Five Great Ways to Bond With New Colleagues Remotely

New year. New job. New colleagues. The pandemic has followed us into 2021 and most of us will attend yet another semester of the infamous online university. However, graduation is fast approaching for many final-year students and a new cohort of graduates will finish their studies soon. By now, most corporate firms have switched to remote work, where possible. This means job interviews and onboarding processes will be virtual. That in itself is a challenge and if you need some more advice on how to tackle remote interviews, make sure to read this blog post!

But back to the topic at hand: Work will take place in an online space where you still have to meet, interact and work together with new colleagues. Most of these people you won’t have met before and you are very unlikely to meet them personally for the next couple of months. However, introducing yourself and getting to know your new team is now more important than ever! So we need to find ways to bond with new colleagues remotely!

Imagine your new colleague asking via email if you have time to talk. From those written words you will not be able to gauge the intentions behind the message. Facial expressions or tone of voice are important signals helping to understand whether someone wants to talk to discuss a problem or if the person just wants to have a friendly conversation. Having to decipher the possible meaning behind a message is stressful and most of the times impossible if you don’t know someone.

The simple but effective solution to this problem is to get to know your colleagues better! 

This will make it much easier to anticipate the intended meaning of messages you receive from your colleagues. After all, working with a great team is what makes a good job even better!

So, here come five great ways to bond with your new colleagues remotely:

1. Introduce yourself when writing the first email to a colleague you haven’t met

This is especially important when interacting with someone who isn’t part of your core team. Just start your email with a few words about yourself. This way your counterpart knows who they’re talking to. Yes, this is important and people appreciate it. And no, you shouldn’t just rely on the job description of your email signature. 😉

2. Organzine knowledge transfer sessions

As the newbie, there’s a lot of organizational topics and team specific knowledge to catch up on. Ask your colleagues if they can make time to explain these to you in (virtual) person. You’ll probably be given some info material and online training to complete your onboarding. Still, talking to someone personally gives you a chance to discuss upcoming questions directly, while also getting the chance to ask your colleagues about their current projects and their area of expertise!

3. Have a virtual coffee

Work is not only about work. It’s also about collaboration and discussion. So, ask your colleagues for a virtual coffee where you discuss things that are not directly work related. This is the lunch break talk you can’t have right now.

4. If there is a team newsletter, write a short paragraph about yourself and ask for it to be included

Some companies have newsletter or other ways of distributing internal information within teams. If it doesn’t come up in the first couple of days, be proactive and ask if there’s a way for you to introduce yourself to the people you’ll be working closely with. 

5. Enhance your written conversations with personal statements and well wishes

The ongoing pandemic affects people in various ways. Some of your team members might struggle without anyone even knowing. So by enhancing your messages with a personal note, you might be able to brighten someone’s day. Include sentences such as “I hope you are well‘ or “stay healthy”. This way you express that you are aware and understanding of the challenges the corona pandemic might pose for someone’s professional and private situation.

If you make use of some of these tips, you’ll bond with your new colleagues faster!  As explained previously, getting along well with your team is important, so you should definitely go this extra mile when working from home! 

So there you have it, five great ways to bond with new colleagues remotely! If you are one stage prior, to having new colleagues, read this post on how to master any online interview. New colleagues also means growing a network, so also read this article on five meaningful ways to stay in touch with your personal and professional contacts! 

How have you been coping with working from home? Will you apply some of the tips mentioned above, or do you have even more to add to the list? Let us know in the comments and share this blogpost if you found it helpful!

Stay happy, stay healthy and see you soon!

Hannah