5 Ways to Build Belonging in Virtual Work
"It is Better to Light a Candle than to Curse the Darkness" - Eleanor Roosevelt
In an effort to support those of us committed to building a sense of safety, trust and belonging at work, my firm is hosting six weeks of community calls designed to build social solidarity while sharing ways we can all lead inclusively during COVID-19.
The Community Calls take place every Monday at 1 PM Pacific/4 PM Eastern Time. On our kick-off call, many diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) leaders gathered to connect, share ways they are showing up as inclusive leaders during these challenging times at work, at home, and in their communities.
The group also offered support in the areas where we felt stuck, uncertain and concerned about how we can continue honoring our DEI commitments in this moment. Several key concerns were vocalized on this first call, including:
How do we keep our DEI goals on track during COVID-19?
How can we lead inclusively, using a DEI lens in response to this global crisis?
What role, if any, can employee resource groups (ERGs) play to provide support?
In addition to these three concerns, many wanted to gain strategies on how to build a sense of safety, trust and belonging in virtual meeting spaces like Zoom. As more workplaces move to the virtual conference room, many DEI champions are seeking support on identifying promising practices.
After our first call, we conducted this poll to help us focus on these common concerns. Based on the responses, it was clear that our second community call ought to focus on ways of building belonging in our virtual work.
The following strategies featured below were developed from the collective wisdom of the Belonging at Work (BAW) Community. We strongly encourage you to consider these strategies as you look for ways to build belonging in your virtual work.
Feeling Included Starts with Technology. To cultivate a sense of safety, trust and belonging in virtual communities, we must first ensure that our team members have access to the technology that makes room for clear communication between all stakeholders.
To ensure equitable access to technology, here are a few considerations the BAW Community offered:
• Create a technology cheat sheet like this one if you use Zoom.
• Host tech check-ins with your team in advance to troubleshoot participation barriers.
• Ask your colleagues to inform team leaders of accessibility needs prior to a virtual meeting.
• Share wireless connection with colleagues by lending loaner tablets to create hotspots.
• Set-up closed captioning with video conferencing technology such as Zoom Rooms.
• Check-in on technology needs at the top of the agenda for every meeting.
• Ask your team for promising practices to continually improve technology experiences,
• Use breakout rooms for groups larger than 5 people to include more voices & ideas.
2. Allow Your Team to Succeed with Established Meeting Values. Establishing virtual meeting norms that center diversity, equity and inclusion commitments helps build a sense of safety, trust and belonging.
Offering a few of these norms and inviting the group to share their own will help the group feel a greater sense of safety and trust. Below are a few the BAW Community follows:
• Share your name/pronouns when introducing yourself in group chat or verbally.
• Assume good will when learning from others with different perspectives and ideas.
• Use “I” Statements when sharing to avoid generalizing about other people & groups.
• W.A.I.T, if you are prone to sharing often, ask “why am I talking,” and if you don’t share often ask “why aren’t I talking.”
• When using video, give people permission to take care of what they need. Some people will need video for connection or to read lips, while others may need a higher level of privacy for a variety of reasons. Here’s what one of our belonging champions shared:
“I’ve suggested and modeled that it’s ok to NOT activate the camera during videoconferencing. Some leaders may want to see their people, however not everyone has a cute home office with nice decor. Also, honestly, with all the salons and barbershops closed - not everyone is comfortable with having their picture with a disheveled look available for colleagues to see.”
Virtual backgrounds may help offset concerns of what your home working space looks like, and they may add some fun and variety to your meetings (check out my own here).
3. Conduct an Emotion Temperature Check. Remember the reason why we are flocking to virtual meeting spaces – a global pandemic. Naturally, many of our colleagues have either direct or indirect experiences with COVID-19.
Given this reality, doing an emotional temperature check before each meeting offers a pathway to practice flexing your empathy muscles. The suggestions offered below may help navigate how you could facilitate this part of your meeting:
• Open up each meeting with a message of hope, an inspirational quote, or a story.
• Ask your colleagues to share how they are feeling in one word or a phrase.
• Encourage your colleagues that real feelings and emotions are welcome.
• Give meeting time to process and validate these feelings, which may foster safety and trust.
• Do a closing emotional temperature check at the end of the call. If colleagues are still unsettled, be sure to personally check-in after the meeting offering support.
4. Share the Speaking Time with Your Team. To serve as an inclusive leader, one must practice the art of active listening. Leading virtual meetings offers an ideal space to refine this skill.
The BAW Community had many ideas on how to practice this skill by sharing the airtime. These ideas may increase engagement and facilitate greater discussion among all of your colleagues:
• Increase group engagement by facilitating a round robin after asking a team question.
• If you’re concerned about time, ask your colleagues to write their ideas using the chat
• Delegate facilitation responsibilities by rotating hosts and build the leadership skills of your colleagues.
• Mix your agenda up from emotional temperature checks to small group discussions to group discussions to make sure everyone has the opportunity to contribute.
5. The Role of the Meeting Host. Even when you’re sharing the speaking time with others, you play an important role as a meeting host in virtual workspaces. Much like a music DJ, you have to sense the energy on the call and respond appropriately.
The BAW Community generated the following tips that they want virtual meeting facilitators to be aware of. These tips may help foster a greater sense of safety, trust and belonging:
• Be online at least 10 or 15 minutes in advance of the meeting to support your colleagues with any tech support.
• Acknowledge and remind your colleagues that we all learn and communicate in different ways.
• Encourage your team to use the chat feature if they have noise in the background or feel more comfortable participating by writing out their thoughts.
• Count to 10 seconds after asking a question as your colleagues will a moment to feel safe, compose their thoughts and respond.
• Remember that some folks find it hard to participate in larger groups – experiment with different ways to increase meeting engagement.
• Check-in daily with your team to make sure they have what they need to be successful.
If you found this content helpful, consider joining our next Belonging at Work Community Call next Monday. There we will discuss how we can continue honoring our organization’s diversity, equity and inclusion commitments during COVID-19. Together we will continue growing the Belonging at Work Movement.
