Agile teams are something of a Midas mantra in the world of software development. You will hear people raving about the wonders of task-based processing that define the core of agile team management. And now, people are talking about bringing this software development model to other areas of business like marketing and sales. Why? Because Agile produces better results through time-sensitive and streamlined tasks. Think of it like a relay race and you have a clear idea of how it works.
This idea is great! Using the Agile model in marketing, sales, and general biz ops can help make teams more efficient. However, Agile itself does not have the carrying capacity to make marketing and sales, which work a lot of creativity and imagination, turn out good numbers. So, what businesses need is a comprehensive collaboration process that brings their teams together and helps create organic synergy between individual players.
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Wondering how this could work for you? Here are 5 ways you can use a virtual coffee chat app to bring your whole team in sync and take off for destination success!
5 Ways Agile Teams Boost Productivity with Employee Engagement via Virtual Coffee Apps
One-on-one Virtual Coffee Chats
Working in a team together demands that each member of the team understands others well enough to collaborate with them. The foundation of this collaboration is built on trust and this is something subjective to every individual. As managers know well, developing trust with team members takes time but is always well worth the investment. It enables them to scout out the top performers, nurture organizational talent, and deliver stellar performance. And all of this starts with creating the right rapport with team members.
With the rise of people analytics and employee engagement apps, managers also have the option to pair employees and team members in many cominations. All of this falls under the purview of employee engagement and adds considerable value to ongoing operations. Since managers are often juggling many tasks, putting people together based on profile matching is a good idea. One of the best ways to do that is to schedule virtual coffee breaks and studies show that interpersonal communication through these means helps enhance team-building efforts!
For example, this HBR article mentions that the best managers recognize that 1:1s are not an add-on to their role—they are foundational to it. The reasons why this is important is simple, creating a strong interpersonal rapport helps employees open up to their possibilities within the team and organization. They are much more likely to turn out their best work and communicate more openly if they think their boss has their back. Studies also show that open communication helps create a sense of belonging and develops team spirit much faster and for the long haul.
Team Watercooler Chats
If you know anything about the history of eureka moments in science, they always happen when our would-be pathfinder is doing something else. Innovation by intrigue by adjacency is a common thing in science and now, also in business. Like one of my science heroes, the late physicist Richard Feynman mentions here, the joy of doing something is in doing the thing. And the thing that people like to do most is communicate openly. Leaving the making money and career bit of course.
That is why, facilitating group chats by the proverbial watercooler is such a great thing for managers now. Not only does it allow for socialization, but it also offers strategic opportunities for creating talent. For example, managers can create in-house knowledge base for all team members. The concept of micro-learning offers a lot of rapid uptake and growth opportunities to agile teams since it almost guarantees escalating proficiency increase and swift adopting to digital transformation needs.
Further, they can use watercooler chats to develop strong team bonds, understand personalities and symmetries, and create ideal team dynamics. This works perfectly with Agile management systems since members can be shuffled in and out of roles or task pairings as and when needed.
As bestselling author Andrew McAfee defines in his new book The Geek Way, traditional corporate cultures lack openness. As such, they are not the best places to create unconventional or innovative ideas. However, the growth of tech companies in recent decades has been because of their “fail fast, fail often” approach. So, taking a lesson from their playbook is a good idea. This is where watercooler chats come in clutch. They make it convenient for managers to bring innovation to the fore with organized employee engagement. As a result, managers can create dynamic business operations while keeping a consistent growth mindset approach. It’s arguably as close to growth hacking as you can get without actually being in viral marketing!
Profile-based Syncing
Have you ever wondered what makes some garage bands get breakout success while music supergroups only produce mediocre music? I know I do. The answer is something much more deep and complex than a single blog post could explore. But we do know that it is all based on personality points. Now, you may be wondering, does he want us to take up a summer course on the APA’s Big Five Personality test? Well, yes and no. Here’s what we mean.
Your team members have their own personality traits and preferences. A lot of these will be deliberate but some, often some essential ones, will be in-born talents that never surface in ordinary work life cycles. Using a profile-based approach and people analytics on your team composition can help you create a comprehensive view of what each team member can do. Profile matches are inherent to the best virtual coffee chat apps like LEAD out in the market right now. They help define what clicks between your team members and how to make the most of it.
Seriously, the importance of workplace employee profiling cannot be overstated. This is particularly true to compensate for employee survey bias. Most employee answers carry a fair bit of personal bias. Using the right data sets for people analytics offered by Organizational Network Analytics (ONA) helps managers get a clear picture without eliminating the personalized insights only employees can offer. It is useful not only from the analytical perspective but also for the two employee engagement strategies we have mentioned above. You will also use people analytics along with virtual coffee meetings to create SMART OKRs and high-level organizational efficiency. This is a no-brainer in today’s age where rapid and ongoing digital transformation demands effective change management and resilience.
New Employee Icebreakers
One of the biggest problems managers can face today has to be integrating new hires effectively and fast. And even then, talent retention is at its most volatile in 04. According to a recent Gartner study, rather than implement rigid return-to-office mandates, organizations can improve employee outcomes by facilitating periodic in-person meetings and on-site work with managers. Yet only 40% of organizations are implementing either of these methods. This is also why the majority of the top talent seeks employment with people-centric companies like the ones listed here. Competition in the market demands that companies create agile and dynamic systems that align with smart management tactics to get the most from their teams.
Employee engagement apps offer the chance to not only hire employees but also engage them from the very first day. Effective solutions like onboarding buddies, lunch pals, and micro-apprenticeship processes are some of the many options they throw up. Managers can develop their own strategies for making new hires feel welcome and involved from the first day and pair them up with the right people using people analytics. The possibilities of developing smart team dynamics are endless and every manager should consider opting in for virtual coffee chat apps exactly for this reason.
Cross-team Conversations
Big companies often find it difficult to manage a lot of team members, especially in the post-pandemic age. With hybrid and remote working changing up how they work. The need for dynamic team management is greater than ever! If you’re company is working up a DEI strategy then this is even more important since companies need people management tech to really make their efforts count.
Using coffee chat apps to create seamless interactions and collaboration opportunities is an organic way to curate your team interaction experience. This also helps in opening up marketing opportunities with diversity in the centerfold. Obviously, no executive would like to pass on those and we expect you to feel the same way. Here’s an excerpt from McKinsey’s interview with Reddit Chief Product Officer, Pali Bhatt,
“We were able to pull it off with a very small but mighty team through a collaboration across the Chrome team and payments team at Google. In the first few weeks, as we were running experiments internally, we were approaching 60 to 70 percent accuracy. Within six months, we crossed 95 percent accuracy. It was amazing. The website was also seeing an increase in conversion in double-digit percentages, which is shocking, because an increase of even a percent is massive for an e-commerce platform. It was a win-win across the board. In the few years after that, we saw a massive drive, and many teams that came after we have built additions to this, so it has enduring value.”
The verdict is out and it is simple: Team collaboration leads to big wins and cross-cultural teams need it the most! Moreover, most team development processes focus only on nurturing the top 5% talent. But using cross-team insights leads to better mentoring, talent nurturing and project outcomes and can raise talent discovery by as much as 15%. Imagine the prospects of a 30% talent upgradability factor for your enterprise!
Does LEAD Address Your Employee Engagement Needs?
LEAD is a people operations platform designed specifically for Slack and Teams. It offers a huge host of team-building programs, such as virtual coffee chats, buddy programs, birthday celebrations & work anniversary celebrations, new hire onboarding programs, and Pulse Surveys.
LEAD also offers one-of-a-kind Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) for large-scale organizations. This helps them facilitate strong networks within hybrid workforces and use innovative technologies to connect employees seamlessly. From this, they always see enhancements in peer learning, performance, and productivity.
Access cutting-edge people analytics and tailored insights to make data-driven decisions. LEAD is the ultimate choice for organizations seeking sustainable growth in the people management way!
