How to Connect in Remote Teams
Photo by Rémi Walle on Unsplash
In a remote job interview, I was asked, "How do you stay connected within remote teams?" I thought "How do I? Just watch me."
I shared two ideas in the interview*, but immediately I realized that I've kept this good info inside, waiting to give it to a new remote employer. Silly me. I've got to give this good stuff away. I'm like the Grinch whose heart grew three sizes that day.
Why should I keep reading this?
First, my credentials, because adults want to know why they should keep reading this. What do I know about this remote online stuff anyway? I have 15 years experience working full time online which means I was working full time online 3 years before the iPhone existed. I've built and rebuilt fully online virtual teams. I have two advanced degrees in online work. I feel passionately about the positive future of working remotely. Within this amazing digital nether, how do we stay connected, as humans?
As Mario says, here we go!
General ideas
Group doodle -aka Incomplete Figures (and an idea I had from Erik Wahl): 5 minutes before a meeting starts, I open a whiteboard to share. I draw just part of basic shape (i.e. half a star, half a circle, 2/3 of a triangle) and then invite everyone to add to the doodle while we just chatted. I took care of scientists so invariably, every doodle ended up with the Starship Enterprise in it somewhere.
MadLibs - these are easy to make and most folks know the premise. Ask them for a series of nouns, adjectives, verbs, exclamations, etc. and fill those words into a pre-made short story. Giggles and hilarity will ensue.
Get a running joke and keep it running - My team decided that at every point when we wondered whose "fault" something was, we'd blame the San Andreas Fault. We had geologists, so that joke always worked. Other jokes: I used to play Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al" every time our network went down because it was the one song I had on my hard drive. Secretly, I always wanted to incorporate a llama or volcano into project specs. Just to see what my team would do.
Crazy hat day - which is really any hat. This one is good in a pinch because everyone can find a hat.
Within Reach - Pick up an object within arms reach (being on webcam keeps this honest) and explain what it means to you.
Favorite superhero or villain and why? Mine is The Rhino from Spiderman 1960. So what that it's basically a man in gray snuggie? When he is mad, he runs into things. I love the simplicity.
Old English Day. Everyone who makes an appropriate comment using Old English can leave the meeting 10 minutes early. It can be interesting to go 40 minutes into an online meeting when your quiet team member appropriately uses "thither" and you think "Wow, how long have you been holding that in?" The comments must work in context like "Let us parlay by the glowing embers of thou'st certain demise."
Bizarro World Project. When assigned a project that you know is truly ridiculous (and no one else is checking), do the opposite project. My team was assigned some training on customer service. We were spectacular at customer service. So I had them do the opposite: create fake recordings on giving the worst customer service possible. The recordings became the best training videos because they showed what not to do, and why!
Calendar ideas
September 19: Talk Like A Pirate Day. Everyone signs into a meeting with their pirate name instead of their real name and we have to figure out who is who.
October: Since the theme of October is Halloween, play up "scary." Make a "most scary question" matching game having your team submit their scariest work question and create a matching game. Whose scary question is that? Add on: Photoshop their standard work photo into a scary photo.
November: The Thanksgiving table. Remotely, this one is brilliant because the virtual table expands to fit everyone. Invite everyone to share something for which they are thankful. This works well synchronously or asynchronously.
December: Obviously, ugly sweater contests completely work online.
January: Haiku time. Deep quiet winter. Contemplation. Minimum words for minimum temperatures. Run a Haiku contest but downplay 'contest'. Instead, just make it about singular voices piercing the cold.
March: Limericks. Run a limerick contest. Set a theme (mine were always science limericks). Keep it clean! Have a Guest Judge's Award and a People's Choice Award.
March 14th, Pi Day. Get your numbers-can-be-lines...err...pies groove going. At the very least, everyone picks their favorite pie.
April: Earth Month! Working remotely is a very green action!! Do you know how many mayors of major cities would love to take 50,000 commuters off their highways everyday to ease congestion? That's already you, remote worker! But don't stop there. Share one new green commitment you are going to make this year. You could also host a panel of contributors. I used to host a "State of the Earth" presentation.
The Point
The point is to use the strengths of working online to your advantage to connect. If it is important to you to have more connected workers for better communication and productivity (Zappala, 2007), it only makes sense to go for your strengths when working remotely. Strengths I've included:
- Creativity
- Equal contributions from all
- Offline/offstage meeting prep
- No schlepping a crock pot through the parking lot.
Yeah, I didn't add "working in your pajamas" because remote workers get tossed a lot of shade for that. We also have cats that sit on our keyboards and dogs that bark at amazingly inappropriate times. I believe we are more productive and I just like it.
Sure, I've missed 15 years of office trick or treating, but then again, the entire bag of Reese Peanut Butter Cups is for me. Sorry, not sorry. Remote on, workforce, remote on.
*The best interview answer here is 'communication', followed by 'keeping set meetings.' I have another article coming on the importance of keeping 1:1 meetings, but that's for another day.
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This article originally appeared on LinkedIn pre-pandemic on September 2, 2019
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-connect-remote-teams-heather-dodds