Thread by @jennydoforno

Sometimes the simplest things can have the biggest impact!

When it comes to people and #culture we tend to over engineer everything.

Sometimes it just needs to be simple and fun and creative!

So, I thought I'd share this simple hack from @OMERSVentures recent team offsite.

Last month, our team had an offsite - the first in over 3 yrs, and the first for all three of our regions (CAN, US, UK) to meet each other as a global team. It was a great week of connecting, collaborating!

#team #culture #connection

As our people & culture champion & w/ the dream team of @shawnchance & @MindOverMandi we collaborated on a session to help our team get to know each other in the face of continuing Covid-related work environments & the challenge of working in 3 countries, but operating as 1 team

This challenge is not unique to us. It’s something I hear from #founders All. The. Time.

‘How can I help my team connect meaningfully with one another when almost half of us have ‘remote’ in our job descriptions?’

#remote #hybrid #culture

What are we losing by the fact that we’re no longer crammed together in offices, basements, or three-to-a-desk in a coworking space, experiencing the highs and lows of #startup life together?

How is the lack of IRL connectivity and #team bonding affecting overall team dynamics?

As jobs continue to become borderless, we have to solve the challenge of building connections without being together in the same physical space.

We wanted to create something to help our team feel seen, heard, respected, & recognized for the qualities that make them so unique.

While I’m not generally a fan of ‘best practices’ (I think every company is unique and should act/build accordingly), what we ended up creating worked so well for our team that I’m sharing it in hopes it might work well for others.
It’s simple, but sometimes simple works best.

We created a card game called Cards Against VCs. It features a full deck of 52 cards, each with a unique question (we spent a lot of time thinking about what questions would help us work better together and bring out the qualities we might not get to see in our day-to-day jobs).

The game is simple & played in pairs. One person picks a card and reads the question. Their partner answers. Repeat.

The time and space to have a guided conversation created a map to get to know one another, with lots of opportunities for unexpected detours along the way.

As it turns out, creating meaningful connections might be easier than we think, if we just go back to basics. If you’d like to try it w/ your team, I’d love to hear how it goes. Here’s a link to our design file in case you want to print a copy of your own. drive.google.com/drive/folders/…

Or, if you want to create your own set, here’s a link to our questions which might provide some inspiration! DM me if you'd like me to send you a deck. I hope it gives you as much joy as it gave me. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…