Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
Speaker 1: the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
Speaker 1: new world of work, where location and hours are more
Speaker 1: flexible than in the past. Today's tip is about how
Speaker 1: one company has kept their casual interactions going after going virtual.
Speaker 1: Matt Hall runs Hill Investment Group, which turns fifteen years
Speaker 1: old this year. I did it before Breakfast episode last year,
Speaker 1: in which I mentioned the company's ritual of tea time,
Speaker 1: people would stop to take a social break in mid
Speaker 1: afternoon in order to renew their energy for the last
Speaker 1: hour or so of the work day. People tend to
Speaker 1: need a break then anyway, and when everyone takes one,
Speaker 1: it doesn't seem weird because of rituals like this. I
Speaker 1: know that Matt thinks a lot about productivity and keeping
Speaker 1: people engaged, and so I asked how he'd been adjusting
Speaker 1: to virtual work in the wake of COVID nineteen. He
Speaker 1: noted that in the past I've been against remote work.
Speaker 1: The resistance in my head was mainly about the team
Speaker 1: needing to be physically to gather to feel connected, he says.
Speaker 1: He notes that the company had worked hard and spent
Speaker 1: a lot of money to make the offices in St.
Speaker 1: Louis and Houston feel idyllic. He also says that there
Speaker 1: was a part of me that wondered if people would
Speaker 1: give their all if they were tempted to do household
Speaker 1: chores or play with the dog. But now he says,
Speaker 1: I know I was wrong about remote work because I've
Speaker 1: seen it can actually work. The team has done two
Speaker 1: things to keep some of the same interactive vibe going. First,
Speaker 1: they book in the day with virtual meetings. Now long
Speaker 1: time listeners know my dislike of recurring meetings, so to
Speaker 1: be clear, these meetings are short because no one likes
Speaker 1: to drag things out for hours, and they're focused because
Speaker 1: one person facilitates the topic for the entire group. This
Speaker 1: keeps the virtual check ins from wasting people's time. It's fun,
Speaker 1: how dual, and sets the tone. Matt says. It also
Speaker 1: keeps the work day from bleeding into all hours of
Speaker 1: the day and night. Bookend means bookend. When you say goodbye,
Speaker 1: you can be done. As he says, the virtual meeting
Speaker 1: is connecting us like never before. They've also moved office
Speaker 1: chatter virtual. We share socially and at a light mix
Speaker 1: of business topics inside a cool tool called Bonfire. He says,
Speaker 1: that's b O n F y r E. It's an
Speaker 1: app on our mobile devices, and it's another great way
Speaker 1: for us to stay in touch. Bonfire is not about
Speaker 1: tasks nor productivity. It's about connection. So people share what
Speaker 1: they're making for lunch, or their struggles with parenting, or
Speaker 1: that somebody just got new chickens. In other words, the
Speaker 1: same stuff you'd talk about at the water cooler. He
Speaker 1: reports that I still can't wait to get back to
Speaker 1: the office, but now I know it isn't the thing
Speaker 1: that binds us. In fact, our team has likely never
Speaker 1: been more connected with because we are checking in more
Speaker 1: often and because we have a common enemy in COVID nineteen.
Speaker 1: When work is approached intentionally, people get more done and
Speaker 1: feel better about it. That's true in an office or
Speaker 1: when everyone is working from home. Here at the new
Speaker 1: Corner Office, I'll be sharing lots of ideas from teams
Speaker 1: that work remotely or flexibly, So feel free to email
Speaker 1: me and let me know what's working for you or
Speaker 1: not working for you. You can reach me at Laura
Speaker 1: at Laura Vanderkamp dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura,
Speaker 1: thanks for listening, and here's the succeeding in the New
Speaker 1: Corner Office. The New Corner Office is a production of
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