Published on August 16, 2018
“A deep sense of belonging.” This is
how one Aha! teammate recently described working here. Her statement made me
proud. That sense of belonging is something we work hard to achieve — even
as our 80-person team continues to rapidly grow. It is
gratifying to know that our hard work is leading to team spirit and gratitude.
But it is even more gratifying to watch what it looks and sounds like. See for
yourself.
Consider how remarkable this is — Aha! is an
entirely remote company with people in 22 U.S. states and five countries.
We are located all over the world and are still
meaningfully connected.
We filmed this video at our
last company onsite in
Vail, Colorado. What is an onsite, you ask? It is our all-company meeting. We
hold these events twice a year in a travel destination location. (Many of you
would call this an offsite — but since we already work offsite, we call them
onsites.)
The first onsite was just one day
long. It took place in December 2014, when Aha! was a year and a half old. Our
second onsite was in May of 2015 in Lake Tahoe, California, and we extended it
to nearly a week.
We knew that as much as we believe
in the benefits of remote work,
we needed to get everyone together in person a few times a year — to
celebrate our achievements, plan for the goals ahead, and bond as a team. We
always look forward to the next onsite.
Of course, planning has become more
complicated as the team has grown. But the fundamental purpose and agenda
remains. We look back at the last six months, plan for what is ahead, sit down
for delicious meals together, and also give back to the communities we visit.
The bonds we create during onsites
are strong — but our meaningful connections do not come from the onsites alone.
We consciously work to develop these relationships throughout the year.
Deep connections come when exceptional people with
shared values work together towards the same goals.
Our team at Aha! follows a set of
principles we pioneered and named The Responsive Method (TRM).
This approach is centered around the belief that interactions with urgency move
people and organizations forward. TRM guides us, but it takes the right kind of
people to make it happen.
We hire highly skilled people who
work exceptionally hard, are committed to ongoing learning, and are kind. Then
we communicate a clear vision, set goals, and create opportunities for
teammates to connect.
If you are curious about what this
means in practice, here are the core focus areas that we invest in to promote
real achievement and grow team camaraderie:
Be transparent
We share the annual operating plan
with everyone and support a culture of continuous feedback. We also hold
weekly company-wide video meetings,
where teammates share updates and can ask questions.
Encourage curiosity
We create opportunities for people
to learn about each other. This does not have to be strictly work-related
either. For example, we organize virtual hangouts every month so people can
talk about whatever they like in an unstructured format.
Teach freely
We give every new person a
comprehensive onboarding experience (a minimum of five weeks) to learn the
product and the company. We have frameworks that guide our work and offer
teaching sessions that allow people to share expertise.
Celebrate often
We recognize every single team
member’s contributions in meaningful and heartfelt ways. We do this by sharing
what we call “hatitude.” We also
make an effort to acknowledge major milestones. For example, at our weekly
company meetings, teammates who are celebrating a work anniversary share a
favorite memory from the past year.
Everyone presents
We read a book as a company twice a
year and everyone gets to present how it impacted them. This gives every person
in the company the stage for a few minutes. The answers tend to be
thought-provoking, personal, and always leave us understanding our teammates a
little bit better.
Vary groups
During the onsites, we schedule
cross-functional dinners and activities because most people typically spend the
majority of their time working with people on their own team. Whether it is a
group dinner or a volunteer outing,
we do our best to make the groups varied.
Keep experimenting
The six tactics above are just the
beginning. We try new team-building programs and measure the success of the
ones we have in place. After every onsite, we take a survey to find out what the team loved and
what they did not. We take that feedback and look for ways to keep
improving.
The depth of our team’s relationships — and
how well we work together — will continue to be the greatest driver of our
success.
The challenge is to maintain this
closeness as Aha! rapidly grows. And I can tell you that our passionate,
hard-working team is up for the challenge. Because that deep sense of belonging
is what we all really want at work.
ABOUT BRIAN AND AHA!
Brian de Haaff seeks business and
wilderness adventure. He is the co-founder and CEO of Aha! — the world’s #1 product roadmap software —
and the author of the bestselling new book Lovability. His two
previous startups were acquired by well-known public companies. Brian writes
and speaks about product and company growth and the adventure of living a
meaningful life.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/6-unique-ways-we-build-meaningful-connections-our-remote-de-haaff/?trk=eml-email_feed_ecosystem_digest_01-recommended_articles-10-Unknown&midToken=AQEmsUSMZWLRCw&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=1Nm2RSleegvUo1
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