We live in a highly connected, virtual environment these days, especially in our teams. For many of us who started our careers early on, we were used to working side-by-side with colleagues, seeing them every day, whether in meeting rooms or chatting at the coffee machine. The reality is: Those simple moments of connection are harder to come by now.

But you can create a real sense of belonging and engagement for your teams, even multicultural teams that span continents. And I’m here to show you how. You need to focus on three key areas:

  • The behaviors that help teams become truly cohesive and have fun together 
  • How to lead multicultural teams effectively 
  • What leaders need to rethink when moving from face to face to virtual teams

What really makes teams cohesive

Creating cohesion within a working team can be tough, but it's more than doable when you know what key behaviors hold a team together. I’ve identified four behaviors that facilitate strong cohesion in a team. These apply whether your team meets face to face or virtually. 

1. A strong sense of trust

The foundation is trust, but not just any kind of trust. It’s vulnerability-based trust. This means being authentic and willing to share a bit of yourself with the team. It can feel uncomfortable at first, but it’s essential for creating genuine connection.

2. Healthy conflict

Once trust is established, teams are able to embrace healthy conflict. That’s where open, sometimes tough discussions happen without fear of repercussions. It’s not about avoiding disagreement, but using it constructively.

3. Commitment and accountability

Next comes commitment — making sure everyone truly buys into decisions, not just going along with the flow. This commitment sets the stage for accountability, where team members hold each other responsible for delivering on what they’ve promised.

4. Common goals and outcomes

And finally, all of these behaviors lead to a clear focus on results, aligning the entire team around common goals and outcomes. Once the team have established a rapport and everyone is on the same page, it’s much easier to establish common goals to strive for together. 

I’ve found that if you’re new as a leader or joining a new team, taking the time to consciously work through these behaviors together can be a real game-changer. Just recently, in a leadership meeting, we kicked things off by sharing personal stories, being honest about who we are beyond our job titles. It was amazing how quickly that broke down barriers, especially in a virtual setting.