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How virtual coffees help build strong online teams

Derk-Jan de Grood is an Agile coach at Squerist. He accompanies organizations on their Agile journey.

Reading time: 4 minutes

In a world where physical proximity isn’t always feasible, virtual coffees become a bridge to forge the meaningful connections that are so valuable for teams that need to perform and deliver. Derk-Jan de Grood, author of “The waves of Agile,” teamed up with 12 other Agile coaches to write a book about their virtual coffee experiences.

Working in virtual teams seems the norm these days. Such teams can consist of members from multiple organizations, including international companies. They may comprise employees, contractors, freelancers or partners who work remotely from different locations, even across different time zones. Using digital channels such as e-mail, video conferencing, instant messaging and online project management platforms, they collaborate on ideation, perform tasks together, share information and make decisions.

On one hand, we seem to manage just fine in these online settings. We’ve transitioned to hybrid working rather seamlessly. On the other hand, I hear team members complain that they’re less involved and miss the personal connection. In my previous article, I wrote about the importance of creating powerful teams where members trust each other, can address issues and feel safe to make mistakes. There’s ample scientific evidence telling us how important it is to create a friendly and safe team environment that gets people engaged and working well together. But how do you do that in a setting where people communicate through a wire and may never have physically met each other, where people are having back-to-back meetings that leave little space for personal interaction?

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