based learning: To get the best ROI on your time together, whether in person, hybrid or remote, choose topics that spark discussion. Include time for networking and bonding. Reflect on how people can apply new skills or knowledge in real-life settings.
10. Deliver team swag: It’s not just a mug (or a keypad, T-shirt, notebook, etc.). It’s a message: “You’re one of us.” Consider creating a team logo and/or color that team members can use on internal communications.
11. Host knowledge exchanges: Monthly “breakfast briefings” or lunch-and-learns keep ideas flowing. Encourage team members to facilitate or present or invite members of other teams to cross-pollinate knowledge.
12. Back employee-led clubs, interest groups or communities of practice. Support clubs or groups where people with shared backgrounds or interests can connect and provide mutual support and communities of practice.
13. Serve together: Organize local volunteer days or skill-based contributions. Share stories and photos across the team. Also, encourage individuals to contribute their skills that can meet other community needs. (E.g., I am a facilitator for youthful offenders as part of our local Communities for Restorative Justice organization, and I also facilitate conversations between the local police and community members.)
Community isn’t a location or a logo. It’s a feeling and a set of relationships built with care and consistency. It starts with small steps. And it changes everything.
Links
Downloadable resources from Guided Insights
- To give you and your team a head start on creating draft principles, download this checklist for creating strong principles and meaningful team norms.
Past Communiques from Guided Insights:
External Articles
