The Human Factor to Communication
3 things your remote team can learn from video games
Hey there 👋
My name is Conor. I’m helping shape how teams work together at Hugo, bringing your meetings, notes, and tasks all in one place.
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In the FYI Remote Work report, remote workers cited a lack of organic interaction as a top-five challenge. That probably doesn’t come as a surprise.
When you are remote from the rest of your team, everything that happens has to be intentional. There are no serendipitous encounters in the office — no overheard bits of information to seed ideas in your mind. Opportunities for organic human interaction still abound, though.
Not being in the same room as someone does not have to stop you from having a great relationship with them.
Before remote work hit the mainstream, another type of remote interaction had already gained immense popularity in a subsection of the population. It turns out, many people have been practicing working remotely for quite some time. They’re quite good at it.
You may be too, without even realizing it.
Multiplayer video games, with their complex mechanics, team-based challenges, and real-time communication, offer an analog from which we can learn. Whether you are a gamer or not, you may have heard of people who met their spouse or partner in a video game such as World of Warcraft.
Many people who play games together cite their in-game friends as being closer to them than people they know in real life. This example illustrates how remote relationships can involve the same level of mutual trust, teamwork, camaraderie, and honesty as in-person ones. Here are a few ways you can experience that in your organization:
🖥 Build a culture around video
Video connects people with each other. Sometimes this is a video meeting, and other times it’s a simple, self-destructing screen recording. Every day, multiple team members share videos like this. It’s a much higher bandwidth way to share information than an email, and it’s much simpler to do than calling a full-fledged meeting.
Having video on in meetings is a habit that must be cultivated. Not only does it increase the sense of connectedness, but video communication is also often more easily understood than other forms of communication. Participants get to observe each other’s facial expressions and body language, both of which are powerful communication signals.
Having video on during meetings also helps people avoid multi-tasking. This is something many people would never do in an in-person meeting, but they often do on remote calls. Video encourages them to fully connect and communicate with the other people in the meeting.
🤝 Have simple, personal interactions
Send a quick chat to just say hello. Ask how their weekend was. When we're in the same space every day, we can take these small, personal interactions for granted.
But when you’re remote from each other, they can be quite rare. So spend five seconds and send a quick message that doesn’t relate to specific work. It goes a long way.
🎉 Bring the remote team along for celebrations
Remote team members may not be co-located, but that doesn’t mean they cannot celebrate together. One thing we like to do at Hugo is to give an impromptu phone call to each other after a milestone achievement or when something exciting happens.
Chances are that everyone can’t be together, so tell remote workers to cut out an hour early and give them $20 for a bottle of wine or something similar. Even if they aren’t there in person, they can join in spirit and develop a stronger sense of being part of the team.
📚 Reads of the week
When You Hear This, Pay Attention
Enjoy this list of phrases you hear around the workplace that indicate there may be an opportunity for improvement, or you’re about to fall into a trap and need to pay attention.
The Future of Meetings
This is a nice round-up from Bhavika Shah on the players in the meeting productivity space and how she sees these products evolving over time. I especially appreciated the Journey Map that she lays out here.
A User Guide to Working with You
Julie Zhou offers advice on creating your “User Guide” for the first time. Even more helpful, she shares an example of her own guide. I created something similar for myself earlier this year, but maybe it’s time to revisit it.
Thanks for reading Future of Teamwork this week! Did anything stand out? I’d love to hear about it. Reply to this email or tweet at me and let’s chat 😁
Until next time,
Conor