## Najeeb Khan, Founder of TeamLand ### How to foster belonging on remote teams Najeeb Khan on Belonging on Remote Teams In this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Najeeb Khan, founder of TeamLand, about team-building and belonging. Najeeb and Jean discuss: - why it's important for people to have a sense of belonging on their team - the challenges most teams are facing these days in terms of team connectedness and belonging - the biggest differences in fostering belonging on a remote team vs a co-located one - what leaders or managers can do to build belonging into their culture ## Takeaways from Najeeb ### Team-building and building a culture is ongoing > "We have to understand that it's not a once and done activity. Team-building and building a culture is kind of like farming or working out. But the good thing is just like farming will work out, there's many ways of doing it and managers can kind of choose the one that works for them. Whether, you know, you can do it yourself, get someone else to do it, but when you do it, it results in a better team." ### Deeper connections result in better team output > "High-performing teams aren't more effective because they work all the time. It's really the fact that they connect with each other and they're closer means they're actually allowing them to have a better output later on." ### Remember proximity bias in remote and hybrid work > "Whether they want to do fully in-office or they're going hybrid, there are certain biases that we have to be aware of. One is proximity bias. If you are sitting beside someone, you're more likely to enjoy spending time with them and look at them more favorably versus someone who you just see on a screen. So from a remote versus a co-located team, that's one thing we have to be aware of, that that's one big difference and how we interact with others."