What are the communication tools in your remote working playbook?
Sort by:
Using tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams is not the same as being able to chat in person but it at least gives us an opportunity for real time engagement—it’s as close to that as we can get without being in person. Maybe those productivity tools didn't exist or weren’t as well defined several years ago, so are they a close second? I’m not sure if it’s the right pivot.
Introverts continue to have a tough time with collab tools. Even the act of turning on the camera can be stressful. Therefore collab has its limitations, but in the absence of the perfect solve, its the best available option.<br><br>On the positive side, those employees that have always operated out of HQ have developed greater empathy for what it means to work remote and consequently be more inclusive.
The key thing is to learn how to adapt. We're doing it in different ways just to check in on folks, whether that’s using Slack or whatever else. Before, if you were in a meeting with a group of people and observed one of your staff having a bad day, you could just saddle up next to them when you're leaving the room and say, “Hey, let’s talk if you've got five minutes.” That convenience is gone. When you’re remote you’re not going to book a five minute Zoom call with them. And if you do, it's probably going to freak them out.
I don't have the answers but I'm an optimist and believe that we will start to develop compensating techniques, new ones that we haven't thought about before. I am optimistic that we will figure out a new way to embrace and engage. It's just going to be different.
I'm not sure if the water cooler conversation as a decision making process is a lost art or if we're ever going to get back to it. I'm curious how we’ll work all of that into a remote working model, or if we will agree that it's just not possible and we've created the next big great divide.
We're definitely not going back to the water cooler format in its prior form. However, we should anticipate bifurcation in situations where the leadership team is back in the office -- continues to trend upwards -- along with portions, but not all of the workforce. For remote staff, it will be a different type of challenge and will take time to adapt.
We've already started seeing some of these technologies evolve like Donut or Hallway, and a couple of other applications that are digital twins of the physical interactions we used to have. We as humans will evolve and adapt to embrace them as ways to interact with people, whether it’s simulating water cooler conversations or maybe having virtual happy hours—without actually scheduling bi-monthly meetings on my calendar. When you have a regular thing with your team on the calendar, it becomes a chore. And that just drains the fun out of it.