#StayAtHome

So everyone is now providing advice and experiences around home working, how to deal with being isolated, requiring “off-work” routines, etc. To be honest, the guidelines are OK but not very new and innovative, and pretty much centered on oneself.

Let me share a thought I had: I was attending the Steering Committee meeting of my project, as a virtual, audio-only conference call. While waiting for everyone to log in, we were small-talking, and started to joke about everyone’s situation. One member said she didn’t wear make-up anymore, so we said we wouldn’t put the video on today.

Everybody laughed, and then I realized that it is exactly what’s missing when everyone is remote working: emotions. Sharing a moment. Be together. And especially the humor, which is quite present in the corporate world, but very difficult to practice at a distance.

In the end, we remain extremely “sachlich”, factual, in our interactions because non-verbal communication is nonexistent, because we cannot “feel the room” as in face-to-face.

That can work for a day, even two, but when it lasts, that’s what makes the full #homeoffice mode very inefficient in the long run, in my opinion.

So, what are your techniques to keep the social bonds active in your teams – project or daily business?

Current mood (c) Groundhog Day

Since I published this post on LinkedIn and on my company’s internal Yammer, I had interesting feedbacks, that I am happy to summarize and share here.

Most companies are in partial of full remote working mode. Though, the feedbacks I received are most often based on someone’s previous experience of home working. Indeed, the current situation is really new for everybody!

One promising way to better interact is to enable video during the conference calls.

“… to overcome the feeling of isolation and to have more emotion in meetings, I believe it is essential to turn the camera on.”

” Regular Visio confs, or at least pictures are absolutely needed. “

"Always camera "on" policy no matter if with or without make up or tie :)"

I used to work with Skype for Business, with is not the best platform for multi-video streams. I will now enable Microsoft Teams for my online meetings.

Another valuable feedback is the power of small-talk at the beginning of each session.

“Each meeting shall have a 5mn non-formal introduction section.”

As meetings tend to be shorter and shorter (hardly planned longer than 30 minutes nowadays), it is still a challenge to spare 5 minutes for that – and even more if the meeting is time-boxed, such as a daily stand-up. However, this is certainly something that would help the overall team’s balance.

Attending and being on time is a major commitment from everyone to the team, and it structures and organizes the relationships by giving a frame for work.

“Punctuality. Meetings start and finish on schedule. This point is key.”

Since we started working distantly, I asked my team to dial in every morning for a daily touch point (aka stand-up); attendance is surprisingly good (better than when we were co-locating…), and if someone is unable to attend, I ask him/her to write a short message in our Teams channel. Yes, it allows me to indirectly control what everyone is doing, but it mainly serves team building purposes.

For one-to-one, it is obviously better to have or find a kind of connection with your counterpart. This is typically interesting for relationships that are expected to last (e.g. not for a 2-month project…).

“Knowing your colleagues is way more important than the actual work or techniques, I found I often unlocked / broke down social barriers / misconceptions simply by spending quality time with individuals.”

But are we really required to use new techniques? Wouldn’t the IRL ones work? Soft skills are valid in a digital world as well!

“Be authentic and vulnerable with a positive mindset.”

Everything is a people business, whether it is accomplished face-to-face or through screens. Concerts are now organized online, most journalists are reporting from home, education left the classroom to come to the bedroom. So I am not afraid that it will work at the end of day – following some adaptation time obviously.

“If you have the right people they are able to work in any way.”

What worries me the most is that I will probably finish my current mandate under quarantine. I usually love to have a small party to celebrate a project completion, but I will have to delay it this time. I refuse to have a virtual apero!

Thanks to all the contributors! #followerspower

Also published on my blog.