Windy Woods Digital Solutions

A virtual water cooler provides an easy place for people to interact online, just like in an office setting when employees go to the coffee room or water cooler.

Benefits of a Virtual Water Cooler

Team collaboration is critical for business success. People need to feel comfortable working together. In an office, you can get that through face-to-face interactions, but in a remote workplace, you have to seek it out. Virtual community building is more active and assertive. Managers and leaders have to believe in it to make it work. But getting that sense of community in a work culture will pay dividends when people work together on initiatives and projects.

How to Implement a Water Cooler in a Remote Environment

The first step is to pick the place for your water cooler. Most virtual community communication platforms have such a channel already. However, the key to success isn’t the place but the actions of the people in your organization.

Make sure managers and stakeholders participate genuinely in the water cooler conversations. If people see that the leaders value the interaction, it shows them it is an integral part of the company.

Put out conversation starters regularly. You can do fun quizzes. You can ask questions about fun topics (like a favorite TV series). Play around with a variety to see which ones resonate with your group. The goal is to encourage interaction that is more natural and engaging.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Where some people fail at building a virtual community is from the concept: “If I create it, people will automatically use it.” Imagine a coffee break room with no coffee or bad coffee. People wouldn’t gather there and interact. This problem also works virtually. Simply having a slack channel or chat room called “watercooler” isn’t enough to make it effective. You have to be intentional about it.

How to Keep a Virtual Water Cooler Going

Make it a priority. Often these sorts of initiatives get started, people engage, but then it falls off and dies. Have a plan for engaging with it regularly, and don’t give up. It can take a while to create a habit.

Police cliquey behavior. You might have one team that seems to do all the talking. That might seem helpful at first, but if you let it go too long, other team members will feel excluded, and it can be hard to bring it all back together once the divide exists.