“I don’t know what I’m doing half the time,” “I have to look strong and in control for my team. If they ever find out I’m a fraud, it will all fall apart.” “Any day now, they’ll figure out I don’t know what I’m doing and fire me.” Odds are, most of us have said those very things to ourselves. Worse, we believe them. We shouldn’t. These thoughts and so many others are … [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...]
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...]
The Meeting that Could Have Been an Email
I’ve been researching and writing on virtual meetings for almost twenty years. I’ve heard a lot of complaints, but the one that most amuses is, “I just sat through another meeting that could have been an email.” Sure, it’s funny and looks great on a coffee mug. And we have so many meetings it might be lovely to have alternatives to yet another hour spent staring into a webcam … [Read more...]
Giving and Accepting Peer Feedback
When you think about what makes a high-functioning team (whether in person, remote or hybrid) really click, several factors come to mind. In our research for The Long-Distance Teammate, we discovered one of the most important things that contribute to a really solid, trusting, team culture: a constant flow of feedback from and to our colleagues. Giving is as important as … [Read more...]