- In order for any team to survive and thrive,
there needs to be a culture of inclusion,
collaboration, and respect.
As the manager of a remote team,
developing and promoting this type of culture
is an especially important task.
When coworkers aren't physically in the same place,
there are fewer opportunities to foster
interpersonal interaction, and connection.
So, it's important to be proactive and creative.
Really, an effective remote team
should feel pretty similar to a team with a physical office.
Humans are social creatures who wanna feel safe
and have a send of belonging.
The key here is relationship building.
Creating a positive social vibe will help
your team members build relationships with each other.
Building strong relationships across your team
can lead to an increase in psychological safety,
strength and attachment to the team and organization,
and elevated performance outcomes.
You may be asking yourself,
how do I create an inclusive and productive
work from home culture?
Let's check in with Debbie Farese.
Debbie is HubSpot's Director of Global Web Strategy.
She's been leading a team 100% remote,
for more than two years and wants to share
her tips on how to create an inclusive virtual office.
- If you had told me 10 years ago
that I'd be working full time from my home office,
I probably wouldn't have believed you.
I'm an extrovert.
I've always had cross functional roles.
And I worked in an office setting
very comfortably for many years.
So it was an uncomfortable choice for me,
when I moved to a new City,
and had to transition to working remotely.
But now, nearly three years in,
I really appreciate the opportunity to work remotely,
and get asked about how to do it effectively all the time.
While remote work has grown in prominence
and popularity in recent years,
I know it's a still a really awkward
idea for a lot of people.
Making sure a team feels really connected and supported,
is one of the responsibilities of a leader
that demands some new strategies
when you're working remotely.
I stumbled a lot.
And I still have a long way to go
to become the best virtual manager that I can be.
But I've learned a lot along the way too.
Through trial and error, through research,
through the knowledge of others,
and I have some tips to share.
Now before getting started, one note on technology.
I'll be mentioning Zoom and Slack as communication channels.
We use Zoom for video meetings,
and Slack for instant messaging.
You don't need to have those.
Apply the learnings to your situation,
no matter what technology you use.
To start, my first tip is to be open
and available to your direct reports.
When you work remotely, you miss out on things
like those spontaneous conversations that happen
when you arrive at your desk in the morning.
Or swiveling your chair at any old time
to ask someone a clarifying question.
Seek out ways to make up for those things.
It shouldn't feel any more interruptive
to ask for a Zoom, than it does to have a so called
fly by meeting in the office.
Let your team know you're around and accessible,
even though they can't see you.
Here are some suggestions to put into practice.
Use Zoom to replace the quick questions,
and problem solving chats that happen casually
in a physical office.
As a manager, you might need to be the first one
to do this to set the right tone.
If you find yourself going back and forth
on Slack or email with one of your team members,
casually suggest,
"Hey, wanna hop on a call to chat this out?"
Consider having longer, or more frequent one on ones,
than two people in the office might schedule.
This can vary a lot,
based on how proactive someone is in communication,
their level of work experience,
their tenure at the company, nature of work, and so on.
Make up opportunities to check in with people.
This is especially important
if you haven't heard from them in a while,
are concerned about them, or if they're introverted.
And lastly, after a big presentation,
consider connecting with a team member
right after the meeting to talk about it.
This mimics that experience of walking out
of a meeting room and debriefing in person.
It can be to discuss small things
that were funny, or to discuss feedback and next steps.
My next tip, make time for informal bonding
in your meeting schedules.
It takes longer to get to know one another
when you don't sit together.
And getting to know each other
is essential to building trust.
So it's really important to make time
to have conversations that aren't
all rounded in work projects.
These conversations probably won't happen
as organically as they would inside an office,
so you have to be a bit more intentional
about making them happen.
As a manager, you should be proactive
and diligent to carve out time
for both individual, and team bonding.
Here are some suggestions to put into practice
at an individual level.
Start your regular one on one meetings
with each of your team members by asking about their day,
or following up on something they've mentioned in the past.
If this isn't something that comes naturally to you,
keep notes and a list of conversation starting questions.
Remember that you can Slack your team members
about non work things.
Start the week with a how was your weekend Slack.
Or, check in to see how someone's week is going
later in the week.
Here are some suggestions to practice at a team level.
Set up recurring virtual team lunch,
or a morning coffee hour,
where team members can just hangout.
My team often uses ours as an opportunity
to share photos, and stories from our vacations,
or other life events.
Use the Donut app for Slack.
It randomly pairs up team members for coffee chats.
This helps people on the team who don't necessarily
work together very often,
to get to know each other more personally.
It also shows that they don't need
to have a specific project to discuss
in order to take time to chat.
Carve out five minutes at the beginning
of team meetings each week,
for team members to share something.
My team started out by taking turns each week
to share a video tour of each of our home offices.
Next tip, plan for virtual team activities.
Distribute of teams come in different flavors.
Chances are, your team could be made up
of some remote workers,
and some people working in an office.
All of which could be in different time zones.
Your team's specific makeup will factor
into the best solution here.
And the key is to be really thoughtful
about each person's circumstances.
Make an effort to have additional
virtual team gatherings over Zoom.
Don't just wait for the rare occasion
when you'll all be in the same place.
And be creative.
Now I'll admit, these can be kind of awkward
if you don't have a plan.
But it doesn't take much effort
to put some structure behind them.
And you can always recruit volunteers
who are particularly social, or creative,
to take the lead.
Some suggestions for virtual team get togethers include,
baby showers, there are a ton of fun games
you can play like, guessing the baby's arrival date,
the birth weight, and so on.
My team has played a baby version
of The Price is Right, baby Mad Libs, and a bunch more.
Holiday parties.
For any holiday you can put on some festive music,
and eat festive treats together.
Maybe even wrap presents,
or share different cultural traditions.
Charitable causes.
My team once made crafts together over Zoom,
that we sent to an organization
that supplies them to children's hospitals.
Another team I know decided to each make a donation
to the charity of their choice,
and just spend time together sharing their chosen charity,
and why it was important to them.
There are always birthdays, work anniversaries,
and so much more to celebrate.
Again, just be creative.
Next tip.
Be thoughtful to show your gratitude to your team.
Any manager should do this, remote or not.
It's just extra important when you're remote
to make sure you're deliberate about thanking
your team members for a job well done,
or going above and beyond what they've been asked to do.
There's a danger that an employee
will feel that their efforts are going unnoticed
when you're not there to physically
see them putting in extra hours,
or getting recognition from their stakeholders.
So make an effort to let them know
that you virtually see it, and you're grateful for it.
Here's some suggestions to put into practice.
Send unexpected thank you notes or small gifts.
These can be electronic, or sent in the mail.
Make time in one on ones to simply say "Thank you."
And recognize work that is challenging,
meeting unexpected obstacles, or exceeding expectations.
And lastly, at the end of a big project,
hold a short team meeting just to blow off steam,
and maybe reflect on the results,
or what went well in the process to replicate next time.
My final tip on building an inclusive environment is,
create a culture of over communication.
Now my first tip was about making sure
you seem very open available to your team.
And now my last one is about making sure
your whole team operating model
is really built on a culture of transparency.
This is the best way to make sure
everyone feels like they're in the loop,
and therefore equally included.
In the beginning,
people might feel like they're over communicating.
But I think they'll soon find that everyone around them
really appreciates them as it is,
and they'll be encouraged to continue.
Here are some suggestions to put into practice.
Use a shared one on one document
with your team members to keep track
of project progress, walkers, and ongoing feedback.
This will help keep both of you on the same page.
You might wanna implement daily or weekly
standups on Slack, especially if you have
more junior team members.
These standsups are just a place where team members
can share the top three-ish things they plan
to accomplish in that time period.
Be diligent about setting your own Slack status,
and letting your team know when and why
you'll be out of pocket during regular business hours.
Set the expectation that your team members
should do the same.
Hold team meetings on a regular basis,
and give everyone on the team an opportunity
to choose the topics, and to contribute content.
For team members who are more reserved,
it will help to give them time in advance,
to prepare something to present.
That's it for my tips.
And there's just one last thing I wanna mention.
Know that it might take time
to become an effective remote leader.
You'll have to learn a lot through trial and error.
These recommendations are meant
to give you a starting point.
You'll want to collect feedback
from your team over time, to see how you can improve
your own virtual office as I like to call it.
(upbeat music)