We all know that belonging is a core human need and that feeling a sense of connection is an intrinsic motivator. This is why work relationships are so important and why strong social connections help employees feel happier and healthier and deliver better results.

With the shift to remote work, we’ve lost our natural touchpoints with our colleagues. Teams and leaders are scheduling virtual activities to keep the social essence of work that we all miss. But many employees see these initiatives as simply another meeting they need to attend.

It’s great to have online games and or share a virtual coffee during our social initiatives, but what are the elements that we could add to connect at a deeper level? We’re not seeing each other and we could use these social moments to bring meaningful exchanges and the missing human interactions.

This guide can be used for your social initiatives to help build real connections. The objective of this guide is to build low-risk environments and safe spaces using designed conversations and frameworks where all team members can have meaningful exchanges and share their ideas and experiences in a non-work setting.