March has passed and has been filled with plenty of achievements as well as challenges. Working from home creates an extra layer of distance between individuals, so team collaboration is key to keeping members unified. The happier they are, the more impressive performance delivered.
To welcome a new quarter of 2021, we are excited to share some insider secrets with 2 special Boosters on how to keep your team on the same page.
Teamwork involves a set of shared activities delivered by each member who works together to achieve amazing goals, like Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. There are solid benefits that team collaboration brings that we cannot deny here:
Many business managers are fully aware that teamwork is a key factor. However, if you are taking care of a remote team, this aspect should be your top priority. A high level of productivity, better flexibility, or work-life balance is what we mention about working remotely. However, employees can easily get detached and even unaware of the objectives you try to meet. So let’s take a deeper look inside our company to see what we have for you as a 100% remote team.
Led by the idea that our chances to develop and contribute should not be limited by geography, Boost Founders are fervent believers in remote working culture. Each staff member is their self-manager and has the right to choose their preferred workplace. Thus, from 3 members at the beginning, Boost is continuously growing with 60 members, spreading across 6 countries and 56 cities.
Boosters have embraced this working culture 100% with 3 qualities that differentiate us from others: Trust - Efficiency - Sympathy.
To get everyone connected, Boosters strictly stick to the workflow system along with virtual activities, and company outings. Also, we have interesting insights from Mr Howard (Product Technical Lead) and Rosa Lozano (Customer Success Executive from Argentina) about our working environment.
A studyshowed that setting a specific goal could enhance employees’ performance. Understanding that, we have applied both the Agile Methodology and OKRs (Objectives & Key Results) system to formulate major objectives and track progress.
The Agile Methodology is our means of managing projects by splitting them into several phases. It involves ongoing collaboration with the whole team and continuous improvement at each step. Once the work begins, the team carries out a process of planning, implementation, and evaluation. Continued collaboration is critical, both with members and project leaders. Developed by Google, OKRs is different from others as it aims to set highly ambitious goals and objectives that will enable us to work beyond our limits.
Without face-to-face interaction, it is challenging to make messages clear. To help the team get closer and strengthen collaboration, Boosters have been using some great tools for work and entertainment also.
To develop a stronger team, helping others beyond your responsibilities is a must. That team spirit will not only strengthen mutual relationships, but also take the team to higher levels.
Let’s hear a very inspiring thought at work from Rosa Lozano, our Customer Success Executive (Argentina):
"Whenever you don't have the energy to do your work, think that the little effort you are putting in will make your colleague's work a bit nicer. What I am doing is not for myself, but to make someone a little less in trouble. We're helping each other."
Researchhas shown that this is positively related to team attitudes, information processing, and team performance. We understand that trust will encourage questioning, create goodwill and minimize miscommunication. Importantly, trust will stimulate innovation, or risk-taking as you often call. Here at Boost, the team knows that growth comes from changes not standing still!
Mr Howard recently celebrated his third anniversary as a Booster. He said:
"As the team grows, my work has been transitioned to the position of technical leader, which I’m barely a novice! Until now, it has been challenging and I have learned a lot about leading & management. Along the way, I have made mistakes and probably would make more in the future. The great thing is that Tonys understand it and so do my team members."
Knowledge sharing is vital for organizational learning and brings real gains for a firm. Every time we are about to launch a new feature of the app or when someone just completed a special course, an internal workshop will be organized to make sure that all members are well-educated. For us, this activity works as a team-building session that boosts cross-team collaboration. Besides, we have challenges like ‘Boost Reading Month’ to encourage others to develop reading habits by writing detailed reviews about their favorite books.
Interestingly, Rosa made a very cute confession to our Tony - Mr Tuan Nguyen:
"I usually share my expressions a lot. But if you ever ask, I would like to say something to @Tuan Nguyen, who shows up at our daily meetings, brings the Vietnam team closer to us and it is very inspiring for his way of working and living, which is always calm and kind. I like his healthy meditation hobby and he even did a workshop on meditation to share with us."
We do love reading, traveling, playing musical instruments and we spend time on our interests after work. However, as a team, the Boosters have chances to take part in special events to get us feeling connected and happier. Friday Happy Hour (a virtual meeting where we can talk about a daily life topic) and monthly meetups are the ones to be welcomed most by both Vietnam and Latam team.
Regardless of the group type you are working with, this guide shows team collaboration is the bridge that helps people understand and appreciate the commitment of others, cements relationships, and directs the whole team toward meaningful outcomes. In March, we are really proud of some notable achievements:
We are adjusting to the New Normal brought on by the pandemic, but the Boost team will thrive to provide Boosters with a friendly environment and serve customers with our heart.