3 Easy tips to building community remotely

Bill started a new job right in the middle of COVID. He was hired to be the supervisor for a team of sixty-four call center operators. His team worked in eight different cities in three other states. All of them - working from home.

The company’s culture was holding steady, and it had been created and nurtured for years. The owners knew the importance of a healthy and thriving culture – family; four hundred and twenty-eight individuals working together, for each other, for the company.

COVID was a game-changer, and the owners knew they had to make sure their team felt as normal as possible, at least at work. This was the reason Bill was hired. He understood culture. He understood the importance of communication, connecting, and staying connected.

Bill’s first day on the job involved an introductory Teams meeting. Seeing their faces, several politely smiling, some nodding, and a few not bothering to hide their disengagement, Bill knew his work was cut out for him.

Bill formed a simple plan. He would schedule a video chat meeting with each member of his team. He had three clear goals to achieve:

• Get to know his team members as people. Before they’d follow him, they’d need to know and trust him. Bill knows trust begins by building relationships. He will need to know his team as people, and they will need to know him as more than “my supervisor.”
• Bill wants to remind his team members of the history and culture of the company. He wants to get their feedback on how they would like to see the culture’s upward trajectory continued.
• Finally, Bill wants to cast a vision for his team. By clearly defining the direction and milestones, he is creating accountability. Accountability goes both ways. He wants his team to know his expectations, AND he wants them to know what they can expect from him.

Bill has his work cut out for him, and he has a plan to meet the challenge. He knows, “If you’re not working on it, it’s not getting better.” And he plans to work on it. Building trust with his team, communication, and accountability, are ways to keep the culture and productivity moving forward, and that is working on “It.”

What can we learn from Bill’s experience?

• Put the person first. Whether you’re starting a new position or have been serving for years, your people are the key to your success. Ask yourself, do your people think you see them as a means to an end? If that’s the case, you have a culture and trust problem. They are working FOR you, not WITH you. The difference? Trust, job enjoyment, healthy culture, and LOYALTY.
• Listen to your team. No one knows better about what’s going on than the people on the front lines of your business. They are the ones who interact with the customers. They are the ones who deal with the day-to-day operations – and the “It would be great” ideas created in a board room. Get their feedback. You don’t have to enact every idea, but by listening, you will learn, and who knows, you might even discover a more efficient way in the process.
• Be accountable and stay on target. Nothing is more frustrating than casting a vision and then not following through. Everyone is accountable. The front-line team members need to see accountability UP the ladder as well as down. When accountability exists both UP and DOWN the organizational chain, it creates a greater level of trust. Knowing that there is one standard for everyone goes a long way to building accountability and teamwork.

Don’t stop working on trust and culture. We know, “Everything worth doing is worth doing well.” COVID distancing can create all kinds of excuses for why our culture/community is shrinking, but it doesn’t have to be that way. We put effort into what we deem important.

Connection, communication, and culture need to be important. It affects the mindset of people, your people. DREAM4 understands how vital these elements are, especially in uncertain times.

Let us help you identify ways to work on “it.” Schedule a call TODAY.