Do you find yourself using emojis, GIFs and other electronic symbols in your writing more than you used to? Do you love them or hate them? Have you ever sent an emoji or GIF and it didn’t mean what you thought it meant? (Eggplants mean what?) Like it or not, the way we communicate is undergoing a change. Pros and cons of written communication You are part of an evolution in … [Read more...]
Displaying Empathy While Maintaining Standards
A few weeks back, I was leading a class on How Leaders Create and Manage Remote and Hybrid Teams. Two of the participants got into a heated exchange that was very instructive. It raised a good question: When does empathy towards your team members get in the way of managing performance? One of the participants said how much he liked seeing people when they worked from home … [Read more...]
Why Onboarding New Employees on a Hybrid Team is Tricky
When joining or bringing people onto a hybrid team, you encounter all the challenges associated with an office-based team, as well as many of the challenges that come with a fully remote team. There are also nuances because the new team structure will be neither of those things, but something new and often unprecedented. Specifically, our clients say that among their most … [Read more...]
Mindfulness Tips for Remote Teams
Whether or not you grew up watching The Flintstones, you can probably relate to Fred's famous "Yabba, Dabba, Doo!" scream at the end of his work day. We can all relate with Fred because, for better or worse, the workplace is associate with stress. But what if Fred worked remotely? What if instead of leaving the quarry, each day, Fred actually lived where he … [Read more...]
When Does Remote Bonding Go Too Far?
A few weeks back, we wrote about how showing your pets on Zoom meetings, or at least not hiding them like guilty secrets, can help the team bond and get to know each other. But can it go too far? Here’s the other side of that conversation. Apparently, some people make their pets too central to the process. A reader recently told me about his boss, a lovely lady who has taken … [Read more...]