Iām the Vice President of Marketing at Talroo. Talroo is a data-driven job advertising platform that reaches the candidates you need to build your essential workforce.
I serve the marketing team and lead brand, growth and product marketing.
Tell us about your team!
How big is it?
10 full-time employees and several contractors.ā
Where are your teammates located?
Austin, TX
What does your team do? What are you responsible for?
We are responsible for brand, growth marketing and product marketing. This includes everything from demand generation, events, corporate sponsorships, etc.
What are the components of a strong remote culture?
Communication and trust. Communication is crucial to any relationship, including how people work. There are a lot of benefits of being remote; however, communication is more difficult than it was before and itās never been the easiest thing to tackle.
Before, you could go to someoneās desk and talk out an issue, whiteboard a problem and ensure alignment. That in-person communication enabled you to read body language and truly grasp what the other person was thinking and feeling. Now itās harder than ever.
We have messenger tools, like Teams and Slack, and video conferencing tools, but the technology provides a level of anonymization as well as a bigger hurdle to misinterpretation. Communication is essential to everything and can always be improved. There can always be more of it and now we have to be so intentional about it. You have to make sure it happens and there is clarity on the other side of a screen.
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?
Asking them. I recommend my team read The Gifts of Imperfection, by Brene Brown. I encourage vulnerability and openness and wanting to have brave and/or difficult conversations. We talk about how they are doing, what they need help with and what resources are required to be successful.
Managing a team that is all remote where most people have never met is not for the faint of heart.
What's your biggest challenge as a remote leader?
Really making sure everyone is ok. Change management and growth is always hard and managing a team that is all remote where most people have never met is not for the faint of heart. It requires intentional, servant leadership and a lot of patience for everyone bringing their whole selves to work.
My RemoteĀ Manager Toolbox
Team-building Activities
Virtual lunches, Myers Briggs and Strengths Finder activities where we all discuss who we are, how to work best with us.Ā
In-person offsites
The company as a whole has virtual happy hours and quarterly celebrations.
Remote Games
Uno seems to be a crowd favorite.
Icebreakers
I do. We share highlights and ālowlightsā and questions like āwhat is on your nightstand?ā, āWhat show did you binge watch last?ā, Etc. I usually copy a lot of the rapid fire questions Brene Brown uses in her podcasts.
Products &Ā Tools
Culture and morale are built by behaviors and how we handle difficult conversations. So Iām not sure I have tools or products to recommend.
Resources for remote leaders
Pavilion has helped me a lot, as does HBR. I learn a lot from those resources, as well as from books by Brene Brown, Simon Sinek and Adam Grant.
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