Developing meaningful virtual connections with remote work

Solutions:

• Introduce care into the conversation
• Start all hands meetings with breakouts and a question prompt
• Moments of silence, etc to welcome something different -- invite different options. From phone call to other platforms to...
• Fun prompts introduce more humanity. Softer facilitation.
• Lean on remote tools even when in person -- in person is exhausting

Question: Where are the boundaries around work hours or vulnerable prompts? How do we establish and honor those?

• This is a job, it's not a capitalism free zone. Say this in a gentle and humane way though?
• Time zone expectations -- people have to give and get. It has to be balance.
• From Facilitative Leadership training from Interaction institute for social change: track outcomes by Purpose, Process and Relationships.
  • (See https://interactioninstitute.org/training/facilitative-leadership-for-social-change-virtual/)
• When you accomodate time zones, etc take other time off.
• Leadership establishes the culture. Model what you want.
• As a leader -- make space for boundary negotiation. When in a cross time zone meeting, be aware of the time of day that people have.
• Articulate all the things, expectations especially about what is going to happen
• Some people have a hard time flexing. (Care might be a solution to helping them to do it)
• Not all prompts are welcomed or okay. Have a plan if you need to shift. Let people pass.

Question: What are the limits of care for each other? What about the person who doesn't show up at all? How much can we flex?

• Create clear expectations around outcomes. Hours worked, time to respond. Once its established, you have to commit to it.
• If you have to break the standards, explain why it is unique.

Big Question: How do we create psychological safety? With different working styles, learning methods?

• How you open the work experience matters, lots of convos
• Recording meetings, keeping good notes -- asynchronous process
• Open prompts allow for self regulation
  • How do you know it is fall?
  • What is one thing you have done to care for yourself today?
• Camera off is a useful option (or collective choice) to ease "Zoom fatigue"
• Give permission to be how you are. Go to the kitchen, stretch, whatever!
• Conflict resolution policy is the sewage system of organizations. Have one! It is a system.
• No agenda = no call!

• Harvard Business Review article -- three types of gathering (and matching tech): https://hbr.org/2022/09/3-types-of-meetings-and-how-to-do-each-one-well

• LIFE HACK: Run any paywalled article through the Internet archive to find a copy of it!

Question: How to build relationship outside of meetings?

• Group conversations for intentional cross collaboration
• Internal asynchronous practices to create a sense of whole people int he organization -- daily check-ins/check-outs for example
• Don't be afraid of the quick conversation to connect - 10 minutes, etc.
• Donut is an app for Slack that will make little connection points with someone, asynchronous or realtime