Creative Ways to Foster Employee Social Connections

Your satisfaction with your job is directly proportional to the kind of relationships you share at the workplace with your colleagues and team. Work itself is not entirely responsible for your overall job satisfaction. There have been instances where social support received at the workplace was ranked higher above than the nature of the job itself. 

Having a supportive network is a great indicator for overall job saisfaction. The more connected an employee feels with their colleagues, the better it is for morale. Before we get into how to foster connections, let’s look at how to build them in the first place. 

1. Create a strong foundation: Make sure that you have a strong foundation. Only celebrating festivals together or planning team lunches won’t help if the employees do not get enough time to bond or nurture their relationships. Creating a strong foundation requires you to pay attention to employee needs and make changes accordingly. The more collaborative, the better. 
2. Create an environment of trust and inclusivity: Multiple elements like the design structure of the office, the hierarchical structure, and the diversity found across different teams can speak a lot about your organization. Make sure to acknowledge and appreciate the uniqueness every employee brings to the team. It is also very important to use vocabulary that reflects mutual respect and provides inclusivity—for example, using words that are gender-neutral or creating policies that are fair to every gender.
3. Truly listen: Emphasizing the previous point, truly listen to your employee's needs. Listening doesn’t mean simply giving them space to voice their opinions but implementing these changes in the work policies as well. Create an inclusive structure where communication can flow smoothly and everyone has a healthy sense of belongingness in the organisation.
4. Give time: Things, policies and new environments do not get created over time. Give time for things to settle down. Whenever you are introducing a new policy or structure, provide a platform that can assist employees in transitioning smoothly. Give time and be patient. Learning new systems and unlearning the old ways of functioning can take time. But with proper guidance, understanding and support, everyone can find more support while navigating their journeys. 

Once you feel confident about the foundation, you can move forward to the next stage that is, fostering relationships. Here are a few fun and creative ways to do so.

Introduce laughter, humour and wit.

Work is very serious and demands a proper regime from everyone. But adding light-hearted elements such as laughter, humor can alleviate stress and anxiety and can also help employees form deeper connections. It can include fun games, stand-up gigs and sharing funny experiences/ stories. You can also play fun games while doing so. Some of the fun games could involve blindfolding the person asking them to paint, and competing against other teams to see who finishes painting first. Make sure to be respectful, and inclusive and always take consent while you do so. An important thing to remember here is to keep everything voluntary so that individuals get to keep their boundaries and can decide the level of involvement within the said activities. 

Get curious together

Participate in a game/ activity that requires you to solve problems in groups. You can have mystery games, mind puzzles or guessing games. This is a fun way to foster a spirit of healthy competition, communication and collaboration.

Add movement/ favourite sport/ physical activity

Just like breathwork or yoga, adding team sports is another great way to get competitive and work towards a common goal. Not only is it a great platform to connect, re-connect and foster relationships with colleagues but it is a great way to explore each other’s strengths and leadership qualities through the game.

Bring Your Food Fridays

This is a great medium to get to know each other’s likes and dislikes better. People from various departments could be given broad categories to bring meals from e.g salads, rice, chips. This also provides an opportunity to know people from other departments that you usually do not come across.

Express Gratitude and Acknowledge each other

The organizations can plan a Gratitude Day on the same day every month. On this day, employees will reach out to each other for appreciation and gratitude. They can exchange notes or send messages to each other. It has been proved that the Gratitude practice positively impacts interpersonal relationships. This is an opportunity to not only connect but also build deeper and long-lasting connections with others.

Storytelling to tap into the psyche

You can plan theme-based storytelling sessions every once in a while. It could also include poetry, music, and dance. Storytelling sessions can help employees connect with aspects other than their work lives as well. It’s a powerful medium to connect.

FAQs:

Can organizations customise activities?

They should! Customization allows you to cater to everyone’s needs and invite everyone to be a part of it. 

Can organizations opt for professional programs for this?

Yes. Mental Health Service providers can offer expert assistance in facilitating such sessions and activities keeping employee needs at the forefront. At Manah Wellness, we offer a wide range of programs.