In our current environment of social distancing and stay-at-home recommendations, our need for community and creative ways to “be close” are more important than ever. As a busy exec with a full list of to-do's, it can be hard to prioritize the nebulous task of engaging your team. Add in the challenge of trying to support your colleagues solely through virtual interactions can make this priority overwhelming. So how do you keep your fully remote team engaged? Have you thought about ways to leverage your Executive Assistant to build out a team engagement system that leaves your virtual collaborators inspired, motivated, and committed?
Establish A Communication Platform
Establishing a system of communication is an essential need of any remote team. Communication becomes your consistent touchpoint in the virtual world, and that touchpoint builds engagement. If you don’t have a communication system in place for your team or are struggling with the effectiveness of your current platform, ask your EA to research, propose, and implement an option that would work well for you! This does not just have to include instant messaging systems; think about the flow of your work and how communication via a project management system, for example, could increase efficiency.
Create Virtual Communication Norms
Within your established communication system, your EA can lead the creation of suggested norms to encourage discussion and take advantage of some unique virtual communication methods. With established “boundaries”, your team could feel more comfortable taking advantage of virtual communication and increase response rates in the process. For example, in a virtual world, an emoji response can serve the same purpose as an in-person headnod. Why not set an expectation that sending an emoji is a wanted and acceptable response? If a colleague has confirmation that sending a funny gif along with a question they are asking is not only okay but encouraged, the colleague can create a laughable moment, motivate others to lean in to the conversation, and take advantage of virtual-specific engagement to get productive insight into their question.
Affirm Outreach for Help
Especially for team members new to the remote work environment, needing help on a project or work commitment can feel isolating. But what if your company encouraged team members to reach out for help on both small and large challenges? How could you replicate engagement that happens frequently in a physical office, like a team member popping next door to a colleagues office to get over a brain block? Ask your Executive Assistant to help you build monthly “pulse checks” with your team members to see what roadblocks they’re facing, check on their general well-being, and encourage them to rely on their colleagues for collaboration just as they would in-person. The EA can help connect your team members and encourage staff to post questions to collect input from others via your established communication system. (Think: daily stand-ups on Slack, emoji reactions on Notion, and other quick engagement on your established tools.)
Weekly Stand-Ups
Have you ever found yourself wondering exactly what your team is working on, and can’t seem to recreate the connection you find in an office? Does your team frequently discover that they’ve been working on the same tasks and didn’t realize it? Weekly stand-up meetings are key to preventing these issues. Stand-ups serve as a time for everyone to share a quick overview of their key priorities for the week, and align on project timelines and project ownership. Your EA can implement stand-ups for your remote team too. Ask your EA to pose simple, broad questions each week (What’s a key thing you’re working on this week? What are your top priorities? What is a current challenge in your work?) via your communication or project management system. As your team responds, your EA can create a high-level rollup of all information shared and prompt you with outreach and follow-up to your team. It keeps you both connected to the progress of work and an opportunity to check-in on additional support you can provide.
Create Some Fun
One of the biggest differences in engagement between in-person and remote work is those personal connections made at the water cooler, in the break room, or on the walk to meetings. Think about how to replace those interactions virtually. In a remote environment, colleagues may feel worried to share insight that would naturally be shared in an in-person office. The “side” conversations are critical to our feeling of connectedness–why not encourage it! Your EA can put some brainpower into creating intentional opportunities for interactions in the virtual world. You could ask your EA to implement a poll collecting interests of your team and then create an interest-specific “channel” within your communication system (virtual book club, anyone?!). Test out integrations or automations within your tools that encourage connections and conversations between members of your community; for example, Donut is a free Slack app that randomly pairs up team members on a recurring cadence via an interactive question.
At 33Vincent, we pride ourselves on the remote community we’ve built and the engagement we see between our team members. If you’re looking for an Executive Assistant’s help to engage your fully remote team (and so much more–like freeing up your time to focus on what matters most) let’s talk about how a 33Vincent EA can support you! Are you ready to elevate your impact by delegating to an EA?
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