Towards the Optimal Onsite

A few weeks ago my team convened for our first onsite since I joined the company.? Onsite being the reverse of offsite– where we used to need to leave the office together to find focus and connection, in our world of hybrid work, our need has shifted to coming together at the office.??

These days,? I find that I have an incredibly sharp sense of appreciation for interacting with humans in person.? And while I am so grateful to combine working from home with some days in the office, for me, nothing beats a team meeting to get energized and get to know each other. (I am an extrovert, so this environment really feeds me. I don’t make the same assumption for every team member.)?

My recipe: Create a mix of programming split between inspiration, team fun, and collaboration and planning, in about equal parts.

Key Takeaways

Have conversations, not presentations.

Because being together in person is now a rarity, taking advantage of time together means interaction is the name of the game. Back and forth. Debate. Sharing ideas and sparking group conversation. This is the moment to come up with new ideas as a team.? Ideally there would be more white boarding and brainstorming and less presenting.

Invite fresh perspectives.

Invite special guests from other teams to share a perspective that helps us get to know them in a new way. Not talking about the obvious– the work we do together, but about their worldview. What inspires them. What shapes their thinking. A personal passion.?These insights into a colleague's personality create a stronger human connection, and ultimately a better work collaboration.

Be playful and make friends.

Play as a team! Laugh and have fun. This is what humans are uniquely well suited to do together. (Sorry, robots.)? Enjoy the randomness and spontaneity of group interaction. For our team we did a ball toss where each member was prompted by a side of the ball with a question. Childhood talent? Biggest time waster? What would you do with $1M dollars? What would help make you more successful? These questions reveal a side of a colleague that you might never see. Big question: how do we involve remote colleagues in more of the fun?

Research shows that people who feel like they have friends at work will stay in their roles longer and be more engaged over time. One of my main goals for our gathering was to develop and deepen friendships across the team, strengthen bonds, and (selfishly) improve team and company retention.

Will Do Better Next Time

Inclusion

Make sure everyone’s voice is heard. All team members need airtime in group conversations. Senior team members need to remember to bring more junior members into the group discussions. Sometimes a small gesture “What do you think, Zeke?” can go a long way.

It’s so important to include team members across regions, although time zones make this tricky. Structure prompts into the session flow that help bring in those participating? on video. (Also: investigate how to push on budget guidelines and fly everyone in?)

Lastly, consider seating people next to teammates who are not well-known to them already . Use place cards at dinner to ensure a mixing of people and teams. Place cards could work in the conference room as well.

Sustainability

Commit to a no-plastic/low waste meeting. That means no plastic water bottles; everyone has to bring their own. No plastic food containers– serve from larger trays. Compostable plates and cutlery. When it comes to schwag, make it useful. Yoga mats were a great giveaway after an optional? team yoga session. Water bottles were useful immediately. Pens– not so much. (Here is where I note that it is not a low-carbon approach to fly everyone in!)

Technology

Ideally at a team gathering, everyone should be seen and heard. This means:

• Clear views of the person speaking, whether at home or in the room.?
• Multiple screens– one for video and one for content, were helpful. Next time I would make sure we have an extra camera so those on video can see the speakers better. And, not just a web cam, but a full conference room camera..?
• Arrange desks and cameras so that everyone is in the frame, both from home and in the conference room.
• Better mics to capture the main voices and cut background noise..
• No downtime. All uptime. That means no issues with wifi, cords or video collaboration systems.

My team at Logitech has some great solutions coming later this year that will help improve our meeting room set up and video collaboration capabilities. Our next onsite will be much smoother.

If you have thoughts on what makes for a great onsite, better hybrid collaboration or more equitable meetings, I'd love to hear them. These are all themes I'll be exploring in detail this year as I dive deeper into my new role at Logitech.

#onsites #offsites #videocollaboration #equitablemeetings #hybridwork