#22 Learning at remote workplaces

Everything that happens within workplaces, which are not workplaces mainly in-office driven, needs to be approached with high levels of intentionality. Thus, too, it takes more concentrated effort to develop in a remote work environment. But this can not be neglected specifically as the majority of today's workforce, both Generation Y and Z, place Learning and Development on top of their list when choosing a new employer. Hence, this week we discuss: How can people learn while working flexibly?

Leaders are realizing it, too

Business leaders and CEOs?say learning by “osmosis” whilst being around more experienced colleagues, developing those skills, and networking are the key experiences needed. A new study that was released just today found

"Transferable skills such as teamwork, computer skills and confidence [...] are more in demand than the technical skills" - Macpherson, 2022

Now the question arises on how to learn those often called "soft skills" when workplaces are as distributed today and those often called "watercooler" moments are missed out on by many today because of the current work environments?

Bringing people together in a meaningful way, to prove that we truly believe in and hence greatly value them:

Ultimately, organizations are about people,?and their success lies in the effectiveness and engagement of these people.

The interpersonal options in the flexible working world

Buddy Program

A buddy helps people navigate and (re-)connect. Through my many conversations with leaders, I've learned that actually a lot of companies have multiple buddy programs, which I couldn't agree on more. They exist of different types of people and most often have both at least a role buddy and a culture buddy.

The role buddy: Someone from within the team that can help navigate the department and team landscape and answer all questions related to the actual field of work.

The culture buddy: Helping with the culture-fit and helping the new joiner learn the unique aspects of the company culture

More on implementing a buddy program here: Implementing a Buddy System

Accountability Partner

"An accountability partner is a person you trust to help you follow through with a commitment or goal you made." – Indeed, 2022

As I've shared last week, too, I find having an accountability partner extremely valuable. Within the workplace, it does not only give you the opportunity to stick to the goals that you set and try to meet them, but you also make a friend:

An accountability partnership enables:

• working together
• being responsible in terms of motivation and showing up so the other keeps showing up
• helping each other achieve goals
• learning from each other in a non-structured and on-the-go environment
• giving feedback as you get to know and become able to point out the weaknesses of the other in a safe space

“It’s the implicit, non-tangible interactions with other people that are missing online” - occupational psychologist Emma Russell

Mentors

Mentors are a sort of accountability partner although I find them in a less eye-level relationship. The mentor is usually someone that helps the mentee grow as they have more experience in the area the mentee is trying to improve. Through regular meetings, you build a strong relationship, get to know each others ins and out, and teach another person whilst becoming a better leader as the mentor. Though mentorships should be a result of having built a good relationship and getting along and those connections go much deeper than just helping figure out the next to-do steps. They should relate to a more personal level in order to really be able to support the formation of the future career character of the mentee. Best, as I find, is to have a mentor on various specific topics so that you can really learn from experts that understand the inner workings of the mentee.

Shadowing Partnership

Much more difficult to facilitate in today's work environments but still doable are the shadowing partnerships. Here relationships are built that are really very on the job and the person being able to shadow really can gain some real work-life insights and perspectives.

Cross-Connections

Another eye-level partnership but without responsibilities for each other is the cross-connections. Specifically, as people with different backgrounds have grown up in such different worlds that are now much harder to grasp as you don't work side by side, cross-connections can help people gain confidence. It may be an intergenerational or intercultural or interdepartmental connection, nevertheless, they can strengthen the sense of belonging, safety, and value because they help find commonalities beyond the differentiators.

My two favorite ways to build helpful interpersonal connections:

Share-A-Skill Open Workshop

Still quite intangible, but much more structured are workshops that are led, organized, and held by employees for employees. This allows people to get to know other sides of colleagues, learn new things yourself, and connect with others over common experiences of learning something together. Although not as targeted as a skill-sharing partner session there are many benefits:

• learn something new
• get taught by a colleague that you now know better
• connect with the teaching colleague and the other colleagues also looking to learn more on the taught subject
• make experiences together as a group and remember some funny comments or moments that will be a connector for many future moments

Share-A-Skill Partner Session

Within those sessions, two people, a topic expert and the "student" colleague connect over a specific learning quest. Those kinds of sessions create very strong bonds whilst learning a very specific topic that's of interest to the individual. Hence, experiences are made without a pressure to really "click" between the two people, both sides learn – actually topic learnings and leadership skills improvements, and both are valued for their commitments to help the company operate better – becoming more knowledgable and recognition of the knowledge in existence in a useful way.

This is what we are building at Instill - the most helpful intangible connections for teams

See you next week,

Franzi