Make Time for Unstructured Engagement
Remote Manager, Issue 5
In this issue of the Remote Manager, we tackle one of the most difficult aspects of remote work — the missing water cooler.
The office water cooler has become conversational shorthand for the serendipity of casual encounters in the workplace. The spontaneous innovation fueled by these encounters is legendary and sorely missed by those accustomed to in-person work.
Although remote work relies more heavily on scheduled interactions among team members, it can provide the same emotional and relational resonance of serendipitous encounters. We just have to think a little differently. We need to purposefully build unstructured engagement into the remote work day.
We need a virtual water cooler.
What is a virtual water cooler? Quite simply, it’s a virtual space that invites team members to engage with one another in an informal and relaxed setting.
In a traditional office setting, team members interacted informally as they encountered one another at the water cooler, or the coffee machine, or the elevator, or the hallway outside of the restrooms.
We benefit from the constant contact, micro-communications, and shared problem solving sustained by physical proximity.
A virtual water cooler replicates these same opportunities in a way that makes sense in the absence of a shared physical space. It allows them to engage with each other in casual ways that create opportunities for relationship development. These water cooler conversations allow for low-risk conversations, questions, ideas, and connections.
In designing the environment for your virtual water cooler follow the rule: don’t interrupt the flow of work. Virtual water coolers work because they fit naturally within the flow of daily work but do not disrupt it. They are natural gathering points based on the way that teams go about accomplishing their daily activities. New ideas can come from these interactions; but more often the insights generated are the result of the quick mental and emotional rest they provide.
To create a virtual water cooler, think about how you want your team to interact. Cohesive culture comes from frequent small interactions. Use the tools that you have to design opportunities for team members to interact organically. Set rules for engagement and overcommunicate expectations. Actively participate in and recruit others to participate in these side conversations as part of a normal workday.
Here are a few tactics to get you started:
- Open team wide channel(s) for comments, questions, or memes
- Designated office hours with an open meeting link so anyone can pop in or out for quick conversations
- Weekly questions/polls with rotating moderators and optional participation
- Virtual coffees with small groups who do not work together regularly
- Meeting agendas that include time for small talk and team building
The power of your virtual water cooler comes from how well you encourage unstructured engagement and how well you empower your team to drive these interactions.
As strange as it might sound, unstructured engagement will require considerable effort on your part, at least initially. Once a culture of engagement is created, you will simply need to monitor and intervene occasionally to keep it on track. The most important contribution you make after designing the environment is to actively participate and constantly recruit others to do the same.
I hope it goes without saying that you do not have to design or maintain this environment alone. Your job is simply to enable it. Invite your team to contribute and participate. Add, edit, and delete elements based on their needs and what you learn works based on experimentation.
One of the most effective ways to socialize unstructured engagement is to act as a matchmaker for your team members. To do so requires active listening and deep relationship development. Identify everyone’s expertise, interest, and challenges. Make introductions based on shared personal or professional interests, similar experiences, or compatible expertise for current challenges.
Even when team members know each other or have worked together previously, these introductions add a compelling element of belonging that grows remote team culture. For many managers, this approach can feel awkward at first. But this kind of overcommunication helps close the physical gap between team members. In essence, you are constantly signaling that the whole team needs each individual by providing them an immediate case-in-point.
The goal is to have your team instigate and own these unstructured engagements themselves. Making space for these unstructured engagements will give your team more emotional connection to one another, opening the door for growth, synergy, and increased productivity. These relationships are dynamic and must be nurtured to develop fruitfully.
For a virtual water cooler concept to work, team members must own interactions and be free to act independently without fear of repercussions. You must go beyond giving your team permission to interact; you must actively promote their autonomy within these interactions.
Many organizations oppose these types of conversations because they don’t trust their people. They fear these back-channel conversations will lead to undesired communications or independent relationships. If you can’t trust your team members to self-regulate and act with professionalism, you will never unleash their true power. The resulting culture will actively sabotage effective team dynamics — regardless of where your team members do their work.
Give your people the power to contribute without a management hierarchy controlling the conversation. Encourage frequent, quick meetings between team members. Invite individuals to loop you in if they need you, but make it clear that they have no requirement to report back to you. Regularly check in with each team member individually after introductions to find out how you can better serve them and to advocate for their continued engagement with one another.
Give your remote team a voice and celebrate when they use it. Call out problems that have been solved because they connected directly with one another. Encourage public displays of gratitude between team members. Tap your team for help outside of the usual channel of meetings. Spotlight your team as often as possible underscoring their effectiveness, interconnectedness, and exceptionalism.
Remote work provides many opportunities for culture building, mentorship, and serendipity. Without the luxury of physical proximity, the Remote Manager must build a remote environment that provides opportunities for spontaneity.
The virtual water cooler invites your remote team to generate solutions, connections, and relationships. As the team takes ownership of these activities they resolve the most difficult aspect of remote work — being apart. Unstructured encounters bridge the miles between the team and create a unified whole that moves with precision and progress.
Jennifer Columbe is the lead Operations Guru at Blue House Solutions. She blends her experience in operations, project management, product development to help business leaders build processes that work for their people.
She writes and speaks about issues impacting operations and building people centric businesses.
Reach out if you want to chat about how ideas in this article can work for your business.
