Good example, but depending on your intention, you might want to say “staying away from” the colleagues in the room. To stay away from is to maintain distance, to make sure there is always a little distance. To “back away from” is to move in the other direction. It might be considered rude to say you have to back away from another person.

There’s a similar saying here, but the “from” is not necessary: Sometimes it’s necessary to take one step back to take two steps forward.” When you use “from”, you need an object, a noun you want to move away from.