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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to recognize your colleagues as whole people

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Speaker 1: and not just people who happened to do a job.

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Speaker 1: During a recent episode of the Creative Confidence podcast, Suzanne

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Speaker 1: Gives Howard and remote work experts Sasha Connor talked about

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Speaker 1: leading teams that thrive in remote and hybrid contexts. Howard

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Speaker 1: shared results from a survey about ways teams were promoting

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Speaker 1: positive culture during remote work, among them, greet the dog.

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Speaker 1: What this phrase means is that if someone's dog shows

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Speaker 1: up on their zoom screen, it is okay. You can

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Speaker 1: acknowledge that it happened. You can greet the dog rather

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Speaker 1: than get annoyed at the doggy's presence. Furthermore, when you

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Speaker 1: greet the dog, that implies that you know the dog.

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Speaker 1: You know the dog exists because you've had a conversation

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Speaker 1: with your colleague about his or her pets. You have

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Speaker 1: learned the pets names, You remember them. Oh look it's Max.

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Speaker 1: Hi Max. Is a much nicer way to have a

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Speaker 1: video conversation than cheese. Can you make the dog stop barking.

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Speaker 1: When you greet the dog, you recognize the colleague as

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Speaker 1: a whole person. You recognize your colleague as someone who

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Speaker 1: does a job, of course, but also someone who has

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Speaker 1: and cares for a pet. This builds a lot more

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Speaker 1: trust in connection and makes people far more content with

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Speaker 1: their work. Now, obviously, this principle goes way beyond dogs.

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Speaker 1: More broadly, it's about knowing and respecting our colleagues and

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Speaker 1: acknowledging their experiences, in all their breadth and complexity. Whatever

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Speaker 1: they choose to share about themselves, we honor, we greet

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Speaker 1: the dog, We ask about the grandkids, We compliment the

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Speaker 1: pretty flowers on the desk. Now, of course, you do

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Speaker 1: want to respect people's privacy. Sometimes people choose not to

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Speaker 1: share things, and that is their call. But if someone

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Speaker 1: mentions a dog, then you can mention the dog. You

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Speaker 1: don't need to create the impression that there are important

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Speaker 1: parts of life that need to be hidden at work.

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Speaker 1: You also don't need to pretend like we live in

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Speaker 1: some strange alternate universe where no one has caregiving responsibilities.

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Speaker 1: If your colleague has a sick kid home from daycare,

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Speaker 1: you don't have to pretend that you don't hear the crying,

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Speaker 1: you can acknowledge it. I'm so sorry, Sadie's not feeling well.

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Speaker 1: Do to call me back later at a better time.

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Speaker 1: Your colleague can choose if she wants to power through

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Speaker 1: or deal with the issue, but either way, she will

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Speaker 1: appreciate that you understand, and honestly, you will be able

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Speaker 1: to have a much better call later if you can

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Speaker 1: do it at a time that she chooses that works

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Speaker 1: for her. This mindset also allows you to give grace

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Speaker 1: to yourself. Long time listeners know that I have had

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Speaker 1: a kid leap into the screen during a virtual speech

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Speaker 1: I was giving. He escaped his babysitters clutches when she

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Speaker 1: was dealing with the baby, and at first I tried

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Speaker 1: to ignore him, but then he started banging on things,

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Speaker 1: so best to bring him in for a quick cuddle

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Speaker 1: and a wave, and sure enough he stole the show.

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Speaker 1: Everyone was far more eager to wave and talk to

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Speaker 1: him than me. Well why not, he's way cuter. The

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Speaker 1: same is probably true for your colleagues offspring. Even if

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Speaker 1: they are being mischievous, they bring a lighter side to

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Speaker 1: our work days. If the last year and a half

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Speaker 1: has taught us anything, it's that our colleagues our whole people,

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Speaker 1: and we can work together better when we honor that

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Speaker 1: instead of trying to hide it. So today aim to

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Speaker 1: greet the real and metaphorical dogs in your colleagues lives.

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Speaker 1: They will feel understood and accepted, and your team will

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Speaker 1: work together better. In the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

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Speaker 1: that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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Speaker 1: I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.