I work at Loop as the Social Media Manager. I am primarily responsible for creating compelling content for our social media channels and growing our online audiences.
Tell us about your team!
How big is it?
Our team is 9 people strong, and growing! We have roles across content marketing, demand generation, product marketing, and brand design.
Where are your teammates located?
Our team is pretty spread out. Some on the east coast, a few in the midwest, plus Austin and Canada.
What does your team do? What are you responsible for?
Our marketing team is responsible for generating demand for our sales team. This could look like anything from creating interesting brand content, to hosting industry dinners & meetups. My role sits on the side of creating content.
What are the components of a strong remote culture?
Trust and communication. This is probably a cliche answer, but itās true.Ā
We have a few core values at Loop: āassume positive intentā and āclear is kindā. Assuming positive intent is important when you canāt read body language or casually develop a relationship with your teammates. Similarly, clear communication means your team is on the same page about goals, vision and the work you all do together.
Strong remote cultures are built on strong connections. Strong connections are built with Hailey.
How do you make sure your team is happy and engaged in their work?
We have a pretty autonomous team. Thereās no one looking over your shoulder to make sure you are doing Task A at exactly 9:00 am. We hold our team accountable to specific results and give them room to do their best work however they see fit.
Assuming positive intent is important when you can't read body language or casually develop a relationship with your teammates.
What's your biggest challenge as a remote leader?
In startups, things change fast and often. Itās easy to take for granted all the decisions that are made that lead to the present form of the company.
Keeping clear documentation of what is happening and why, including results from experiments, is challenging. But, itās necessary to keep the team up to date, and give context to new hires.
My RemoteĀ Manager Toolbox
Team-building Activities
We have a bot in Slack that asks a random question every Friday. One week was, āif you ran a restaurant, what would you name it?ā Reading peopleās responses is always fun. It creates good conversation and tons of laughs.
We also have Weekly Wraps (all-hands) on Fridays. Our host is a comedian and they keep things engaging in what might otherwise be a dull meeting.
Remote Games
We once played a game of Diplomacy. Talk about a nail-biter...
Icebreakers
All of our team meetings start with an icebreaker. We had the age-old debate over hot and cold weather. My favorites are music-related ones, e.g. what karaoke song would you sing. Our team has a diverse taste in music - sometimes that means really old music :)
Products &Ā Tools
As far as tools go, we mostly use bots in Slack. Outside of that, our culture is generally built through casual conversationāand this is the form most meetings take.
Resources for remote leaders
I spend a lot of time on Twitter. I know itās not a formal resource, but being able to talk with peers at other companies is valuable. Twitter feels like being in the college cafeteria, every day.
Make your company a great place to work
"Adding Hailey has been by far the lowest effort, highest impact thing weāve done to bring our globally scattered team together!" - Mary Grace Reich