This year has been tough - that’s no surprise to anyone. We’ve been spread out across home offices, socially distanced meetings, and across the opposite sides of giant offices. None of this has been great for promoting employee engagement.
So, what has kept us connected over the last year and how can we use these learnings moving forward to our return to normality?
Knowledge Is Power
One of the main drivers of disconnection during the pandemic was not knowing what everyone was up to. We like to be in the loop, so not being able to turn around to your office neighbour or have a catch up in the kitchen has left a bit of a void.
I know what you’re going to say, well what about all these virtual coffee mornings and Zoom “forced fun” activities we’ve been doing. Well they’re just that “forced fun”. We’re on Zoom all day for actual work. Why did we think trying to organise a company-wide catch up on a platform that has time delays and where only one person at a time can speak would promote engagement and flowing conversation?
Wundamail is against “forced fun”. It’s the enemy of employee engagement. No one wants to spend an hour pretending to be enjoying themselves alone in their home office. More than that, it wouldn’t happen in the office anyway - would your manager block out an entire hour of the morning for you to sit around and have a chat? Of course not, that’s what quick tea breaks and lunch time is for.
Instead Wundamail offers a daily status update that everyone in the team can see in one handy compilation. Whether you’re planning to return to the office, or decide to commit to flexible working, Wundamail works regardless. You get to know what’s going on without having to pretend to like looking at Susan’s cat on Zoom for the hundredth time, and that’s something we can all get behind.
Changeable Templates
Hands up who’s bored of daily meetings or check-in’s that just say “What have you done today?”. Us too. Don’t get us wrong, sometimes you just need to know what’s going on, but the magic of Wundamail comes from its versatility.
Want to mix things up on a Friday and find out what everyone had for lunch? Change the template to that. Want to promote some health and wellbeing content and get a teamwide challenge going? Change the template to that. There are no hard and fast rules here. You can use your daily Wundamail for whatever your team needs. If your team needs some lighthearted engagement drivers, then switch it up.
Temperature Checks
Sometimes it can be difficult to know where everyone’s heads are at, regardless of whether they’re working two metres away from you or if they’re halfway across the world. Sadly, we’re not mind readers. But it can also be tricky to get the opinions of team members even if they’re in the room. People have a tendency to tell you what you want to hear when they’re put on the spot.
By doing temperature checks via Wundamail, it gives team members the time and opportunity to think about their responses and add value to the conversation. It gives everyone in the team equal space and an equal voice, and when everyone can be heard, people are more likely to contribute and be engaged. Having a platform to share ideas and opinions matters, regardless of location, seniority or position longevity.
Introvert Friendly
Right, we’re going to say it - group video calls and meetings are the worst for introverts or junior members of staff who aren’t as loud or confident as their counterparts. It’s bad enough trying to get a word in edgeways in a face to face meeting, but add in muted mics, time lags and the visuals flicking to the loudest person on the call - introverts aren’t getting a look in and that’s bad for all of us.
Whether you’re an introvert or extrovert or somewhere in between, one isn’t better than another - in successful teams we need both. Imagine a team full of loud, outgoing, brashy extroverts - you’d never get anything done. Now imagine a team full of quiet, introspective introverts - the communication level would be terrible. As a team, we need both so when we use tools that alienate one or another, we’re only putting ourselves at a disadvantage.
Wundamail works for everyone. You can write as much or as little as you like. You can respond on your own schedule and it’s as simple as responding to one daily email. When something is that simple to use and has such a big impact on your team, there’s no excuse not to try it. Did we mention you can try it for 14 days free? Well we have now...
