In a large company, people can work side by side for years and know almost nothing about each other. Marketing communicates with sales only on requests, development with support when a problem arises, HR with managers when it is necessary to fill a vacancy or adapt a newcomer. Formally, everyone works on the same team, but in practice, departments often exist separately.<\/p>\n
Because of this, communication between departments suffers. It\u2019s harder for employees to quickly find the right people, ask questions directly, share experiences, and understand how other teams live. This problem is especially noticeable in remote and hybrid formats, where casual conversations in the kitchen, in the hallway or after a meeting almost disappear.<\/p>\n
The good news is that employee acquaintances can be organized systematically. To do this, it is not necessary to organize a large corporate event or complex team building. Short regular 1-on-1 meetings, internal networking, Random Coffee and other simple formats that help colleagues get to know each other without pressure and unnecessary formality often work better.<\/p>\n
Each department has its own tasks, deadlines, metrics and internal language. Sales think about customers and transactions, marketing about traffic and applications, product team about service development, support about user problems, HR about people and processes. All these areas are interconnected, but employees often see only their area of \u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bwork.<\/p>\n
The result is a gap. One department does not always understand why another makes certain decisions. People begin to communicate only through tasks, reports and urgent requests. Simple human contact is not enough.<\/p>\n
In the office, employees at least sometimes cross paths by chance. You can drink coffee together, discuss news, or get to know each other through a mutual colleague. In a remote or distributed team, there are almost no such situations.<\/p>\n
If a company does not create separate points for informal communication, employees begin to know only those with whom they work every day. Newcomers adapt more slowly, teams trust each other less, and communication becomes dry and fragmented.<\/p>\n
Work calls are needed for tasks, but they rarely help get to know a person. They discuss deadlines, statuses, problems, documents, approvals. Even if employees from different departments are present at the meeting, this does not mean that contact appears between them.<\/p>\n
To introduce employees to each other, you need a different format: calm, short, regular and not overloaded with the work agenda.<\/p>\n
When an employee already knows a person from another department, it is easier for him to write directly. No need to look for \u201csomeone from marketing\u201d or \u201csomeone from product.\u201d There is a specific person with whom you have already had a conversation.<\/p>\n
This saves time. Issues are resolved faster, there are fewer misunderstandings, and unnecessary chains of messages and approvals appear less often.<\/p>\n
Horizontal connections in a company are contacts between employees without the constant participation of managers. They help teams work faster and more flexibly.<\/p>\n
For example, a support specialist can directly share common customer questions with the product team. The marketer can better understand the sales team’s arguments. HR can more quickly sense the mood in different teams. Such connections make the company less closed and more stable.<\/p>\n
Adaptation of new employees should not be limited to getting to know the manager and the immediate team. It is important for a newcomer to understand how the entire company works: who is responsible for what, who to contact, what informal rules there are.<\/p>\n
If from the first weeks a person gets to know colleagues from different departments, he quickly feels part of the team. It\u2019s easier for him to ask questions, get involved in processes and understand the corporate culture.<\/p>\n
Even in an active company, an employee can feel lonely if he communicates with only two or three people. This is especially true for remote teams, employees with flexible schedules, and professionals who rarely participate in all-hands meetings.<\/p>\n
Regular meetings help people see that there are real people behind tasks and chats. This impacts engagement, trust and overall sense of belonging to the company.<\/p>\n
Random Coffee is one of the simplest formats for internal networking. Employees are regularly paired for a short meeting: online or offline. Typically, such a meeting lasts 20\u201330 minutes and takes place without a rigid agenda.<\/p>\n
The main goal of the format is to give people a reason to get to know each other. Participants can discuss what they do, what tasks they are currently solving, what teams they interact with, what interests they have outside of work.<\/p>\n
Random Coffee is good if you need:<\/p>\n
A virtual cooler is an online replacement for an office kitchen or break area. In the office, employees can accidentally cross paths and talk. In a remote team, such an opportunity must be created separately.<\/p>\n
The format can be different: short calls, random pairs, thematic chats, meetings based on interests. The main thing is that people have a safe space for informal communication without work tasks and reporting.<\/p>\n
Sometimes it is better to select pairs not completely randomly, but according to the logic of interaction between departments. For example:<\/p>\n
Such meetings help employees better understand how their work affects other areas. This is useful not only for the atmosphere, but also for business processes.<\/p>\n
Another simple format is short interviews with employees. They can be published in an internal channel, mailing list, or corporate portal.<\/p>\n
The questions can be simple:<\/p>\n
This format helps employees get to know each other even without meeting in person. And if after the interview you add the opportunity to write to the person or schedule a short conversation, the effect will be stronger.<\/p>\n
People often get to know each other more easily not through positions, but through common interests. The company can run a book club, a running club, spoken English, a board game club, parent meetings, a film club, or any other format that suits the team culture.<\/p>\n
It’s important not to try to reach everyone at once. It’s best to start with a few topics that employees are really interested in and see how they respond.<\/p>\n
Before launching the format, it is important to understand why you want to introduce employees. The goal can be different:<\/p>\n
If the goal is clear, it is easier to choose the format, rules and frequency of meetings.<\/p>\n
For regular dating, 1-on-1 meetings are best. They do not require much preparation and are usually easier than group activities. For new employees, you can add separate pairings with people from key departments. For a distributed team — online meetings and a virtual cooler. To develop culture — interest clubs and internal interviews.<\/p>\n
You don’t need to launch everything at once. Start with one simple format, such as Random Coffee every two weeks.<\/p>\n
Matching can be random, but in a corporate scenario it is often useful to add rules. For example:<\/p>\n
Such rules help make meetings more useful and comfortable.<\/p>\n
One of the common problems with such meetings is an awkward start. People don’t always know what to talk about with an unfamiliar colleague. So it’s important to give a little context up front.<\/p>\n
This could be a short profile of the participant: position, department, area of \u200b\u200bresponsibility, interests, topics in which a person can be useful, and topics that are interesting to him. When a participant sees this information before the meeting, the conversation starts easier.<\/p>\n
If getting to know employees is perceived as just another obligatory activity, interest quickly drops. It is better to make participation voluntary, but regular. For example, an employee can join a round of meetings if it is convenient for them, or skip it without explanation.<\/p>\n
This approach reduces resistance and helps maintain the quality of communication.<\/p>\n
To make it easier for participants, you can offer a list of questions in advance. It doesn’t have to be a strict script, but it will help start a conversation.<\/p>\n
Examples of questions:<\/p>\n
Such questions help not to go into too formal a conversation, but also do not turn the meeting into an empty conversation.<\/p>\n
When people are forced to participate, the format quickly loses value. Employees begin to see it as just another task on the calendar. It\u2019s better to motivate through clear benefits: new contacts, exchange of experience, quick access to people from other teams.<\/p>\n
The phrase \u201clet’s get to know each other\u201d sounds too abstract. It is important for employees to understand that internal networking helps them solve problems faster, understand the company better, and find useful connections.<\/p>\n
At the start, HR or the manager can manually connect people. But if the team grows, this approach becomes inconvenient. You need to remember who has already met with whom, who is participating in this round, who is from which department, who needs a date, who missed the meeting.<\/p>\n
If the process is not automated, it quickly becomes too time consuming.<\/p>\n
After meetings, it is important to understand whether they took place and whether they were useful. A short feedback is enough: did the meeting go well, was it comfortable, does the person want to participate further. It’s difficult to improve the format without feedback.<\/p>\n
The effectiveness of internal networking can be assessed not only by the number of meetings. It’s important to look deeper.<\/p>\n
Look out for a few signs:<\/p>\n
The format works if after meetings employees have real contacts, and not just another item on the calendar.<\/p>\n
If the company is small, the first meetings can be organized manually. But with a regular format, it is more convenient to use the service for automation. It helps match people, send notifications, give participants context for conversations, collect feedback, and track activity.<\/p>\n
For example, this approach can be used for Random Coffee, 1-on-1 meetings, introducing newcomers to the team, networking within the community, or communication between employees from different departments.<\/p>\n
The Naura Meets service helps not just to introduce people once, but to build a regular process. Employees get a pair, understand who they are meeting with, see information about the interlocutor and can have a short conversation without unnecessary organizational burden. For HR, executives and community managers, this is a way to maintain live connections within the team without manual selection and constant reminders.<\/p>\n
Introducing employees from different departments means more than just organizing one meeting or corporate event. It is important to create a clear and regular format in which it is easy for people to come into contact, get to know each other and find useful connections within the company.<\/p>\n
Simple mechanics work best: Random Coffee, 1-on-1 meetings, virtual cooler, internal interviews, interest clubs and cross-functional acquaintances. They help develop communication between departments, speed up the onboarding of newcomers, reduce isolation in remote teams, and strengthen corporate culture.<\/p>\n
If you make such meetings regular and add automation, internal networking ceases to be a one-time HR activity. It becomes part of the work environment, where employees know not only their tasks, but also the people with whom they share a common result.<\/p>\n
\n
Regular formats work best: 1-on-1 meetings, Random Coffee, virtual cooler, internal mini-interviews, interest clubs and cross-functional meetings between teams.<\/p>\n
Meetings help to establish communication between departments, speed up resolution of work issues, strengthen horizontal connections, simplify the adaptation of newcomers and reduce the feeling of isolation in remote teams.<\/p>\n
Random Coffee is a format of short one-on-one meetings, when an employee is regularly matched with a new interlocutor from the company. Typically, participants meet online or offline for 20\u201330 minutes.<\/p>\n
For a remote team, 1-on-1 online meetings, a virtual cooler, random coffee, thematic chats and regular informal calls without a strict work agenda are suitable.<\/p>\n
You can track the number of meetings held, employee re-engagement, feedback from conversations, new work contacts, and increased communication between departments.<\/p>\n
You can use the service for matching matches, notifications, participant profiles, feedback and analytics. This helps to run meetings regularly, without manual selection and constant reminders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a large company, people can work side by side for years and know almost nothing about each other. Marketing communicates with sales only on requests, development with support when a problem arises, HR with managers when it is necessary to fill a vacancy or adapt a newcomer. Formally, everyone works on the same team, but in practice, departments often exist separately. Because of this, [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"yoast_head":"\n