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...]
Of Cats, Keyboards, and Building Relationships
Can a cat walking across a keyboard really help your team build working relationships on a remote or hybrid team? I have been thinking about this for a while, and as silly as it sounds, one of the signs of a healthy working relationship might be the team’s reaction to Mister Fluffybutt getting webcam time during a meeting. This might seem odd, and there’s no doubt there are … [Read more...]
Time to Assess Your Remote and Hybrid Team Culture
We are in an odd time when it comes to discussing work culture. Like being in the eye of a hurricane, we are stuck between the initial panicky onslaught of COVID: “Go work from home and we’ll figure it out,” and looking toward the future: “Okay, we have to figure out what we do next.” This moment is as calm as it’s going to get for a while, so we’d best do some assessing of … [Read more...]
How to Find the “Right” Answer through Collaboration
One of the big challenges we hear about hybrid and remote work is that “collaboration is difficult.” One CEO I spoke to said, “My people just come up with better answers when they can work together physically.” That led to an interesting discussion: What does it mean to come up with the best, or right, answer? What makes it "right"? Before you can make a great decision … [Read more...]
The Invisible Killer of Remote Teams
When we think about remote and hybrid teams, there are a lot of things that can go wrong. First of all, everything that negatively impacts a traditional team can cause havoc. Things like a lack of alignment, or micromanagement, or unclear objectives create problems no matter where people work. But there’s one factor that's lethal for remote teams that usually isn’t a problem … [Read more...]