Steve Preda - The Management Blueprint - How to Engage Your Remote Teams

Vivek is a guest on Steve Preda’s Management Blueprint Podcast to talk about how ReTeam helps to Engage your Remote Team.

See the podcast here: https://stevepreda.com/podcast/200-engage-your-remote-team-with-vivek-nigam/

Unlocking Innovation: Introducing Innovation Vista by ReTeam

In today's fast-paced business landscape, innovation is key to staying ahead of the curve. At ReTeam, we understand the importance of fostering creativity and empowering employees to bring their ideas to life. That's why we're thrilled to announce the launch of our latest innovation: Innovation Vista.

Innovation Vista is more than just a tool; it's a comprehensive platform designed to revolutionize the way organizations develop, share, and protect their ideas. Powered by cutting-edge AI technology, Innovation Vista provides a suite of features to support every stage of the idea development process.

Fostering Idea Generation

We believe that great ideas can come from anyone, anywhere. With Innovation Vista, employees have a platform to develop and refine their ideas, no matter how big or small. Our intuitive interface makes it easy to flesh out concepts, identify key components, and explore potential implementations.

Identifying Barriers and Risks

One of the biggest challenges in innovation is navigating potential barriers and risks. That's where Innovation Vista shines. Our AI-powered algorithms analyze each idea to identify potential challenges early on, giving teams the insights they need to overcome obstacles and drive progress.

Providing Detailed Summaries

Once an idea is developed, Innovation Vista provides users with a detailed summary, including key components, potential benefits, and areas for further exploration. This comprehensive overview empowers teams to make informed decisions about which ideas to pursue and prioritize.

Assessing Patentability

Innovation Vista goes one step further by offering a patentability assessment feature. Our advanced algorithms evaluate the patentability of ideas, helping organizations protect their intellectual property and maintain a competitive edge in the market.

At ReTeam, we believe that innovation is the lifeblood of any organization. With Innovation Vista, we're empowering teams to unleash their creativity, drive meaningful change, and shape the future of their organizations.

Ready to take your innovation process to the next level? Learn more about Innovation Vista and how it can transform your organization at https://innovationvista.joinreteam.com

Join us as we unlock the power of innovation with Innovation Vista by ReTeam.

To learn more about ReTeam and our commitment to driving innovation in the workplace, visit https://joinreteam.com.

How To Adjust Team Principles To Level The Social Playing Field

Increasing engagement requires leveling the social playing field. And to do that, you need to adjust the principles of the team and create behavioral change. Even in a fully co-located team, the manager has a responsibility to ensure that each person has an opportunity to be heard and that they are operating on a level that is on par with everyone else.

Below are some approaches for adjusting team dynamics.

• Engage with video and audio – be present without being live

• This method increases the mode of human interactions and removes stage fright concerns. It is important to engage in a rich medium like video and audio and not to rely on text or email which does not have the “human” element of engagement. Instant messaging is a much weaker medium than video, especially when dealing with non-routine matters, and does not adequately provide the necessary “context” that video and audio can do efficiently.

• Value each team member's input

• Transforming team behavior into a “safe” environment where thoughts and suggestions can be expressed and received positively is an important foundation to achieving a level social playing field. This may take some effort and time but will build with repetition and practice. It is important to provide an equal opportunity for everyone, regardless of seniority or role, to voice a suggestion or other constructive thought in a team setting.

Remember that some people will use more words to say similar things than others, so it is not about volume. It is not realistic to quantify with specificity that everyone will have exactly x number of minutes or y number of words to use so try to avoid this level of restriction. The intent is to give everyone the same number of opportunities to be heard.

Professional familiarity is often overlooked in teams that are task driven. The relationship between team members, and the knowledge that each person has about other team members improve trust and cohesion. There are many team-building exercises to use in “ice breaker” sessions like “introduce yourself and tell us all something special about you”. The creative questions and answers are limitless and as long as they are professional, these are valuable to building appreciation of value and understanding between members.

Being a part of a team that fosters participation from everyone is critical, and without such participation, skill development, both hard and soft, becomes significantly inhibited. Conscious steps to level the social playing field offer an outsized way to do this effectively.

Use Team Building Sessions Appropriately – And Know Who’s Dominating The Conversation

Team building sessions are used to develop cohesion and set norms. These sessions are a temporary boost and do not solve the problem of inequity in the amount of time that people are provided to be heard. People need their thoughts and input shared to be heard. The value of a team is only achieved when all input and perspectives can be given.

A very common scenario plays out in most professional teams where a very small number of people on the team dominate the conversation and effectively do all of the talking. Managers who decide that this small percentage of highly vocal employees are their stars will start to rely on their opinions more and more – a situation called “domination by a few”. This leads to overvaluing the vocal team members and undervaluing the others.

The problem that is created is one of an uneven level of participation. The overlooked and underappreciated members of this team can become flight risks as they try to find a company, team and company culture that will be more conducive to being heard. After all, we all have a need to feel more engaged and valued in our careers. The result is a social problem that directly correlates to productivity but not with retention.

Behavioral solutions including more self-awareness, encouraging others to talk, and creating boundaries and controls on live discussions can help, but know that the issues are usually compounded when dealing with virtual meetings. In virtual situations, the attendees who are not participating will resort to multitasking which impedes building better job satisfaction, strength, trust, and cohesion on the team.

How To Level The Social Playing Field In Hybrid And Remote Work

Hybrid teams have quickly become the norm. But teams haven’t figured out how to make sure that less vocal members of the team have equal opportunities to contribute. For example, on a team of 10, typically only three will dominate the majority of every conversation. The result is a disruption in team cohesion that can lead to lower retention and productivity, and fractured employee engagement.

In short, for hybrid teams to be successful and encourage the kind of engagement and participation that are required for optimal productivity, they need to start leveling the social playing field. While this isn’t always easy, it’s crucial for employees at all levels to successfully develop the soft and hard skills they need to be successful.The next several blogs we’ll share several considerations for how companies can make this a reality.

How 5-Minute Mindfulness Breaks During the Workday Improve Team Cohesion

Join ReTeam to take advantage of our custom curated Mindfulness collection and take a 5-minute mindfulness break during the workday.  You will find this can be a game-changer for individuals and teams. By reducing stress, improving focus, enhancing emotional regulation, and fostering creativity, mindfulness can contribute to a more engaged, productive, and harmonious work environment. Investing in the well-being of employees through mindfulness practices is a win-win for both the individuals and the organization as a whole. 

Having a positive Mindfulness state is beneficial to all aspects of your daily work and daily wellbeing.  By itself, using Mindfulness will benefit those around you – especially your team members. 

We can adapt this further to make Mindfulness a Team activity that further promotes team cohesion and bonding. 

Encouraging mindfulness breaks as a team activity can promote camaraderie among team members. Participating in mindfulness practices together can create a shared experience that fosters a sense of unity and belonging, ultimately strengthening the team's cohesion. 

Options: 

• Have one team member lead the mindfulness session and select mindfulness content for the day for the session. 

• Rotate who conducts this session to make this activity stress inclusion and sense of belonging 

• These sessions can be done asynchronously also – just assign the meditation for the day that each person can do when they have breaks in their day. 

• Then follow up the next day with a Team Video to share the experience and benefits. 

We encourage you to be creative and inventive in finding better ways to connect mindfulness and team cohesion and will continue to provide the tools and processes to help you in this journey. 

Benefits of Taking a Mindfulness Break During the Workday

Here's how taking a 5-minute mindfulness break can be exceptionally helpful for individuals and teams alike. 

Stress Reduction 

Stress is a common companion in the workplace, affecting employees' physical and mental health. Taking a brief break to practice mindfulness can activate the body's relaxation response, lowering stress hormones and promoting a sense of calmness. By doing so, employees can return to their tasks with a clearer and more focused mind. 

Enhanced Focus and Concentration 

A wandering mind is often a hindrance to productivity. Mindfulness helps individuals become more aware of distractions and gently brings their attention back to the present moment. As a result, employees can improve their focus and concentration on the task at hand, leading to more efficient work and better outcomes. 

Improved Emotional Regulation 

Workplace dynamics can sometimes be emotionally charged, leading to conflicts or unproductive interactions. Mindfulness encourages individuals to observe their emotions without reacting impulsively. With regular practice, employees develop better emotional regulation, leading to more harmonious team dynamics and improved collaboration. 

Increased Empathy and Communication 

Mindfulness fosters a deeper understanding of oneself and others. By becoming more in tune with their own emotions, employees can also become more empathetic and compassionate towards their colleagues. This heightened sense of empathy can lead to better communication and more supportive team relationships. 

Boosted Focus and Creativity 

Mindfulness creates space for innovative thinking by allowing the mind to wander and explore new ideas. During the 5-minute break, employees can take a moment to detach from the ongoing tasks and engage in free-flowing thoughts, ultimately fostering creativity and problem-solving skills. 

Overall Well-being and Job Satisfaction 

A healthy work environment prioritizes the well-being of its employees. Implementing mindfulness breaks into the workday sends a strong message that the company cares about the mental and emotional health of its workforce. This, in turn, can boost job satisfaction and employee retention. 

ReTeam’s focus on team cohesion coupled with individual wellness is a powerful combination for improving productivity and sense of belonging on professional teams. 

Power of 5-Minute Mindfulness Breaks

In today's fast-paced, demanding work environment with hybrid flexibility, employees often find themselves overwhelmed by the constant flow of tasks and responsibilities. The pressure to meet deadlines, manage projects, and maintain a healthy work-life balance can take a toll on our well-being and productivity. However, there is a simple yet powerful tool that can make a significant difference in both individual and team performance – the 5-minute mindfulness break. 

Mindfulness is the practice of being fully present and aware of our thoughts, feelings, and surroundings without judgment. Incorporating mindfulness into the workday can bring numerous benefits, including reduced stress, improved focus, enhanced emotional regulation, and increased overall well-being. 

At ReTeam we have partnered with custom creators to produce workplace specific meditations that can help employees refocus with a 4–5-minute break in the day.  

Implementing 5-minute mindfulness breaks in the workplace is relatively simple, yet the impact on employee wellness and productivity can be profound. Employers can support their workforce by providing a designated quiet space for mindfulness practice or introducing guided meditation sessions. Additionally, integrating mindfulness into team meetings or daily routines can further emphasize its importance. 

Companies Need to Remember the Importance of Natural Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the zeitgeist of our work (and daily) lives.  Let's face it, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the new cool kid on the block. Everyone wants to hang out with it, use it, and show off their fancy AI-based tools and their successes.

But while companies are busy swiping right on AI, they seem to be ghosting Natural Intelligence of their teams. Natural intelligence is important in team engagement for several reasons.

Here are a few ways in which natural intelligence can contribute to a positive and productive team environment:

Building trust: Natural intelligence helps team members to understand and connect with each other on an emotional level. This can help to build trust and rapport between team members, which is crucial for effective collaboration which leads to better engagement. "Building trust is like hiking up a mountain - it's a journey, and you need to pack the right gear. Just like how you wouldn't climb a mountain in flip-flops and a Hawaiian shirt (unless you're going for that 'barefoot hiker' look), you can't build trust without the right tools. Building trust is a journey and things such as timely recognition, honest and transparent communications, etc. will help build trust.

Improving communication: Effective communication is essential for successful team engagement, and natural intelligence can help team members to communicate more effectively. By understanding the context, content and emotions of others, team members can avoid misunderstandings. This is key to strong team engagement. Some people prefer to text, while others prefer to send an email or jump on a video call. It's like ordering pizza - some people like thin crust, while others prefer a deep dish. So, provide teams with a communication buffet and let everyone choose their own preferred mode. When it comes to communication and pizza, there's no such thing as one size fits all.

Conflict resolution: Teams are like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get. You could bite into a sweet, creamy center or end up with a bitter, nutty surprise. And just like how different chocolates have different flavors, team members have different personalities and perspectives, which can sometimes cause conflicts. Natural intelligence can help team members to manage and resolve conflicts in a constructive manner. We can manage and resolve conflicts like a master chocolatier - turning bitter battles into sweet victories. Tools that allow Video, audio, chat and rich emoticons can go a long way.  Active listening techniques like nodding or repeating back what the other person said show that one is engaged and listening.

Motivation and morale are critical factors in team engagement and productivity. Natural intelligence enables team members to understand and empathize with each other's feelings and motivations. This heightened emotional awareness can help team members provide vital support, recognition, and encouragement to one another, which has been proven to boost engagement and improve motivation and morale within the team. Tools that allow instant recognition and celebration of team's accomplishments, milestones, etc. will help in improving motivation and morale. Just like how a touchdown celebration can get the whole stadium hyped, using tools for instant recognition and celebration can boost motivation and morale within the team.

Work Life Balance for Remote Employees

In this article, I will discuss remote employees, challenges often faced by remote employees that affect their work life balance, and few solutions that can be considered to address the challenges. So, who is a remote employee? There are a lot of ways to define “Remote” employees. In this context, employee can mean a worker, contractor or vendor providing a service. The general impression of remote employees is that the employee chose to work from home. However, remote employees may be working from different office locations within the same town, city, state, country or even internationally. Employees working in field vs corporate office, healthcare employees visiting doctors’ offices, nurses and pharmacists visiting patients on duty, people working in sales division visiting their vendors, or even healthcare employees working different shifts, can be considered as remote employees. 

What are a few challenges faced by remote employees today? The work hours for these employees are usually either staggered through the day or a little inconvenient, non-stop emails and messages, lack of physical schedule, etc. These employees are either compromising on family events to accommodate to the “mother ship” schedule or missing out on communication within the teams at work. In these cases, work life balance becomes the key for improved productivity and employee retention. The company culture that takes care of such issues strategically becomes successful while those that ignore it end up building a sense of negativity towards the company. Work life balance can be affected by several factors like rigid or extended work hours, teams distributed across different time zones, number of live meetings during a given week, lack of communication on time, heavy workload with a smaller number of employees, feeling of lack of recognition for their work etc. This results in working long hours, stress, unable to focus on personal priorities and families, etc. Lot of times, I have heard people say, “I was working long hours and putting in so much effort to thrive at work. When I look back, I realized, several personal priorities have been ignored.” Why do we have to look back? Why can’t we manage our time better to take care of our priorities while thriving at work in the present? Is there anything at work that can be changed to better align with the employee’s priorities? 

Some obvious possibilities are: 

1. Reducing the number of live meetings which enables us to focus on meeting the deadlines.  

2. Meet without meeting. Rather than waiting for a time that works for the entire team, come up with ways to keep the team updated and accomplish outcomes.  

3. Getting to know the team better so that the team members can help each other out.  

4. Recognizing and rewarding the team member.  

Engagement platforms (e.g., ReTeam) provide solutions for the above-mentioned possibilities. They allow team members, teams within an organization as well as external teams to connect with each other and foster a sense of belonging that is above and beyond messaging and meetings. They help reduce the need for live meetings, allowing employees to work on their preferred schedule. A perfect blend of time for undisturbed work and the time to connect with respective teams allows teams to feel a sense of accomplishment on a regular basis. Using these platforms, teams can stay informed and up to date. They can celebrate teams and team members’ success regularly, which goes a long way towards building trust and improving engagement. Meetings when they do happen are often quick and action items and notes can be captured instantly without having to wait for a designated scribe to send in those over time. Capturing, developing, and tracking innovative ideas is quick and easy using engagement platforms. Assigning tasks and holding employees accountable also becomes easy with these engagement platforms. 

I have come across several leaders that do not have time to get through their email inbox daily. Reduced dependency on emails is important to stay organized and productive.  The email chains can be replaced by simpler and faster methods of communication within and across organizations. 

Leaders also try a variety of ways to stay in touch with their teams often with cumbersome methods. A simplified check-in process (within the platform) helps leaders to keep a pulse on their employees and step in where help or their follow up is required. 

Science has proven that remote teams using such engagement platforms have significantly improved their team participation, communication, inclusiveness, innovation and collaboration, all characteristics of good engagement. Engaged teams exhibit self-motivation which in turn results in increased quality and productivity. 

Companies that embrace and foster innovative culture leveraging remote workers, breaking away from legacy “meet to meet” culture, reduce dependency on emails, thrive in today’s rapidly changing world. Work life balance is a very essential part of work that is needed for employee wellbeing, which is essential in creating healthy and high performing teams. Healthy and high performing teams increase productivity and improve retention within a company. 

Frequent Check-ins

One-to-ones between a manager and employee are commonly used to evaluate how an employee is progressing. In positive environments, the manager will genuinely be focused on the employee as a person and not just as a worker while ensuring the work assigned is getting done. These meetings should happen bi-weekly or monthly. Finding a way to have a more frequent check in with an employee improves familiarity and connectedness and is an important aspect to improving participation.

Overall, every manager needs to experiment with specific mechanisms to improve team participation.  There are many activities that will support these desired outcomes. Remembering to keep the team information safe, finding methods to build trust and continue to conduct activities that encourage contribution will build a solid foundation to improving team participation.

Recognition

Recognizing an individual with a simple thank you has a powerful impact on improving participation. At a human level, gaining appreciation is a form of validation in a social or professional setting. At the professional level a recognition culture produces an environment of positivity and collaboration by itself.  Teams who embrace saying “thank you” as part of their weekly routine will find that their conversation will change from punitive or disappointment statements to positive and productive statements.

One client told us that every team meeting now starts with people wanting to talk about recognitions first. Importantly, though, recognition needs to be authentic. Formal emails and presentations are great for big events. The smaller every day recognition should be done informally and in person if possible.  Employees will recognize the sincerity of these informal recognition.

Create Tasks That Require Participation

A commonly overlooked tactic for improving team participation is to create a task that requires the whole team to participate. Most managers are trained to host an event or offsite with planned activities. These certainly help but tend to be short lived in their effectiveness. Managers should find a way to do a “team” task every week. We want to make it a habit for the team members to help each other complete tasks.

Teams can have tasks that combine participation factors. For example, create a photo collection by requesting from each team member a picture of the last place they went on vacation or their favorite food or other “get to know you” topic. But don’t release the collection of photos until everyone has participated. The first try will take some reminders, but with repetition it will become easier. And the effect on each individual’s desire to participate is positive and powerful. These are tasks that should be done at least once per week.

Every manager needs to experiment with specific mechanisms to improve overall team participation.  There are many activities that will support the cause and desired outcomes. Remembering to keep the team information safe, finding methods to build trust and conduct activities that encourage contribution will build a solid foundation for improving team participation.

Mix of Formal and Informal Engagement

In a normal office we see a mix of formal and informal conversations. In the remote world we see the informal conversations typically at the beginning of a live meeting as people are waiting for participants to join. There is a need in general for more interaction and more information flow. The formal communication usually happens through live meetings and followed up with formal (and often lengthy) emails to the team. The informal communication is restricted to the few unplanned moments between meetings and lunch, after work activities or carefully planned offsites.

Improving and increasing informal communication and conversations is an important factor to improving trust and participation. These informal communications are the ways in which team members learn about each other. Once we learn about each other, we tend to gain empathy and appreciation – both are positive factors that lead to better trust and better team participation.

These conversations should happen throughout the day and not just during a planned offsite. The way to learn about teammates is through frequent and short story conversations. This is not about planning a lengthy and formal speech, but rather a short slideshow showing one piece of information about everyone on the team – but done frequently.

Equitable Voice

It is very common for teams to have “domination by a few” where a small number of people control the entire conversation. It’s common in these cases for managers to prefer engaging only with these more vocal members. Sometimes organizations will make assessments of value, commitment, and dedication based on these behaviors.

This is a problem that leads to some feeling even more of a reason to not engage – why bother if they are not on the manager’s star team anyway? The overlooked and underappreciated members of this team can become flight risks as they try to find a company, team and company culture that will be more conducive to being heard. The result is a social problem that directly correlates to lower productivity, quality, and customer focus, as well as a negative correlation to retention.

The team environment needs to be a safe zone where every member feels empowered to speak and contribute. Here are a few ways to improve participation:

• Actively solicit questions

• Provide multiple ways for employees to share their thoughts

• Encourage dialog and discussion on comments

• Learn about each other

Employees need to understand that information coming from the team is done in a very controlled fashion. In traditional in-person teams, folks rely on each other’s behaviors and trust to manage the flow of communication. In a hybrid world, the use of tools can make this information flow very freely and quickly. So, it is important to have mechanisms in place to ensure the team has some privacy for the conversations that take place. This helps promote a safe space to contribute.

How to Improve Team Participation in a Hybrid Workplace

Improving team participation is a constant challenge faced by professional teams – whether they are in person or remote. Teams can suffer from “domination by the few” where a few people control every meeting and effectively shape the team’s activity and direction. Getting quieter members to contribute and participate is a challenge when in person – and has additional barriers that need to be overcome when working in hybrid environments.

But why does this matter? Because simply put, when teams aren’t structured to ensure full participation, people don’t feel valued, they leave their positions prematurely, and company morale, as well as productivity, can take a big hit.

At BeRemote, we have been addressing the challenge of leveling the social playing field so that all members of a team feel inclined to participate. I’ve spent most of my career managing people through challenges in the workplace – which range from personality styles to culture to upbringing – and all have an impact on their participation.

In the upcoming weeks and months, we’ll share a few tactical ways companies can improve teamwork, participation, and trust so that they can ensure high performing teams.