Swimming Safely in Remote Waters
Last year, my colleagues and I went fully remote, across several cities in a matter of days. It was one of those things one does not think possible until actually done.
But this is not only my story. This is a story shared among many people who had the privilege to be able to work from the comfort of home during these unusual times.
And yet, it is a shock. A fundamental change to our systems, to the way how most companies and people work and interact.
From understanding work as a location — going to work, coming from work, leaving work, being (stucked) at work. To the fluid, watery, hard to put between boundaries, work as a mental state — on video calls, on chats, on written communication, on remote drinks.
Work as a space and work as a state. Working in land and in water. That analogy formed in my mind when contemplating our fundamental environment shift.
How we used to work, similar to walking on land to reach places, people and goals.
Then the entire enviroment we act in changes.
Shifts into water, less structure, more fluidity. We can keep trying to walk, keep trying the same ways of reaching places, people and goals. But unless we learn to swim, we will never be able to use the full potential of this new environment. In the best case, we will be very slow walking in water. In the worst case, we will drown. And swimming, may not be what comes naturally to us. But it can be fun and freeing and it surely provides new possibilities.
How can we use these possibilities? How can we learn and excel remote? How can we stay humanly connected?
That is what has been floating in my mind since a while. Here are some thoughts. Not all of them. A part.
If a sentence is sent to a chat full of people and no one reacts, did it ever go through?
Psychological safety
A drastic change in environment can be corosive for psychological safety, unless the system is aware of the changes and mindfully decides how to integrate them and design agreements around them. The invitation here is not to replicate what we know, but to look for innovative new ways of building psychological safety remotely.
Below, we take a look at psychological safety and its four stages as defined by Timothy R. Clark through the remote lense.
“A condition in which you feel (1) included, (2) safe to learn, (3) safe to contribute, and (4) safe to challenge the status quo — all without the fear of being embarrassed, marginalized, or punished in some way.”
— Timothy R. Clark, 4 Stages of Psychological Safety
(1) Included
We long to belong. Evolutionary, being accepted in a group meant surviving.
Questions to reflect on as a team:
- When do you feel included?
- How does an inclusive team, space and culture look like remote?
- What options does remote work offer that can support us?
Things to consider…
- Remote makes it harder to get direct feedback via body language. However, one can acknowledge the message with emojis, reactions or if in a call exaggerated body language.
- Open office talks enhance osmotic communication but can be very annoying for people who need quiet to focus. The benefit of remote is that you can easily make calls transparent, open and easy to access so anyone interested can drop in. In this case with zero collateral noise.
- Another way of compensating for the lack of osmotic communication, with a lower noise and higher inclusion, is the habit of quick bullet point summaries compiled after meetings or important calls.
(2) Safe to learn
Being able to ask questions, give and receive feedback, experiment and make mistakes. Having the possibility and space to ask for help.
Questions to reflect on as a team:
- What can we improve to create a safe(r) to learn environment?
- When is the last time you gave/asked for feedback? What moved you to do so? How was it?
- What options does remote work offer that can support us?
Things to consider…
Focus on creating a culture that appreciates team efficency over personal efficiency, so that supporting each other directly supports the shared goal.
- Celebrate learning and growing together. Create a space of sharing your learning goals and teaching each other. For inspiration check this blog post.
- Check out the Celebration Grid from Jurgen Appelo here. You can use it in your retrospectives to create a culture of discussing and appreciating mistakes that bring learning.
(3) Safe to contribute
Being able to participate as a member of the team using our talents and abilities to make a difference. Having the possibility and space to offer help.
Questions to reflect on as a team:
- In which remote setup do you feel most comfortable to share draft ideas? Why?
- Are the boundaries of the contribution space clear in and out of your team?
- What options does remote work offer that can support us?
Things to consider…
- Experiment with different mediums to create collaboration and contribution spaces: talking and writing, individual and group work, synchronous and asynchronous formats.
- Contribution is safe when the boundaries are known and there is minimum energy going into figuring out the details. Align on what your team controls and influences, which is directly connected to contribution levels and safety. You can use the Circles and Soup exercise by Diana Larsen for that purpose.
(4) Safe to challenge the status quo
Feeling safe to challenge the way we do things. Able to look around and say its time to change and I have an idea how to make things better. Being able to do so without having to worry about any social, emotional, political, and financial expenses.
Questions to reflect on as a team:
- When was the last time you challenged the status quo? What moved you to do so?
- What constructive ways to challenge the status quo do we (want to) use in this team?
- What options does remote work offer that can support us?
Things to consider…
- Checking anonymously how psychologically safe the team members feel. You can do it with post-its in many online whiteboards, with Mentimeter, with several retro tools or a small survey.
Safety Poll
Before a meeting, consider taking an anonymous poll to determine how safe people feel to speak, disagree or challenge ideas.
Ask them to use a rating scale of 1 to 5:
5. “Hey, no problem, I’ll say anything.”
4. “I’ll say most anything, but a few things might be hard to say.”
3. “I’ll share some things, but keep a few things to myself.”
2. “I’m not going to say much. Mostly, I’ll let other people bring up issues.”
1. “I’ll smile, claim everything is great and agree with whatever the managers say.”
Once collected, tally the votes on a flip chart to visualize whether it’s safe to speak up.
— Norm Kerth, Project Retrospectives
Even if you do all of the above, change takes time. Meet people where they are and take it one day at a time.
How do you work with psychological safety remote? What experiences and lessons have you collected?
Let me know your thoughts! Stay safe.
