#BestOf2019: Building an Effective Work-From-Anywhere Culture w/ Lisa Walker

WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:08.310 Hey there, this is James Carberry, founder of sweet fish media and one 2 00:00:08.310 --> 00:00:11.189 of the cohosts of this show. For the last year and a half I've 3 00:00:11.189 --> 00:00:14.990 been working on my very first book. In the book I share the three 4 00:00:15.029 --> 00:00:18.910 part framework we've used as the foundation for our growth. Here is sweetfish. 5 00:00:19.350 --> 00:00:22.620 Now there are lots of companies that everised a bunch of money and have grown 6 00:00:22.660 --> 00:00:25.579 insanely fast, and we featured a lot of them here on the show. 7 00:00:26.339 --> 00:00:30.579 We've decided to bootstrap our business, which usually equates to pretty slow growth, 8 00:00:31.100 --> 00:00:34.700 but using the strategy outlined in the book, we are on pace to be 9 00:00:34.859 --> 00:00:38.609 one of inks fastest growing companies in two thousand and twenty. The book is 10 00:00:38.729 --> 00:00:42.729 called content based networking, how to instantly connect with anyone you want to know. 11 00:00:43.250 --> 00:00:45.329 If you're a fan of audio books like me, you can find the 12 00:00:45.369 --> 00:00:48.369 book on audible, or if you like physical books, you can also find 13 00:00:48.409 --> 00:00:53.759 it on Amazon. Just search content based networking or James carberry CR be a 14 00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:58.280 ary in audible or Amazon and it should pop right up. All right, 15 00:00:58.439 --> 00:01:03.359 let's get into the show. Hey, everybody, Logan with sweet fish here, 16 00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:06.829 as we've been doing all month long. We continue our countdown today of 17 00:01:06.909 --> 00:01:11.069 the top twenty episodes of two thousand and nineteen. Coming in at number six 18 00:01:11.430 --> 00:01:15.549 is a conversation with Lisa Walker over at fuse on building and effective work from 19 00:01:15.590 --> 00:01:19.540 anywhere culture. To get more episodes coming up in the countdown, make sure 20 00:01:19.700 --> 00:01:23.620 you're subscribed to the show in apple podcasts or wherever you do you're listening. 21 00:01:23.939 --> 00:01:29.939 You can also check out the full list at Sweet Fish Mediacom blog. Just 22 00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:33.810 look for the Hashtag Best of two thousand and nineteen in the categories on the 23 00:01:33.890 --> 00:01:38.129 right hand side of that page. Welcome back to the BB gross show. 24 00:01:38.170 --> 00:01:42.849 I'm your host for today's episode, Logan Lyles, with sweetfish media. I'm 25 00:01:42.849 --> 00:01:46.849 joined today by Lisa Walker. She is the vice president of brand and corporate 26 00:01:46.890 --> 00:01:49.840 marketing at fuse. Lisa, how you doing today? I'm good. Thanks 27 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:53.680 so much for having me, Logan. I appreciate it. We appreciate you 28 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:56.799 making some time to join us or LISA. We're going to be talking about 29 00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:00.200 a topic that is near and dear to my heart. You know, work 30 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:04.670 is not a place anymore. The the future of work and and running a 31 00:02:04.750 --> 00:02:07.069 remote team poses a lot of opportunities and challenges. So we're going to be 32 00:02:07.509 --> 00:02:12.509 breaking down, you know, some ideas about that, where things are headed 33 00:02:12.629 --> 00:02:15.310 and what we can do about it, and, as a member of a 34 00:02:15.550 --> 00:02:19.740 remote team, myself very passionate about this topic. Before we jump straight into 35 00:02:19.780 --> 00:02:22.740 that, though, I would love for you to share with listeners a little 36 00:02:22.740 --> 00:02:25.539 bit about yourself, your background, your history and marketing and what you and 37 00:02:25.620 --> 00:02:30.409 your team at fuse are up to these days. Sure, so, as 38 00:02:30.490 --> 00:02:32.530 you mentioned, I'm here at fuse now, but I've been in B Tob 39 00:02:34.169 --> 00:02:38.849 Brand and marketing for longer than I care to admit, both and Publishing and 40 00:02:38.050 --> 00:02:42.090 then in the tech industry. And so before feuse I was actually at forster 41 00:02:42.169 --> 00:02:46.520 research for several years doing brand and marketing there. I think one really important 42 00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:50.719 thing to know before we jump in is that I'm a working mom of two 43 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:54.159 boys, which was a huge factor me choosing to come work for fuse and 44 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:59.990 come help build the brand here. Views is a cloud software company, so 45 00:03:00.150 --> 00:03:04.629 what we've built here as a communications and collaboration platform that gives people the ability 46 00:03:04.669 --> 00:03:07.909 to call, meet, chat and share content through one single application across any 47 00:03:07.990 --> 00:03:12.750 device they choose. Just as a contrast to that, at my last company 48 00:03:13.300 --> 00:03:17.300 I did those things across six different applications for voice video alogy. Yeah, 49 00:03:17.300 --> 00:03:20.979 it's a lot right, and I mean I'm sure you have. You probably 50 00:03:21.020 --> 00:03:23.300 have four of your own as we're talking here. And that created a ton 51 00:03:23.340 --> 00:03:25.860 of friction, frankly, for me and lost a lot of time as I 52 00:03:25.900 --> 00:03:30.370 was trying to work. I had a distributed team across, I think for 53 00:03:30.569 --> 00:03:36.250 different countries during my time at Forster. So it turned out that six applications 54 00:03:36.449 --> 00:03:39.610 in an organization is typical and that's actually the average we see with the companies 55 00:03:39.610 --> 00:03:44.680 that were working with, where we're coming in and displacing those applications and bringing 56 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:49.039 in one unified APP for voice video messaging. So that that's sort of the 57 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:52.960 average situation we walk into, where you've got six applications or more and we're 58 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:57.189 coming in and bringing it all into one. Absolutely. I mean I can 59 00:03:57.270 --> 00:04:00.590 totally relate to that, you know, as being part of a remote team, 60 00:04:00.750 --> 00:04:03.349 as being a millennial who's an early adopter. You know, I can 61 00:04:03.430 --> 00:04:08.629 remember early on I had, not necessarily talking about communication here, but file 62 00:04:08.710 --> 00:04:12.300 storage. I had I had one drive, I had box, I had 63 00:04:12.340 --> 00:04:15.340 dropbox, I had google drive. I'm like, hold on a second, 64 00:04:15.379 --> 00:04:18.939 I'm I'm writting myself too thin as I try out you know, these different 65 00:04:18.980 --> 00:04:24.180 applications for different things, whether that's communication or files sharing, those sorts of 66 00:04:24.259 --> 00:04:27.769 things. I can totally relate to that and that's kind of eye opening there 67 00:04:27.930 --> 00:04:32.089 that, you know, the average of six APPS for communication and collaboration is 68 00:04:32.129 --> 00:04:36.769 kind of the average for organizations these days, and I think that leads nicely 69 00:04:38.009 --> 00:04:41.680 into the first thing that you wanted to touch on is that, you know, 70 00:04:41.879 --> 00:04:45.480 really, when we look at communication and we look at work, it's 71 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:49.079 transformed from a place that we go to what we do. Right. It 72 00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:51.910 has, and I think you know, if you think back to I can 73 00:04:51.990 --> 00:04:56.790 think back to my first couple jobs, work was a much more formal setting 74 00:04:56.829 --> 00:04:59.990 for me, starting out sort of as an information worker. There's a set 75 00:05:00.029 --> 00:05:02.589 schedule, there was a very little flexibility. I certain did certainly didn't feel 76 00:05:02.589 --> 00:05:06.139 like there's a culture of flexibility, but frankly, with the tools we have 77 00:05:06.220 --> 00:05:10.420 today, that that's change. So it's not just about the fact that you 78 00:05:10.540 --> 00:05:15.060 can work from different places, but also you can work during different times and 79 00:05:15.259 --> 00:05:16.980 those times when you're most productive, and we didn't have the tech to do 80 00:05:17.100 --> 00:05:20.259 that before. So we did a survey on this. I think it was 81 00:05:20.490 --> 00:05:26.930 two years ago. Six thousand information workers globally and fifty percent told us they 82 00:05:26.970 --> 00:05:30.569 would move to another company if it meant more flexibility, and that was without 83 00:05:30.569 --> 00:05:33.649 a pay increase. And eighteen percent said they would take a pay cut or 84 00:05:33.730 --> 00:05:38.600 demotion to gain that flexibility. So that's that was really interesting to us. 85 00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:44.160 And when we dug in, flexibility wasn't about where I work from. That 86 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:46.800 was one factor, but the other thing that was just as important to people 87 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:50.149 was when I work. So that's sort of the new frontier. It's not 88 00:05:50.230 --> 00:05:54.990 just about being able to work remotely, it's about being able to work different 89 00:05:55.110 --> 00:05:58.430 hours if those are the hours where I'm most productive. Yeah, yeah, 90 00:05:58.589 --> 00:06:02.110 wow, those are eye opening statistics, Lisa. So as we look at 91 00:06:02.149 --> 00:06:06.500 as as leaders of teams, think about this, Lisa, what are some 92 00:06:06.620 --> 00:06:13.060 of the things that you guys have uncovered about how we can implement these different 93 00:06:13.060 --> 00:06:17.139 workmode policies of when and where we work effectively? Yeah, so I think 94 00:06:17.180 --> 00:06:23.569 first I would say that having a work from home policy or remote work policy 95 00:06:24.329 --> 00:06:27.250 is one thing, but if you actually take back to the next level and 96 00:06:27.449 --> 00:06:30.209 have what we have at fused, the work for anywhere policy. So are 97 00:06:30.209 --> 00:06:33.759 chief people officer Mary good put in a work from anywhere policy which was intentionally 98 00:06:33.879 --> 00:06:39.040 flexible. So it's a flexible policy about flexible work. So I would describe 99 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:42.040 it. But what it allows you to do as a manager and as an 100 00:06:42.040 --> 00:06:47.029 employee is have a conversation about what a personal arrangement looks like for you. 101 00:06:47.269 --> 00:06:50.870 That's not you know, these are the different options you have within the company. 102 00:06:51.189 --> 00:06:55.790 It's let's sit down as two people and talk about how you can do 103 00:06:55.829 --> 00:06:59.550 your best work here, and that's about when you do your best work and 104 00:06:59.629 --> 00:07:01.500 about where you can do your best work and coming up with these personal arrangements. 105 00:07:01.540 --> 00:07:04.420 So just a couple examples. I have a working mom who works for 106 00:07:04.500 --> 00:07:09.100 me and she's in the office three to the week. She's at home two 107 00:07:09.100 --> 00:07:11.939 days a week and the day she's in the office she leaves it one hundred 108 00:07:11.980 --> 00:07:14.579 and thirty four school pick up and then she's back online in the afternoon. 109 00:07:15.180 --> 00:07:18.329 I had another woman to work for me who decided to move to Philadelphia to 110 00:07:18.490 --> 00:07:21.889 move in with her boyfriend and we would have lost her, but when we 111 00:07:21.930 --> 00:07:27.250 sat down and have that conversation she's now fully remote from Philadelphia. So I 112 00:07:27.410 --> 00:07:31.879 think that having a flexible work policy is great, but actually making that flexible 113 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:36.160 work policy, flexible and customizable, is sort of that next front here for 114 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:40.600 people. Yeah, what I hear you saying there is is don't start with 115 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:44.000 the company's perspective and come up with these policies of, you know, we 116 00:07:44.120 --> 00:07:46.670 allow two days from home or, you know, whatever the standard is. 117 00:07:46.790 --> 00:07:51.750 is taken individualized approach and take it from the employees perspective. What's going to 118 00:07:51.870 --> 00:07:57.509 work for you. And do we see that as as a leader for our 119 00:07:57.589 --> 00:08:00.899 direct reports? Do we see that as being, you know, acceptable, 120 00:08:00.939 --> 00:08:05.060 and do we see that as as working? Do we see that being beneficial 121 00:08:05.100 --> 00:08:09.060 for them to be more productive and having an open and frank conversation about it? 122 00:08:09.139 --> 00:08:13.410 So I think that's great advice for leaders, for for us who are 123 00:08:13.569 --> 00:08:16.490 who are leaders or work on a team. We're also then, if we 124 00:08:16.610 --> 00:08:20.649 think about it, you know, you mentioned being being a working mom. 125 00:08:20.170 --> 00:08:24.930 We're also dealing with staying present and active when we're working from anywhere. So 126 00:08:26.050 --> 00:08:28.959 kind of the flip side of that is, once you're in that environment, 127 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:33.720 what are some best practices to actually make yourself productive, to guard your time, 128 00:08:33.080 --> 00:08:37.159 those sorts of things, because there's benefits but there's also unique challenges to 129 00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:41.279 working from it anywhere. Right. Well, I think that's a great point. 130 00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:43.269 I mean it's in some ways for us that fuse. It's a little 131 00:08:43.309 --> 00:08:48.590 bit easier because it's contained within one APP. So I actually have the ability 132 00:08:48.629 --> 00:08:54.230 to control when that APP is alerting me and signaling me and trying to kind 133 00:08:54.269 --> 00:08:58.340 of push me into work mode. So that that's kind of an easier thing 134 00:08:58.379 --> 00:09:01.379 for us, which is lucky for us because we have that technology. But 135 00:09:01.460 --> 00:09:05.419 I also think that it's really important for people to create work mode and personal 136 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:11.409 mode. So work mode for me is about being professional and productive outside of 137 00:09:11.409 --> 00:09:15.970 the office and it's a very specific thing. So you need to be able 138 00:09:16.210 --> 00:09:20.330 to have the right technology, but you also need to be able to curate 139 00:09:20.409 --> 00:09:24.360 these environments where you can kind of go into work mode. So whether that 140 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:26.159 for me. For me there's a couple different environments like that that I've sort 141 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:30.240 of curated over the years. There's a coworking space by my kids school. 142 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:33.639 So when I have a bunch of school events on a given day but I 143 00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:35.399 also have a bunch of work stuff that I can't move on that day, 144 00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:39.149 I will go in and out of that coworking space so that when I'm in 145 00:09:39.190 --> 00:09:43.230 that coworking space I can be in work mode and I can be productive and 146 00:09:43.269 --> 00:09:46.230 I can get those things done and then when I'm at those assemblies, my 147 00:09:46.389 --> 00:09:50.309 phone is off, the fuse APP is off and I am unreachable during that 148 00:09:50.429 --> 00:09:54.419 time, as it should be, and so that's me choosing to go in 149 00:09:54.539 --> 00:09:56.500 and out of work in personal mode. But it's much more fluid now and 150 00:09:56.539 --> 00:10:00.899 I think people come in and out of work mode very quickly. So, 151 00:10:01.740 --> 00:10:03.620 you know, you come home at night and you want to have dinner with 152 00:10:03.700 --> 00:10:07.769 your family, you have to find a way to put those devices away and 153 00:10:07.889 --> 00:10:11.690 switch out of work mode. But it may be that you've created a flexible 154 00:10:11.730 --> 00:10:16.809 schedule with your manager so that you're going to be back online from, you 155 00:10:16.850 --> 00:10:18.929 know, nine to eleven at night, because that's when you do good work 156 00:10:20.049 --> 00:10:22.320 and you should be able to switch back into that and you should have the 157 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:26.320 tools to do that. That's the tech piece, but you also need to 158 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:28.679 have the right environment to do that. So whether that's, you know, 159 00:10:28.759 --> 00:10:33.480 the Home Office environment, or whether that's a great coffee shop or whether that's 160 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:37.230 whatever it may be, whatever you've curated as those environments where you can kind 161 00:10:37.230 --> 00:10:39.309 of switch into work mode and be productive. That's what you need to do. 162 00:10:41.029 --> 00:10:43.590 But I do think it's about us, you know, if we're going 163 00:10:43.590 --> 00:10:46.830 to be more fluid and more flexible in when and where we work, we 164 00:10:46.029 --> 00:10:50.500 have to create that work mode, in that personal mode, and unfortunately it's 165 00:10:50.500 --> 00:10:52.940 kind of not one size fits all. I do believe that you have two 166 00:10:54.100 --> 00:10:56.340 same thing. You have to kind of customize that to how you work best. 167 00:10:56.820 --> 00:11:01.059 Yeah, it comes down to your environment, when your energy level is 168 00:11:01.179 --> 00:11:03.970 right for different tasks. You know, I found that, you know, 169 00:11:05.090 --> 00:11:09.649 pushing clearing out my inbox to later in the evening when I've got some time 170 00:11:09.769 --> 00:11:13.610 once my kids are asleep is good. I can't do real high level, 171 00:11:13.809 --> 00:11:16.409 you know, a long term strategic creative thinking, but I can plow through 172 00:11:16.450 --> 00:11:20.759 some emails at nine at night, you know, and and replace that time 173 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:24.360 for being able to spend a little bit more family time at breakfast in the 174 00:11:24.440 --> 00:11:28.399 morning and not having to jump in so early. And so I think it's 175 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:33.470 it's kind of this this shifting pieces around that looks different in the mosaic that 176 00:11:33.549 --> 00:11:37.190 you end up putting together, but but there's room to move the tiles around 177 00:11:37.230 --> 00:11:41.230 a bit. So I think that's an important point that you touched on their 178 00:11:41.669 --> 00:11:46.110 and also realizing that it is fluid as we switch in and out of both 179 00:11:46.179 --> 00:11:50.100 modes, but it's not instantaneous. You know, I I find myself as 180 00:11:50.100 --> 00:11:54.899 a millennial, even though I've heard all the research and I know it all 181 00:11:54.019 --> 00:11:58.860 to be true, that we can't multitask. Every time we switch task. 182 00:11:58.980 --> 00:12:03.730 We lose so much productivity it takes time to regain our focus. But still 183 00:12:03.889 --> 00:12:07.169 try to do it. And so I've heard a lot of people, you 184 00:12:07.250 --> 00:12:11.490 know, just use the technology to keep technology from distracting us in the way 185 00:12:11.529 --> 00:12:15.799 that you're saying in times that you either completely shut off your phone or your 186 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:20.519 change your notification settings in fuse or slack or whatever communication APP that you're using. 187 00:12:20.840 --> 00:12:26.919 And I think those boundaries allow us to switch actually more fluidly than just 188 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:30.870 every you know, thirty seconds, Ninety seconds, whatever it is. We 189 00:12:30.990 --> 00:12:33.710 think that we can switch fluidly that way, but it's more about the boundaries 190 00:12:33.750 --> 00:12:41.509 actually make us be able to switch those modes more fluidly on a regular clip. 191 00:12:41.549 --> 00:12:43.190 Right. Well, that's true, and I think that then forces you 192 00:12:43.269 --> 00:12:48.659 to kind of create some rules of engagement for yourself, because it is so 193 00:12:48.899 --> 00:12:52.899 easy to start checking email in bed and all of a sudden you know, 194 00:12:54.139 --> 00:12:58.409 you're deep into it and now you've you've kind of lost that personal time of 195 00:12:58.809 --> 00:13:05.330 being able to kind of kind of wind down and and get ready for your 196 00:13:05.370 --> 00:13:09.009 sleep, and I think that so that's not a technology question because, like 197 00:13:09.049 --> 00:13:13.080 you said, it's all right there and it's at your fingertips and then it's 198 00:13:13.080 --> 00:13:16.919 about you choosing to stay in personal mode when there's some sometimes there's that drove. 199 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:20.840 I'll just I'll just check real quick in case something came in. And 200 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:24.039 we're checking so many things throughout the day and we're so kind of addicted to 201 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:28.230 those phones that you can check that one email and then that one email has 202 00:13:28.269 --> 00:13:31.830 a problem in it and now all of a sudden, like you said, 203 00:13:31.870 --> 00:13:35.710 you're not just sort of winding down to the night and going through your email, 204 00:13:35.710 --> 00:13:39.549 now you're deep into solving a problem and it's eleven o'clock at night and 205 00:13:39.750 --> 00:13:41.419 you're then not getting the sleep you need to wake up and be productive the 206 00:13:41.500 --> 00:13:45.860 next day. So there is a lot of kind of personal accountability here, 207 00:13:46.379 --> 00:13:50.340 I think, but for both employees and for manager. So if you're a 208 00:13:50.419 --> 00:13:54.980 manager and you have an employee who you don't think is switching in and out 209 00:13:54.179 --> 00:13:58.769 of personal and work mode effectively and you're and you're worried about burnout and those 210 00:13:58.769 --> 00:14:01.970 sorts of things. That also has to be part of the conversation. Yeah, 211 00:14:01.009 --> 00:14:05.769 I saw a great post from Matt Hinds the other day on linkedin talking 212 00:14:05.809 --> 00:14:11.120 about kind of guarding your your direct reports or your colleagues time in that you 213 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:13.840 know, we're all working different times. So there's, you know, this 214 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:18.039 asynchronous communication that's opening and you know, I think this touches on something we're 215 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:20.679 going to get to in a second, is culture in a remote environment. 216 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:24.549 But you know, with our team, for instance, you know James, 217 00:14:24.590 --> 00:14:28.629 our founder, and I will, you know, I'll get an email from 218 00:14:28.669 --> 00:14:31.750 him, you know, occasionally pretty late at night and he's east coast time 219 00:14:31.789 --> 00:14:35.549 and I'm mountain time, so then there's also time zone differences. But we've 220 00:14:35.629 --> 00:14:39.220 created this working relationship to where if you get an email from me late at 221 00:14:39.259 --> 00:14:41.220 night, it's not that hey, I expect you to respond at this time, 222 00:14:41.259 --> 00:14:45.379 it's just that's when I can get it out. So it's either have 223 00:14:45.500 --> 00:14:48.340 her having conversations like that or going back to where I started there and got 224 00:14:48.379 --> 00:14:52.659 off on a rabbit trail, was with Matt's post. He was mentioning, 225 00:14:52.009 --> 00:14:56.730 you know, use the send later function that a lot of us have and 226 00:14:56.929 --> 00:15:01.169 in our email inbox or with certain tools to compose that email at ten o'clock 227 00:15:01.169 --> 00:15:05.730 at night when you're you're plowing through them, but have it send it eight 228 00:15:05.809 --> 00:15:07.879 tomorrow morning when you know your colleagues going to be there, to try and 229 00:15:09.159 --> 00:15:11.440 guard their personal space a little bit. So I think there's a lot of 230 00:15:11.480 --> 00:15:15.360 different ways that it can play out, but being conscious of those things help 231 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:20.039 us to then customize it for for us, for our director reports and and 232 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:24.070 for our colleagues. So let's transition there and talk a little bit about, 233 00:15:24.350 --> 00:15:30.470 you know, managing remote teams and measuring engagement, because that's another challenge that 234 00:15:30.629 --> 00:15:35.470 comes with this flexibility in this new way of working. Right sure, yeah, 235 00:15:35.470 --> 00:15:37.620 and we've actually done a bunch of research on this, both externally but 236 00:15:37.700 --> 00:15:41.940 also, you know, within our own company, the own experiment paition we've 237 00:15:41.940 --> 00:15:46.460 been doing with managing such a distributed team. One of the things I think 238 00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:50.929 is really interesting is the importance of video meetings. So we know that if 239 00:15:52.049 --> 00:15:56.490 the leader turns on video, then then the rest of the employees on the 240 00:15:56.529 --> 00:15:58.129 call will turn on video as well. So you can you have to sort 241 00:15:58.129 --> 00:16:03.009 of lead by example there, and the Nice thing about video is then you're 242 00:16:03.009 --> 00:16:06.879 seeing everybody and there is just there's just a more personal connection when you're able 243 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:10.480 to see everyone. Now what I say to people about video, both for 244 00:16:10.679 --> 00:16:14.200 the the manager and for the for the employees on that video call, is 245 00:16:14.279 --> 00:16:17.600 that it's all about sort of creating the perfect frame. You don't have to 246 00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:19.149 have a clean house, but you have to have a clean shot of yourself 247 00:16:19.190 --> 00:16:22.789 in the video. So there's kind of a personal brand here. If you 248 00:16:22.909 --> 00:16:26.629 have a large team on a video conference from around the country or around the 249 00:16:26.669 --> 00:16:30.789 world, everyone has that opportunity to sort of present a personal brand. Moment. 250 00:16:30.870 --> 00:16:34.139 That sort of me putting my brand had on. But you should be 251 00:16:34.259 --> 00:16:38.580 carating just one good frame and there could be chaos around that frame, but 252 00:16:38.820 --> 00:16:44.220 there's an opportunity for you to be consistent on that weekly team called that every 253 00:16:44.299 --> 00:16:47.649 time that team call happens and that video flips on, you sort of know 254 00:16:47.730 --> 00:16:51.210 what you're getting from people and that's that's what we're talking about. We talk 255 00:16:51.210 --> 00:16:53.090 about work mode, right, you have to create environments where you can be 256 00:16:53.210 --> 00:16:57.730 productive and one of those important environments is video. So I think as a 257 00:16:57.769 --> 00:17:03.039 manager. Is just really important to have those video meetings. Now, in 258 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:06.839 those video meetings when you when you get that group together, start with the 259 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:10.279 personal and start with a few of those conversations that are more personal and then 260 00:17:10.599 --> 00:17:15.440 segue into those company updates, because remote employees will always talk about how they 261 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:18.309 feel disconnected from HQ and disconnected from the company. That's just one of the 262 00:17:18.309 --> 00:17:22.509 things you always hear from people who are remote. So you have that opportunity 263 00:17:22.549 --> 00:17:26.269 to first make the personal connection and then second make sure that any of the 264 00:17:26.309 --> 00:17:29.349 things they may be hearing, what's going out the company, that you're getting 265 00:17:29.390 --> 00:17:33.059 ahead of those things and giving are as transparent as you can, giving a 266 00:17:33.180 --> 00:17:37.900 really transparent company update and then get into the team stuff. But just do 267 00:17:37.059 --> 00:17:41.140 those those first two things off the bat to make sure that the team is 268 00:17:41.180 --> 00:17:45.130 feeling connected. So that would be first with be the video. Second for 269 00:17:45.210 --> 00:17:48.450 me is chat. When you talked a little bit about chat earlier. Some 270 00:17:48.609 --> 00:17:51.490 people do it over slack. We obviously hear do it over fews. There's 271 00:17:51.529 --> 00:17:55.650 lots of different chat tools out there, but keeping a persistent team chat going 272 00:17:55.849 --> 00:18:00.079 in that asynchronous communication is just a great way to have the team feel bonded 273 00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:04.119 and they'll talk about personal and professional in that chat stream and that's fine. 274 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:08.640 And then for specific projects where it needs to be more formal, you can 275 00:18:08.759 --> 00:18:12.349 create those project chat streams. They are separate exactly. So having just that 276 00:18:12.470 --> 00:18:15.269 one team chat I think's a really nice thing. And then the third thing, 277 00:18:15.309 --> 00:18:18.630 which is of course the hardest because it costs a lot more money, 278 00:18:18.109 --> 00:18:22.670 is bringing people together in person as often as you can. And so you 279 00:18:22.750 --> 00:18:25.230 know, for us within the marketing team here at views, we do that 280 00:18:25.269 --> 00:18:27.539 twice a year at a minimum, and we just did that this past week. 281 00:18:27.579 --> 00:18:30.579 It was wonderful. We had ourselves kick off and then we stayed together 282 00:18:30.619 --> 00:18:34.619 as a marketing team you yesterday and had that time together. But just making 283 00:18:34.700 --> 00:18:38.539 sure that you're finding those opportunities and making that case for budget if you need 284 00:18:38.619 --> 00:18:42.730 to, to get the group together on some sort of basis. And then 285 00:18:42.769 --> 00:18:45.410 the other thing that I think a lot of managers don't do that the missed 286 00:18:45.450 --> 00:18:49.730 opportunity is when you're out in other cities for other types of work, whether 287 00:18:49.730 --> 00:18:52.730 you're out meeting with customers, you're at a conference, if you have an 288 00:18:52.730 --> 00:18:56.960 employee within striking distance, leave them, even if there's no office there. 289 00:18:57.039 --> 00:19:00.720 Go take them to coffee, take them one, take them dinner, take 290 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:03.319 those opportunities. Don't just fly in and out. If you have employees in 291 00:19:03.400 --> 00:19:07.279 that region, find a way to go, have a personal connection with them 292 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:10.430 and meet facetoface. So those are the things. Those are kind of the 293 00:19:10.549 --> 00:19:15.109 three big ones that we've seen as we've been kind of experimenting here a fews, 294 00:19:15.150 --> 00:19:19.670 but also talking to our customers. All Right, today's growth story revolves 295 00:19:19.710 --> 00:19:25.220 around search engine marketing and we'll be shining the spotlight on Agis software, a 296 00:19:25.579 --> 00:19:30.819 company that makes software for manufacturing operations. Ages was one of the first companies 297 00:19:30.859 --> 00:19:34.619 in their space to invest in search marketing, but this competition grew their performance 298 00:19:34.660 --> 00:19:41.210 plateaued. To counter this, they hired directive consultant, the Bob Search Marketing 299 00:19:41.250 --> 00:19:45.769 Agency, with unparalleled experience in in bent legend. For BDB companies, directive 300 00:19:45.890 --> 00:19:51.569 was able to increase a just as monthly online leads by four hundred and fifty 301 00:19:51.730 --> 00:19:56.160 seven percent, while at the same time lowering their cost pro lead by a 302 00:19:56.240 --> 00:20:00.279 hundred and forty seven percent. I have a hunch that directive can get these 303 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:04.519 kind of results tree to so head over to directive consultingcom and request a totally 304 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:11.470 free custom proposal. That's directive Consultingcom all right, let's get back to this 305 00:20:11.589 --> 00:20:17.990 interview. M Yeah, and you touched on something. They're infusing time for 306 00:20:18.750 --> 00:20:22.660 for personal human connections. I think it's in, you know, Simon Senex 307 00:20:22.740 --> 00:20:26.779 conversation on millennials that went viral, you know, a while back, and 308 00:20:26.859 --> 00:20:30.460 he was talking about, you know, even with in person meetings, you 309 00:20:30.539 --> 00:20:34.700 know how we can be glued to our phones and there's not that interaction between 310 00:20:34.730 --> 00:20:37.569 people of you know, hey, how's it going? How's Your Dad? 311 00:20:37.849 --> 00:20:41.329 How they you know, how are the kids? Those sorts of conversation. 312 00:20:41.609 --> 00:20:45.809 So I think even more so, carving out time, or at least setting 313 00:20:45.970 --> 00:20:52.240 that that standard for allowing that even over conference calls and video meetings, is 314 00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:55.400 very important. And then the other thing that you touched on that I really 315 00:20:55.519 --> 00:21:00.759 liked was having the allowance or even some specific channels for for a personal stuff 316 00:21:00.839 --> 00:21:04.950 on your communication or your chat tool that you're using. We we started a 317 00:21:06.230 --> 00:21:10.509 random channel on our slack chat where we ask a question of the day and 318 00:21:11.069 --> 00:21:14.230 it's been a great way for people to get to know each other on our 319 00:21:14.309 --> 00:21:17.869 team and there's a lot of funny stuff but I can also, you know, 320 00:21:17.990 --> 00:21:21.500 snooze my notifications there to where, you know, I'm only getting alerted 321 00:21:21.740 --> 00:21:25.859 to really pertmit matters if I'm having a really busy day or something like that. 322 00:21:26.059 --> 00:21:30.180 So there are ways that we can leverage technology, if we're very intentional 323 00:21:30.259 --> 00:21:33.130 about it, to allow, you know, chat tools like feus and other 324 00:21:33.250 --> 00:21:37.809 communication tools to bring us together and not divide us, which they can do 325 00:21:37.930 --> 00:21:42.849 if we're not careful. So I love what you're saying there and anything else 326 00:21:42.890 --> 00:21:48.119 you'd like to add on, you know, culture in a distributed organization. 327 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:52.160 You know you've mentioned the power of videos, leaders leading by example. We 328 00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:57.440 talked about, you know, infusing personal touches in the communication and then getting 329 00:21:57.480 --> 00:22:02.309 together in person when and where you can. Anything else you'd add to that? 330 00:22:02.950 --> 00:22:06.109 I think of the biggest thing culturally is the idea of kind of thinking 331 00:22:06.269 --> 00:22:10.029 remote first, and that's something that we've been talking about for a while here. 332 00:22:11.029 --> 00:22:15.109 I think that when you have a distributed team and you have some people 333 00:22:15.190 --> 00:22:18.019 in offices, and we I mean we have people in offices, we have 334 00:22:18.019 --> 00:22:21.700 people in coworking spaces, we have people remote it. It's a really broad 335 00:22:21.779 --> 00:22:26.259 mix right now, that if everything you do you think remote first on and 336 00:22:26.380 --> 00:22:30.529 that remote first employee experience, it'll actually be a better experience for everyone. 337 00:22:30.690 --> 00:22:34.930 So, you know, if we think about bringing a speaker into HQ who 338 00:22:36.009 --> 00:22:40.289 we love, then why are we not thinking about the fact that we need 339 00:22:40.410 --> 00:22:44.519 to build that fuse experience and that video experience for everyone to be able to 340 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:48.599 join that meeting? Or if we think about just are even our company updates, 341 00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:52.720 we now do them three times so that every time zone where we have 342 00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:56.240 a critical massive employees can have that experience at a rational time. And then, 343 00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:00.470 of course there's the recording afterwards. But I think that if you can 344 00:23:00.509 --> 00:23:03.430 approach it from a culture standpoint, tap down where you say and you make 345 00:23:03.509 --> 00:23:07.630 that that conscious decision, we're going to be a company culture that does think 346 00:23:07.750 --> 00:23:12.220 remote first. When we think about how we're building culture and how we're communicating 347 00:23:12.740 --> 00:23:15.220 that, a lot of those things will sort of naturally flow. So, 348 00:23:15.460 --> 00:23:18.819 for instance, on the video calls, one of the things that will happen 349 00:23:19.420 --> 00:23:22.660 is if someone's not turning on their video, you'll ask them why they don't 350 00:23:22.660 --> 00:23:26.569 have their video on, and it's it's in our culture that's okay to ask 351 00:23:26.609 --> 00:23:30.369 that question. So if someone's videos not on, will say, you know, 352 00:23:30.450 --> 00:23:33.009 hey, what's the deal? No video today, and the response maybe 353 00:23:33.130 --> 00:23:37.170 if it's my if the colleague out in the West Coast, it's six am, 354 00:23:37.250 --> 00:23:38.490 guys, and then we all laugh and we have a moment about it. 355 00:23:38.569 --> 00:23:41.599 You know he's not going to. I understand why he's not turning his 356 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:45.440 video on at six am, but we have permission to ask that question because 357 00:23:45.880 --> 00:23:49.839 the assumption is if we're getting together as a team, unless there's a compelling 358 00:23:49.880 --> 00:23:53.440 reason, your video should be on and I should not see you looking at 359 00:23:53.480 --> 00:23:56.990 your phone because there's accountability. With my video on. It's a lot harder 360 00:23:57.029 --> 00:24:00.950 to multitask when everyone can see my eyes darting around and looking down at my 361 00:24:02.029 --> 00:24:06.630 phone. So I think that that culture standpoint of if everyone in the entire 362 00:24:06.750 --> 00:24:11.180 company can think remote first, that will naturally do a lot of the right 363 00:24:11.259 --> 00:24:15.099 thing. M Yeah, I love that. Just some very, very practical 364 00:24:15.259 --> 00:24:19.900 takeaways that I think people can can implement here that you've been sharing. Lisa, 365 00:24:19.980 --> 00:24:23.769 I love this topic. I love the the thoughts that you're bringing to 366 00:24:23.890 --> 00:24:29.049 this conversation. I love how you guys are building a culture and building tools 367 00:24:29.089 --> 00:24:33.410 to help people with the way that we're working these days. So on that 368 00:24:33.650 --> 00:24:37.170 note, the Lisa, if there's any one listening to this that would like 369 00:24:37.210 --> 00:24:40.240 to follow up with you stay connected, learn more about what you and the 370 00:24:40.279 --> 00:24:42.319 team at fuse are doing these days, what's the best way for them to 371 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:45.759 reach out or find you? Guys? Sure you can find me on Linkedin, 372 00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:52.269 but also fuse the email, so it's l Walker at Fusecom and also, 373 00:24:52.309 --> 00:24:55.910 if you visit a fews website all the day, I've been talking about 374 00:24:55.910 --> 00:24:59.829 earlier is in a report that we call workforce futures, so you can stop 375 00:24:59.869 --> 00:25:03.670 by and grab a copy of that. I love it. Will Link to 376 00:25:03.750 --> 00:25:06.710 that in the show notes as well. Lisa, this have been a great 377 00:25:06.710 --> 00:25:10.500 conversation. Thank you so much for your time today. Thanks so much for 378 00:25:10.500 --> 00:25:15.500 having me. I appreciate it. We totally get it. We publish a 379 00:25:15.660 --> 00:25:18.180 ton of content on this podcast and it can be a lot to keep up 380 00:25:18.220 --> 00:25:22.569 with. That's why we've started the BOB growth big three, a no fluff 381 00:25:22.690 --> 00:25:27.130 email that boils down our three biggest takeaways from an entire week of episodes. 382 00:25:27.569 --> 00:25:36.079 Sign up today at Sweet Phish Mediacom Big Three. That sweetish Mediacom Big Three