ThemeTrust & culture
CardCard 37 of 65
Questions5 to explore
StepBuild belonging

Socializing

Build human bonds on- & offline

The relationships that hold a team together when things get hard are built in moments that have nothing to do with work.

Socializing at work is not a luxury or a nice-to-have. It is how people develop the kind of trust and mutual understanding that makes collaboration easier, conflict less damaging, and feedback more honest. In an office, a lot of this happens without anyone planning it. In a hybrid team, it does not happen at all unless someone makes it happen.

The challenge is that what counts as social varies enormously by person and culture. A virtual games session is energising for some people and awkward for others. The aim is not to find one format everyone loves, but to create enough different opportunities that people can find their level.

Online and in-person socializing serve different purposes. An annual in-person gathering can build a depth of connection that no amount of video calls replicates. But regular lighter online moments keep the relationship warm in between.

Make it explicitAgree on a minimum social cadence for the team: at least one online and one in-person format, how often, and who is responsible for initiating them.

How strong hybrid teams handle it

The same building block, handled well. These are patterns from teams that work well across locations, offered as illustrations to react to, not rules to copy.

Start calls with a personal question

Teams that feel connected across locations often open regular calls with a brief personal check-in, not a work question. It takes two minutes and it changes the tone of the whole meeting.

Budget for in-person time

Strong hybrid teams treat occasional in-person gatherings as a business investment, not a reward for good performance. Even one or two times per year significantly changes how the team functions remotely for months afterward.

Opt-in social formats

Voluntary social events, including online ones, work better when attendance is genuinely optional and when there are multiple formats over time, so different kinds of people find something that suits them.

Celebrate milestones together

Birthdays, work anniversaries, and project completions are opportunities to pause and acknowledge a person across the whole team. Small rituals around these moments build more belonging than a dedicated 'social event' ever could.

Questions for your team

Use these on your own or in a group. There are no right answers, only better conversations.

How well does each person on this team know their teammates as people, not just colleagues?
When did this team last do something together that was not a work meeting?
Do remote and office team members have equal opportunities to build informal relationships?
What kinds of social moments have actually worked for this team in the past?
What would it take to make in-person gatherings a regular part of how this team works?

Watch for

Social events that require a lot of energy from already-tired people (elaborate games, enforced participation, long video calls) can backfire and make people feel more drained than connected.
Office-based team members often socialize with each other naturally, which means remote members are socializing with their colleagues but not with the team as a group.
The quality of the relationship before a conflict shapes how quickly and well it gets resolved. Teams that never invest in social connection pay for it when things get hard.