Presence builds preference. Preference builds trust. Trust builds collaboration. Collaboration builds businesses.
- Kevin Hakman
Woody Allen said “80% of success is just showing up.” If that’s true, then the other 20% is where you show up, how you show up, and what you do when you get there. Showing up with intention ensures that your presence will have an impact..
Presence is about connecting with intention and on a regular cadence. The right connections on the right cadences drive authentic engagement with the work and the organization. And, the investment in collaboration/communication yields an efficiency dividend, enabling teams to get more done with less effort.
Daily stand-ups with direct reports keeps information moving and builds engagement.
Weekly staff with direct reports, structured with a clear and efficient agenda, ensure leaders know the priorities of the business and where they and their teams fit in.
Weekly local all-hands with direct reports ensure cross-team collaboration and knowledge flow, give visibility to people and projects, and build a connection to a larger mission. A monthly global all hands connects remote staff with the global mission.
Monthly skip-levels with key team members keep middle managers connected o the work, and engage talent at all levels.
Regular and predictable in-person events connect people with each other, enabling a preference for collaboration.
Odesa, Ukraine
Pune, India
Being present with intention also means making sure that time spent together is efficient and valuable for everyone involved.
Meetings demand a clear and shared purpose, summarized as:
Who’s meeting is this?
Why are we here?
How will we know when we’re done?
Intentional presence is even more critical in the modern environment of remote/hybrid teams. Members of well-engaged teams are happier, healthier, more productive, and achieve faster/further career success.
Engagement comes from respecting people’s time and ensuring that in-person interactions are structured around connection and collaboration and not just doing the remote job onsite.
And, intentional presence from all participants in a remote/hybrid interaction builds team cohesion and ensures a level playing field for recognition and career advancement for both onsite and remote members.
A clear and intentional purpose for any meeting ensures that participants know what to expect, understand their role, and know how to contribute. When intention is aligned, participants are aligned and opportunities for conflict reduced.
Readouts or show-and-tell provide for (largely) 1-way knowledge transfer. A readout is effective for project kickoffs and milestone updates. One or more participants present, others ask clarifying questions.
Co-design sessions ensure that all voices are heard, and all ideas are on the table for discussion. Co-design may be internal, or cross-functional. Everyone participates on a level playing field. Co-design is useful for managing challenges that arise mid-project and for post-release retrospectives.
Go/No-go/Prioritization meetings are intended for efficient decision making by designated Deciders helping everyone align around start/stop/continue/pivot.
Paloozas are the mother of all meetings. A group gets together for several hours of several days to solve particularly difficult problems with many hands and many minds. A well run Palooza is about as fun and engaging as work can get.
Belmont, CA
St. Petersburg, Russia
Xiamen, China
Redwood City, CA
What if you train your teams to be better and they leave for a competitor?
What if you don’t, and they don’t?
A regular cadence of team postings on Medium and Instagram maintains a public presence for an organization’s UX team, and for the talent on that team. Everyone has something to contribute, from the most experienced to our summer interns. And, the presence is a valuable recruiting tool for the team.
I’ve been asked, “Isn’t it risky to showcase your team’s talent? What if someone sees their work and tries to recruit them away?” My response is always, “If anyone on the team finds a better role, I’ll write their recommendation.” As long as each team member is growing in their role and engaged with their team and its mission, attrition is never a problem.,