Relationships – how to be ‘real’ in a virtual world
As many of us move towards a new hybrid way of working, this topic will help you to understand why relationships are so important to our overall health and wellbeing and how to develop genuine face-to-face and online relationships – and how to keep it ‘real’ in a virtual world!
The simple, effective tools and techniques will help you to maintain and strengthen your current relationships and recognise opportunities to make new ones.
You can also watch the webinar which lasts around 15 minutes and is full of hints and tips to help everyone think about the importance of relationships, to develop real empathy with others and to ensure all colleagues are included and considered, no matter where they work from.
There’s also a supporting toolkit to download along with an informative poster and digital banner to help your company share the activities with your employees and signpost them to further support.
The world we live in is changing, so we need to change to make sure we stay connected!
The world we live and work in is changing – did you know?
- Research has shown that around a quarter of the UK’s workforce (23%) will be working remotely and 41% will be working in a hybrid way in 2022 (1)
- Data indicates that two thirds of managers (65%) have not received training on how to manage remote working staff (2)
- 48% of hybrid workers in the UK were worried that working remotely made them less confident in their ability to communicate effectively, with 45% feeling they had ‘lost the art of small talk’ (3)
Sources: (1) Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) 2021, (2) Chartered Management Institute (CMI) 2021, (3) Poly Evolution Report 2021
Webinar: Relationships – how to be ‘real’ in a virtual world
This webinar is around 15 minutes long and is full of information to help you to understand why relationships are so important for our health and wellbeing, how to really connect and how to avoid alienating others. It also signposts where to go for help and support.
Key topics covered:
- The science of relationships – how to release our ‘happy hormones’ (Oxytocin, Serotonin and Dopamine)
- The ‘Spectrum of Empathy’ – how to connect and avoid disconnect
- Unconscious bias
- Where you can go for help and support
Click here to download the resources mentioned in the webinar
Activities to help maintain great relationships
Here are a few simple activities to try on your own or with a colleague to help develop and maintain great relationships in a hybrid world.
Here are some ways to help build and maintain relationships both face-to-face and virtually:
- Create ‘coffee machine’ moments – with more of us able to work in a hybrid way, there will be less casual catch ups and friendly chatter. Think about those you aren’t seeing regularly and find opportunities to re-create the casual conversations.
- Challenge or collaborate – think about ways to engage in friendly competition with colleagues. Challenge them to complete the ‘Wordle’ daily or grab a virtual coffee and collaborate on the wordsearch we’ve included. Stimulating and engaging!
- Be grateful and helpful – take time each day to say, “Thank you”. Small, unexpected acts of kindness can really help our virtual relationships. Being kind or paying someone a compliment could make their day, and not only make them smile but we feel good about ourselves too. It promotes the release of Oxytocin – one of our ‘happy hormones’! This is the art of being selflessly selfish!
To find out more, watch the webinar.
Read the blog article
You’ll find lots more top tips on how to tap into your ‘Happy hormones’ and ‘why we are at our best when we are part of a group’. You can read the blog article which is on our Sovereign Health Care website.
Give the word search a go!
See how quickly you can find the 9 words. Use your cursor to draw around the words as you find them. The wordsearch works best when it’s viewed on a desktop or tablet device.
Useful resources for employers to download
To help your company promote the activities to your workforce and signpost to support, we’ve designed an A4 printable poster, digital banners to use on social media or your intranet page and a handy toolkit which includes exercises and helpful handouts to help your employees build ‘real’ relationships in a virtual world.
Feel free to download and share, print and put them up, or email them to your employees.
Please note: It is important that you listen to the webinar before using the resources, as you’ll hear an explanation of how to use them effectively with your colleagues. Click here to go to the webinar and find out more.
Toolkit
The toolkit is designed to help you share some exercises/ideas with your employees that could help them to stay connected with others, strengthen existing relationships and promote inclusiveness.
Poster
This A4 PDF poster is full of helpful tips to help your employees build ‘real’ relationships. Feel free to download, print and put up or share it with everyone you work with via email.
Digital banners
You can use these digital banners to signpost employees to the resources available on this quarterly topic. Use them on your own wellbeing hub, intranet or on your internal social media channels.
R.E.A.L tips to use everyday
Here are some R.E.A.L tips/techniques to help build and maintain relationships both face-to-face and virtually. Our dedicated poster has more information to help you to keep it R.E.A.L. We’d love you to download and display it in your workplace.
R each out
Take a moment each day to think about someone who you haven’t spent time with recently – this may be an existing colleague or maybe someone who has recently joined your company.
E mpathise
Learning to see the world though someone else’s eyes can help to drive real connections. Remote or hybrid working can cause people to have a narrow view of situations and sometimes see things out of perspective.
A gree to disagree
Remember, we may not see the world in the same way as someone else, but we all need to share the same world. We all have our own opinions and we may see situations from a different perspective.
L unch anyone?
Taking regular breaks helps with both focus and health, and it’s a great way to re-connect with colleagues. Why not ask colleagues to lunch, face-to-face or virtually?
Useful links
All the videos and links to further information shared below, have been peer reviewed, continue to be free at the time of writing this campaign and can be used to read, learn and contact others in order to support you. Many of the sites have downloadable fact sheets and takeaway information.
Take a look at this short video – it’s less than a minute long – on how to help ‘lift someone out of loneliness – https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/lifes-challenges/loneliness
Simple tips to tackle working from home https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/coronavirus/simple-tips-to-tackle-working-from-home
A conversation starter to widen and deepen understanding of workplace loneliness so that employers can identify areas to support staff https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org
Visit ‘Meetup’s community for your local support group https://www.meetup.com
Take the poll
Question: Do you feel connected and have a great relationship with your work colleagues?