Waste Time
I’ve been working remotely as an engineer, tech lead, delivery lead, and manager of some description or combination for the past 10 years. Want to know my secret sauce for success? I spend around 30 minutes a week just investing in relationships, I waste time.
Covid propelled a large working population into working remotely, and it seems like that’s mostly where it’s going to stay for the foreseeable future. In this environment, it’s incredibly easy to constrain your view of the organisational world to your team, or maybe at most your department. Without physically being next to each other, or in the same room or office, it’s harder still to find opportune moments for collaboration or networking.
However, one signal of success for an individual team member is how they focus on, and intentionally forge strong relationships across the business despite that remote divide.
Doing this in a remote setting is easier than you think, so long as you are intentional about it.
Here are some good tips and go-to’s that I employ to build up those connections and friendships in the organisation:
Donut — Donut’s typically great at matching me with someone on the other side of the business. This helps enormously with building connections and bridges in different parts of the organisation, as well as providing useful go-to's for nuggets of information or advice that you might not otherwise have considered.
Spending the first 5 minutes or so on a call with small talk — Be curious, ask questions, and try and get to know the folks you’re chatting with a little better than you would before getting into the flow of work. If you’re missing that water-cooler chat, be intentional about creating it at the start of a Zoom call. This helps you to foster a sense of camaraderie and build stronger relationships.
Recognise awesome work — This is a general life hack for work anyway, but if you see someone doing a great job with something, tell them! Be specific about what was great, and let them know of the impact. Build some strong foundations for a working relationship off the back with some genuine, encouraging feedback.
Jump in to help — Seize opportunities to assist colleagues beyond your immediate circle. By offering your expertise or lending a helping hand, you not only build new relationships but also strengthen existing ones. Embrace collaboration and leverage these interactions as chances to learn, grow, and broaden your network.
Check-in on folks — Once you’ve built up some relationships in your organisation, tend to them every now and then. Even a simple message asking how they are doing can go a long way in maintaining and nurturing these relationships, never mind your own genuine care for their well-being.
Start with your team, and work your way outwards, or as the opportunity presents itself, and build up to a point where you feel comfortable with your overall circle of influence.
Spending 30 minutes a week, fostering relationships across the organisation, can help you enormously when you’re trying to collaborate across the business and just as importantly, foster a stronger connection for you, and the people you work with.
This act of “making friends and telling stories” as Nick Means would say, will help you increase your ability to have impact in your organisation as a team member or leader, just by being willing to waste a bit of time.