Remote, Together: Keeping Cameras On
In early 2020, Genesis Block had beautiful office spaces and local teams in both London, UK and Lehi, UT. Having multiple sites across broad time zones meant we knew how to do things remotely. We were avid Slack and Zoom users, proactive communicators, and we worked hard to develop relationships across oceans.
When Covid hit in March 2020, we were sent home along with the rest of the world. We knew how to work between two offices across continents, but once we were all working from home, a few immediate adjustments had to be made.
Home Offices
As it became apparent this pandemic wasn’t going away anytime soon, many team members got tired of sitting on their couches or working from a laptop screen and needed to augment their home office space. We snuck back into our offices to move chairs, tables, and monitors home. We funded ergonomic equipment, noise-cancelling headphones, and webcams as needed. Internet connections were upgraded. Making sure everyone had a good setup at home was fundamental. Without that we couldn’t expect full productivity or engagement.
Cameras On
I spend the majority of my days on Zoom calls and know how tempting it is to turn the camera off. Start with basic grooming. I know it shouldn’t be so hard, but when you just roll out of bed and into your work chair, you can imagine how often the steps of get dressed, brush hair, and apply lipstick get skipped. But at least I’ve gotten 100% better at making my bed every day. Having my bedroom as my Zoom backdrop is bad enough, so I’ve taken consolation in some throw pillows.
I’ve learned when my camera is on, I fully engage, make eye contact, and read/give non-verbal communication cues. So I turn it on as much as possible, and encourage my teammates to do the same.
Turning cameras on is a great opportunity to connect with teammates, which is important as we’re feeling more and more physically disconnected. We’ve followed Clement’s travels across the country through his different AirBnb office backdrops; Michael has moved twice and is remodeling his kitchen; Gaia and Sean are training their cute new puppies; Ryan works outdoors and gives us tours of the creek and forest behind his home; and Megan’s cat is a regular in our meetings. We’ve managed to maintain and grow our personal connections as we’ve turned our cameras on and shared our home lives with each other too.
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