Kate Woods, JD, MPH, SHRM-SCP

This is such an important and hard one to answer and live! Remote work offers benefits and challenges. One challenge is how to keep we humans connected to one another in meaningful and productive ways. For trust and empathy no alternative has shown to be as effective as live in-person interaction. Still, some ways to ensure connection in our new “remote-ish” world: - don’t hide behind emails and team chats. - be “present” when on teams or zoom meetings. - be old fashioned - pick up the phone. Talking with a colleague has been shown to build trust. It is often the faster way to resolve an issue or provide a direct answer. It’s also been known to elicit mutual joy and laughter among teammates - nothing beats that for team building!

Know your audience. Know yourself. Use of emojis and gifs is a fluid situation. No easy answers here. As we move further and further away from "live" interactions we keep finding new ways to connect with others in a human way. Emojis and gifs help here (a lot)! But overuse or worse, misuse, can be catastrophic - the "online" counterpart to "putting your foot in your mouth". Some questions to consider when using: 1. How well do I know recipient? 2. Are they a peer, organizational superior or direct or indirect report? 3. Am I trying to set them at ease or myself? 4. Is there another way to show connection, safety, or humor? 5. Can I ask for a call to make that connection? (even better to strengthen a bond than email) 6. NSFW? Nope!

Group projects are one of the best parts of a working life - they bond us, make work interesting, and most of the time result in better execution and results than going it alone. For any team to produce great results we should start with the proper tools and venue for work. This includes starting with the correct "space" for collaboration (hint: usually not email). Emails to large groups can work best when they: 1. Set clear expectations on their purpose 2. Are clear and concise 3. Clearly define participants (To vs. CC lines) 4. Define meeting forum (think teams, zoom, slack) 5. Define team comms etiquette (to "reply all" or not to "reply all" that is the ??) 6. Have a clear end "date". Endings are as important as beginnings

One time at work, I had an empty email inbox. Maybe you did too. We often underestimate tried and true solutions to our problems. Why? Is it because they seem too simple? Experience shows simple is usually best. Some "tried and trues" learned (sometimes the hard way): *Subject lines matter. Does the recipient need to 1) take action 2) fyi only 3) call you? Tell them. *Respect others' time by taking time. Take the 2 seconds to update a "FWD" subject line and add a short summary in your email body. Do you know anyone who likes ?? why they are now part of an email chain that is 2 weeks old? *Bullet point emails. Can they read most of your message their phone? Good. * Label attachments. For the love of humanity, take this one to heart!

If we can “see it” we can understand it. And- we can make sure specs are built to our “vision”. Most of us - even those of us who love data- are not expert at the actual machinations of pulling good data (versus bad). Experts in data analysis and BI the tools needed to take a mass jumble of data and refine it for meaningful use. Even so, as the end consumer of the data, we usually know why and how we want to use it to monitor trends, meet an objective, or build a better beehive. Starting with a simple pencil and paper sketch of the dashboard or trend lines you want to see can be the key to success. One simple drawing in combo with robust discussion can yield high-end results & avoid misunderstandings on intent. Pictionary anyone?