You Are Not Alone
Remote can sometimes feel like you’re a mote. Yep it’s a word; a small particle…all alone. And the seemingly never-ending-blending-together of days doesn’t help that feeling.
Get up…do the morning routine…and then interact with the pixels on a computer screen for 8–10 hours…
Sometimes the pixels talk back.
Sometimes they freeze awkwardly on the silly zoom avatar you created to make yourself feel younger…
Even worse, sometimes the pixels can enhance the “mote feelings” we all have every once in awhile…
Uno Reverse
I facilitated a team building session with a group at an onsite recently. Over the last few months, they were having a really hard time independently figuring out how to work better…together. I had them independently list out the “fears” they had that might get in the way of developing a greater sense of trust and building a stronger professional relationship with each other.
After they silently wrote out all their top fears on stickies, we went around the room (in a very trusting way) individually sharing what was feared the most.
- “I feel like it’s all on me sometimes…”
- Imposter syndrome
- Out of the loop
- “Am I being productive?”
- Perfectionism
- “Things won’t change…”
As each team member talked about what they felt was holding them back (aka fears) from developing a greater sense of trust and building a stronger personal relationship with each other, I could see other team members eyes widen a little with each word that was spoken. They were visibly shocked to hear words others shared that they put down on their sticky notes.
And collectively were really shocked when I told them that other people in the company I’ve talked to felt the EXACT SAME WAY.
The energy in the room immediately shifted.
We could now start figuring out how to actually work better together.
Mote Together — A Challenge
We spend a lot of time working on work. And oh do we get work done. But the more time we can spend building a better understanding of our co-workers and figuring out how we can improve our co-working, the more we can actually make what we do remotely more fulfilling…and easier…and less stressful…and just more cool.
Here’s a simple challenge you can take on to build those re-mote relationships:
- Reach out to someone that is on your team, but you rarely interact with
- Let them know you’re wanting to get to know the members of your team a little better
- Schedule a 15/20 minute introduction meeting
- Introduce yourselves, share what ya’ll do on the team, and then go back and forth sharing what motivates you at work…and if you’re really brave, share the challenges
- See if there are ways you can help each other out
- Find a new person on the team next month and do it again
Good luck!
