Hi FairyGodBosses,

6 Comments

1. Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistAugust 8,2021 at 2:32AM UTC

   Do you have any weekly team virtual meetings? Keep them short and sweet. I'm in a 100% remote environment. We have a one hour call at 10 on Tuesdays to go over everything that's happening, updates, successes, challenges, new policies, etc.

   We have a half hour one on Friday that's more of a check in. What went well for you this week? do you want to give a shout out to anyone/anything? Do you have plans for the weekend? What are you bingewatching? What sport would you compete in in the Olympics? are just some of the recent topics.

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2. AnonymousAugust 9,2021 at 3:20PM UTC

   I think weekly 1:1s as well as a weekly team meeting would be a great way to start!

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3. Amy BucciferroAugust 10,2021 at 9:16PM UTC

   If the company is practiced and successful at being a completely remote environment they will have communication standards and company culture in place to support you in this. Make sure you get up to speed quickly on the channels people use internally and for what, and what the expectations and practices are around meetings and team engagement. You will want to meet 1:1 with team members you are managing or reporting too, and see about getting 1:1s up the hierarchy and with critical parallel roles or collaborators as well. If full-remote is relatively new for the company or you don't see any of these standards coming in, start by setting them with your team with their input. Part of building the rapport will also be in respecting people's time and boundaries and setting yours. Be clear on what others can expect from you in terms of responsiveness, work hours, etc. It is entirely possible to have solid work relationships with people you have never met in person. Hopefully the company you are joining already has mechanisms for this, but if they don't you can start to build them.

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4. AnonymousAugust 11,2021 at 7:32PM UTC

   I did the same. I did individual touchbases via zoom with my team... Not so much to cover responsibilities and expectations, but more to get to know them a bit better and to hear what their wish list looked like for the organization.

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5. Kay FittesAugust 11,2021 at 8:34PM UTC

   In your meetings take a few minutes to do an "Getting to Know You" segment. You may want to kick it off by identifying something about yourself. Example: "My greatest challenge last week was..." " The tool or skill that saved the day was..." It is a real miss if you only use meetings for conveying information and troubleshooting, use them for creating connections, too.

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6. Mary Kate (O'Leary) CroghanAugust 13,2021 at 1:34AM UTC

   I would recommend taking time to discuss preferred communication styles - when do you IM/email/call? What are your expectations for how quick to respond? When do you put your camera on? Sometimes virtually the biggest struggles are with miscommunication with a new team.
   Also, I always align on three things with my direct reports:
   - what is your non-negotiable to keep you at your best? (Ex, do you need to eat breakfast with your kids, time to exercise, etc)
   - How can I tel if you are stressed? What do you need from me to support you (space, time to rant, etc)?
   - How do you celebrate success?

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