Virtual coffee chats are the new old way of getting familiar with your colleagues. They bring us back to the level of human-to-human communication and foster interactions that bring the sense of working with others home. This is very important in the remote working environments we find ourselves in today. In fact, studies have shown that worker anxiety is increasing rapidly and virtual coffee chats offer a respite from the business grind with some human value-based conversations.
But, a lot of people do not understand how virtual coffee chats actually work. That is, they know how to respond if you put up a question but they may not know how to get conversations going. If you have found yourself stuck in such a situation in the past, we have the right answers for you. Here are 5 great ways to enhance your virtual coffee chat sessions with managers, workers, and colleagues.
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5 Ways to Turn Virtual Coffee Chats into Collaboration Launchpoints
Develop Workspace Rapport
For team members
Creating a welcoming space where ideas and opinions are welcome has become more challenging than ever before. We hear a lot about workplace burnout and coffee badging and all of these are symptoms of organizational decay. So, to challenge this trend, the course correction needed at big companies is to make small teams bond better.
What does this mean? Well, as this Entrepreneur podcast hosted by editor Jason Feifer explains, managers need a hands-on understanding of people management. The host and guest speak of formal training and this is true. And the best way to understand people management is to relate with them interpersonally in scheduled virtual coffee chats.
In fact, this is why this method is one of the most popular employee engagement tactics among managers and executives. Cultural ownership is created when managers and workers can communicate together and make hierarchy secondary to cooperation and business agility.
For managers
Managers need to understand how to build organizational culture around dialog. The one-on-one interactions and team chat sessions really make a difference since they help people open up without the pressure of work burdening them. This is also one of the best ways to come up with great ideas for making increments in productivity without increasing monetary investments.
Employees and team members may have great ideas that would flow out naturally if managers build a strong rapport with them. Just like the podcast above mentions, employees must be made to feel ownership of their work. The best way to do this is to create a strong business rapport between managers and team members with regular one-on-one and group virtual coffee chats. Check out our blog on unlocking the growth mindset in your employees for more details!
Find Common Points of Inspiration
For team members
Believe it or not, the best innovation and bond among employees happens when they talk about things they are genuinely interested in. Everyone wants to make money at work and grow their career but that doesn’t inspire people in the same way a mutual love of Jazz or an interest in the Powerball can. The way virtual coffee chat apps and watercooler moments create opportunities for interaction is very important for building organic organizational culture and business loyalty. Team members can use virtual coffee chats to communicate with each other on things they find of mutual interest. This can get awkward sometimes so we have made a list of do’s and don’t’s for virtual coffee chats. Check it out!
For managers
Virtual coffee chats with managers are a great time for mid-level operators to reach out to workers and include them in their personal circle. This means creating a working understanding that hinges on their goals and approaches to getting things done. If you are an able communicator, you should be able to bring in some good insights with a bit of overarching philosophy (not too much we hope!) and blend it in with what you are doing at the moment. Further, when you combine your points of inspiration and open up to new ideas, this helps employees align and may even spark off some innovative ideas. This bonding can create what experts at McKinsey refer to as “Courageous Growth” and add lasting value to your business!
Talk About Ongoing Market Trends
For team members
We get it. If you want to treat your virtual coffee chat like a brain break, that is perfectly fine. In fact, coffee chats that don’t have a lot to do with business often lead to moments of connection you would not get otherwise. But when you are working on a project together, being able to connect on off-track or distant points of the project is a great way to bring a better understanding to everyone involved. According to a 2024 human capital study by Deloitte, using AI tools enables workforce members to undertake complex problem-solving that requires skills that are less technical and more abstract, such as creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration. This is one of the biggest goals for managers when setting virtual coffee chats. It helps foster open-minded approaches to problem-solving and generates inherent collaboration to help businesses unlock a stellar growth mindset.
For managers
There has been a lot of talk about adjacency innovation in the business world. The best example of this at the moment is Nvidia which has had a stellar year thanks to the growth of the AI chip bubble. The same growth process applies to teams as well when implemented effectively. Using market trends as a talking point during virtual coffee chats is the perfect foregrounding for watercooler moments. This helps managers curate the environment around projects and also find potential micro-learning opportunities for mentorship programs.
Swap Ideas for Anything and Everything
For team members
Creativity and innovation are often spurred by randomness more than systematic order. So, when you have your employee engagement tactics on your desk, consider how your workers can find creative outlets for their work stress. Random topics are in fact a great way to come up with ideas that you would not get otherwise. But they do not need to always be related to ongoing projects or hot topics. Employee engagement also factors in individual creative pursuits which can turn into hot topics for conversation. This CEO magazine article on changemakers, changemakers innovate at the edges of disciplines, approaches, and perspectives. This edge of conversation is fostered with open discussions in virtual coffee chats and employees can really outpace expectations through them with the necessary support behind them.
For managers
Managers can use watercooler sessions to discover talent and create leverage opportunities for their teams. Open discussions often bring out big ideas that need refining and expansion within the business context. For innovative domains like marketing and sales, this is crucial since it enables businesses to have a personalized touch and converts to a better customer experience. Aside from that, managers also have the chance to flex their interests with their team members in these chat sessions. This helps bridge the hierarchal gap and often creates innovative situations where minds come together to produce unique insights.
Make Growth Plans
For team members
The state of the economy and business world right now is one of perpetual transformation. That is to say, businesses and their employees are always looking for new ways to grow. The best way to create internal momentum and business resilience is to involve employees in working processes at the strategy level. Using virtual coffee chats as launching points for personal growth points feeds into the ongoing process as well as mentorship programs. Employees can use this to create better alignment between their personal goals and professional paths in their careers.
For managers
Business managers are in a great position to develop employee empathy and create business resilience for their teams. This is crucial for organizational health as well as nurturing talent in-house. This McKinsey interview on building organizational resilience explains how to distinguish between personal and organizational resilience. “Personal resilience has to do with the ‘kind of grit you show and how you come through difficult periods and experiences.’ Being resilient should help organizations withstand shocks and come through difficult periods in an even stronger position. Resilient companies ideally benefit from difficult periods in terms of pulling away from competition. Using virtual coffee chat sessions as starting points for building trust helps managers accomplish human and organizational sustainability goals.
Does Your Business Need a Virtual Coffee Chat App?
LEAD.bot is a people management and operations platform designed specifically for Slack and Teams. It has some tremendous team-building features like virtual coffee chats, buddy programs, birthday celebrations & work anniversary celebrations, new hire onboarding programs, and Pulse Surveys.
LEAD.bot also offers one-of-a-kind Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) for large-scale organizations. This analysis offers insights for building strong connections within hybrid workforces and using innovative technologies to connect employees seamlessly. As a result, companies enjoy a massive boost in their peer learning, performance, and productivity efforts.
LEAD.bot is the ultimate choice for organizations seeking sustainable growth in the people management way! Book a demo now!
