Networking

[Vero Rivas]

Hi everyone !!! 😉

    Now that we have been with the pandemic for so long, many are working remotely, others started new jobs already in this modality without the option of face-to-face

    Team leaders, how have you "networked" with the members of your teams? How have you managed to break down all the barriers of distance, loneliness, shyness of some people, how have you encouraged commitment, motivation, the unity of all people

    In my humble experience, I will give you a small example, in the teams I have created a channel called "coffee shop", where once a week at least 15 minutes we are all there to talk about things that are not work, to share, to congratulate a colleague on his birthday, for having been a father or mother, to welcome him if he has been ill.

    What strategies do you use? 👌

Greetings 😎

[Wouter Bruinings]

Hi Vero, 

We extended our daily “stand ups” to 30 minutes, where we spent the first 15 for socialising. This gives us a natural start of the day and it helps to understand each others mood a bit better.

Sometimes we open a call and work individually but together as if we were next to each other. This removes any boundaries to check in with each other,  align on things and quickly resolve issues together.

We try to schedule what we call coffee breaks during the afternoons, where we discuss work and or non-work and these can take anywhere from 15-60 minutes. A lot of important work related alignment happens here quite naturally. And it’s not uncommon for important creative solutions, ideas and vision to be generated or initiated in this session. 

Best regards,

Wouter

[Jimmy Seddon]

Great topic @Vero Rivas!

I joined the company I'm at while 100% remote (and we are still in a state of lockdown).  All of my fellow team members also started remote except for our manager.  SO we have only known a remote environment.

Much like @Wouter Bruinings we have longer standups each day where the first half is for chatting about non-work things.

We will also regularly have "open" zoom calls for whiteboard sessions.  It usually starts as two people needing to figure things out, but it get posted publicly in slack to try and mimic the "roll-over" style chatter that usually happens in the office when other team members have relevant information or are interested in the topic want to participate.

We also have a really good company culture that we have company paid for lunches on about a monthly basis.  Every team member is sent an Uber Eats voucher to purchase food and we book a 1.5 hour session for social time.

I think things have been going quite well, thought I am looking forward to meeting my team face to face someday.