Building a vibrant community at work isn't just a lofty goal; it's a tangible, achievable reality that can transform your workplace. Small gestures like celebrating birthdays or organizing team lunches can create a sense of belonging among colleagues. Join us on this episode of Coffee and Career Hour, where we unravel the secrets to building a positive and engaging work culture through personal experiences and practical strategies. Whether you're a newcomer or a seasoned employee, you'll walk away with actionable insights on fostering authentic connections and maintaining professionalism while cultivating a warm atmosphere.
We'll share heartwarming stories and tips on how to take proactive steps towards knowing and appreciating your co-workers. Simple actions like taking breaks together, organizing informal gatherings, and celebrating achievements can significantly enhance team cohesion. Listen as we recount the joy and camaraderie that come from memorable team-building exercises, such as a blindfold and rope challenge designed to boost communication and trust. Even if you're not in a leadership role, discover how you can take the initiative to bring your team closer together.
Recognizing and celebrating wins, whether big or small, is key to building a supportive workplace community. From acknowledging personal milestones to sending a heartfelt message of appreciation, these gestures go a long way in boosting morale and productivity. We delve into the ripple effect of these actions on employee engagement and overall workplace harmony. Tune in to find out how you can start making a difference today, with simple yet impactful acts that show your colleagues they are valued not just as workers, but as individuals.
Building a vibrant community at work isn't just a lofty goal; it's a tangible, achievable reality that can transform your workplace. Small gestures like celebrating birthdays or organizing team lunches can create a sense of belonging among colleagues. Join us on this episode of Coffee and Career Hour, where we unravel the secrets to building a positive and engaging work culture through personal experiences and practical strategies. Whether you're a newcomer or a seasoned employee, you'll walk away with actionable insights on fostering authentic connections and maintaining professionalism while cultivating a warm atmosphere.
We'll share heartwarming stories and tips on how to take proactive steps towards knowing and appreciating your co-workers. Simple actions like taking breaks together, organizing informal gatherings, and celebrating achievements can significantly enhance team cohesion. Listen as we recount the joy and camaraderie that come from memorable team-building exercises, such as a blindfold and rope challenge designed to boost communication and trust. Even if you're not in a leadership role, discover how you can take the initiative to bring your team closer together.
Recognizing and celebrating wins, whether big or small, is key to building a supportive workplace community. From acknowledging personal milestones to sending a heartfelt message of appreciation, these gestures go a long way in boosting morale and productivity. We delve into the ripple effect of these actions on employee engagement and overall workplace harmony. Tune in to find out how you can start making a difference today, with simple yet impactful acts that show your colleagues they are valued not just as workers, but as individuals.
Hello everybody, Welcome back to Coffee and Career Hour.
Speaker 2:
We are very excited to be back. It's always nice to be back behind the mic.
Speaker 1:
Always yeah, If we could do this full time, we would do it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I mean, you and I have podcast conversations lengthwise off mic all the time.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, we definitely do. We should just record ourselves all the time.
Speaker 2:
We should just have a mic on us all the time. There you go.
Speaker 1:
We hope you are all doing well. It's actually July 1st right now. You won't be hearing this episode until a few days later, but July 1st it's a new month. We're like right in the middle of summer. Yeah, I hope everybody's summer is going well and people are taking time for themselves happy summer everyone.
Speaker 2:
I hope you're doing all the fun activities. If it's a slower time for you at work, take advantage in the nicest way. I mean, get your work done, but take advantage of what that looks like for you. I know I'm somebody who's always on the go, go go, so having this time to kind of just chill out, leave work at five do something different.
Speaker 1:
That is a big step for you.
Speaker 2:
I know, I know it's insane that I actually have a balance and it's nice. So just take time. Take time for yourself. It's important to heal and get back to your groove.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, so you could be refreshed and ready to take on the new year or whenever your work gets busy. Yeah, okay, so what are we talking about?
Speaker 2:
today I'm excited because this is something I think you and I do naturally um in spaces where we are, and it's building community in our workspace.
Speaker 1:
Yes, we love building community. Yes, I agree that we do it naturally and it is a learned skill, I would say. But I do think it also can come naturally, based on personality and preferences and things like that too. But it's definitely a skill to be learned, and today we're going to talk about one why it's important, and two, how to create these, how to build community in the workplace yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:
I armenia, and I do this very naturally. I think once when we met each other, it was like instant um, and we do it very easily with our, our clients, with the individuals we share space with online right, the different people we work with on a daily basis. So it's really nice to know that that's like a, a skill that we've kind of grown into too, because it's it's something that, yes, could be innate, but it's also a skill, a skill that someone kind of grows as you expand and just advance in your, in your person, in your human body.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, I love that you said person and not profession, because this is something that can be applied to in your personal life too. Yeah, not just we are going to talk about it in the context of workplace right now, but it is something that happens within, like in friend groups or family, extended family, so really any other group you might be a part of, you can build community and bring that energy to that space yeah.
Speaker 2:
So, like armenia said, we're going to be talking about why it's important, um, within the workspace context of exactly what we're going to be talking about today, it's really important because it's building community and and also like it's a culture. It's a culture that you build with these individuals and when you have those two things and it's a positive, almost like a marshmallow-y feel to the work, it feels better. Work feels better. It feels lighter, even though it's heavy. You want to go to work. You build this positive environment with those that you work with.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, definitely, and you know, I think that goes without saying like a positive work culture is better for everybody, everyone. You know it's better for the company because employees want to be there, want to do the work and the employees are happier. So you know, that is one way to build a positive work culture is building community in the workplace community and the workplace yeah, 100%.
Speaker 2:
Building a positive work culture, though, can be difficult if we talk about like, let's say, you're new to this position and you're coming in and you're feeling it out. So when you're doing that, it's also you kind of navigating the space. I would say. If you are someone who's coming in to a new workspace, how you can do that is by one, of course, connecting with your team and the people who you would naturally do your work with on a daily basis. So, for example, armin and I, we work on the same team and we got lucky enough to be paired to work in the same area of student population, so naturally, armin and I would build culture together. But if you are someone who has worked in this space for a long time, you know the dynamics of your center, organization or industry and what that would be like across your space and company, so you can also navigate what that may look like with your colleagues or different teams. Or, if you're a leader, that may also look very differently too.
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah, definitely. So you do have to kind of gauge your space and the your space and and the dynamics at your company and figure out what works for you, while you still kind of bring in that community, that energy of like wanting to build community. I think there's place for it in every kind of work environment, but it will look different based on the type of work you're doing and the type of company culture you might be in.
Speaker 2:
Agreed. We talked about it being a skill, a skill to have and, armanay and I don't mean it's a hard skill, it can be the communication skill too, but it's also that want you have to have, that want to build community. If not, you're not going to build community. So it's the skill of wanting to communicate, connect with others, build more. Not necessarily. You know those companies that are like we're like family here and it's like not true at all. Yeah, we're not talking about stuff like that. We're talking more about a genuine connection with someone, right? We're not saying go have dinner every night or participate in each other's I don't know kids' birthday parties or like, if that's not what it is, but the skill is to be able to connect with another human being. Yes, on the work-related level, but even beyond that too, because you know we spend most of our days and our weeks at work.
Speaker 1:
So if we don't deal with the people there, who the heck are we going to deal with?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it's true, we do spend a majority of our lifetime at work, so you do want it to be as positive as possible, and I think that if each individual kind of puts on that responsibility on themselves of, like, how can I contribute to building community and a better company culture, I think that that would just be like in an ideal world. Right, we each decide how we can contribute to it, but there are many ways to do this. So one way to do it, mj, let's talk about one thing that you do really well, which is create shared experiences within the company.
Speaker 2:
Okay. So I think for me it's just the background that I come from and I don't mean like like work experience or history, because I haven't worked. I want to say like in like 10 plus places, but I think it's just the culture, the, my culture and the way my family has been in creating a space where everyone is included and wanting everyone to feel included, celebrated, whatever that looks like. So for me, I always like to have spaces, even if it's in a team meeting, where we can have, um, like a, a shared moment where it's not only about work. Uh, so, for example, today I asked you all about like your favorite cold summer treat, right, something that wasn't work related, that gets everyone's kind of mind off of whatever, whatever the talking points were, but we're all kind of in the same sentiment of experiencing summer and it's a nice time and things like that.
Speaker 2:
Um, social events I would say thinking about it that way and building a shared experience. Um, when it's everyone's birthday, I kind of, on our team, like to celebrate them and make sure everyone feels that love and that care that we do have for our team members or accomplishments that people have had to. I do my best to, again, just because I come from that type of environment, I want everyone to feel, whoever's around me, to feel celebrated, included, happy, happy and cared for.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, you do an amazing job at like making everyone feel included and making people feel special. Thanks, I can say that, being on the receiving end of that. Mj, it was like you within your first two or three months of working at our company and it was my birthday and she went out and she decorated my office. I think you brought your own decorations right. I did, I did and like I think from then on you got that reputation. I'm like okay, mj is like the birthday person, so now the two of us together do the birthday decorations and stuff. I haven't done it. Since I've been on maternity leave for a while I haven't done birthday decorations. But that is like one small way that you make people feel special and included. And it does actually take time and effort and energy. You have to plan one, you have to know everybody's birthdays right. So it does take time and effort, but it I mean anything you do.
Speaker 2:
you know if you don't put in the effort, you're not going to get the output yeah, and Armine mentioned something important or, I guess, like an aspect that I want to point out. She said in the first like two to three months that I met her. Obviously it was not my first day and I was like Arminie, let me interview you, tell me your birthday what do?
Speaker 2:
you like, but it was me putting in the time to get to know her.
Speaker 2:
Aside from, like us working with same student populations or in the same office in the same hallway, it was beyond that.
Speaker 2:
It was like having lunch with Arminie, getting to know who she is, what her favorite colors were.
Speaker 2:
I'm a super observant person, so, like even in her office, I noticed like the small details of things like that and that's where, as a human being in the workspace, you got to remind yourself you're not just like a bee, a honeybee doing and producing honey and pollen and getting all that stuff, but you got to put in the time to get to know other people and that that's on you, right? Don't expect I mean, if you're new, yes, you can expect people coming to introduce themselves and wanting to get to know you or go out for coffee or lunch or whatever, but it's also on you to kind of get to know the people you are with as well. So that's something that I always kind of like to do. Even when someone started new at our office a year ago, I did like a poster, like one of those large post-its, and put it on their door and was like welcome x person. And then I had everyone kind of sign and be excited and created like a little welcome kit for them so they'd feel welcome to the team.
Speaker 1:
So yeah you have to put in that effort if you don't put in that things you can find to celebrate, so, and if there isn't something that like there is no birthday coming up this month or something like that, maybe it could be something like let's do a team lunch.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, you know, and usually I think those ideas what I've noticed is they come about when you're actually spending time with your co-workers and having conversations. It could even be like during a work meeting, but you're actually taking the time to have those informal conversations and then an idea comes like oh my god, I love that restaurant. Why don't we have like a lunch there? You know, yeah, and then you can propose it, you know, to your supervisors if you're not in a leadership position, and see if there's a budget where, like, the leadership can actually take you out to a team lunch, and if not, then you know, maybe finding different ways around that it doesn't have to be a formal team lunch. You could do it with a couple of co-workers. Yeah, you know, but there's like little things like that happy hours, casual get-togethers, just like informal settings where you guys can spend time together and get to know each other.
Speaker 2:
Yeah an idea for all of you out there that we do is. Armanay has taught me the concept of lunch and how important it is.
Speaker 1:
That is right, because you did not. Okay, listeners, she did not even block off her lunch hour on her calendar and when I would ask her, like, do you eat? Well, we never like. Sometimes she wouldn't eat or she would like eat in between appointments and it was not healthy for her.
Speaker 2:
So I'm happy you yeah, armenia has taught me the concept of lunch. Um, and something to do is like knowing when everyone has lunch, like it's a. I think in the us it's universal for us to have like lunch between 12 and 2, because some people have like like 1 to 2 or whatever, but in our office we realize that we tend to have it around 12. Right, so we all were like, oh, why are we having it separately? And our office is where we can have it together and that's how you can start building community, little by little, and, as we've gotten comfortable with our coworkers, we invite different people from different floors and different teams to come have lunch with us too. So an idea for you if you guys all have lunch in your offices, just step outside and have lunch together.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I know some companies have like a lunchroom. We made our own. Yeah, we made our own. We didn't have one, right, but it was so natural the way that happened. Natural the way that happened. And one of our other colleagues, andre, who usually listens to this podcast, shout out.
Speaker 1:
He is really good at the like, bringing people together for lunch so he would just be like hey, guys, I'm gonna have lunch here. Like you know, it's like a conference room in the office. He'll be like I'm gonna have lunch here, if anyone wants to join. And then like, over time we all like started gravitating over and now more and more people are gravitating. It's become like the norm now. But but he was really good at doing that and he was really good at like having those informal conversations and bringing people together. So it's all been like little steps that have accumulated to a bigger positive work environment yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:
Something else I think is a is a cool shared experience that I've, I think is more popular in a corporate setting, is like volunteering to do something together, or like a toy driver on like the holidays, or like a food driver, stuff like that. I've seen it more in a corporate setting where they'll, you know, have two days of work, not be working the volunteer. They'll go clean up a beach or they'll go volunteer at a local community center, whatever that is Working in the education field, I think we have a volunteer center, but as a team we tend to help each other out a lot, and that's also how you build community. I don't want to say that our work is volunteer, but we volunteer for a lot of, for example, programs and events that we're not leading. But we volunteer for a lot of, for example, programs and events that that we're not leading. Yeah, so for us it's in almost in a sense we're volunteer to support that person, that program, that space, that population. So it's another way to build a shared experience and get to know.
Speaker 2:
I've gotten to know literally 99 of the career center that way for just being in spaces that aren't around our populations or like that we're leading. Remember my first year I, like literally tried to go to everything I could, which was oh yeah, you did yeah and that's how I got to know a lot of people um even outside of our office.
Speaker 1:
Like mj is pretty popular on campus. People know her, you're so sweet. No, it's true, though it's because oh, what were you? At a coffee like a drive-thru coffee shop where somebody was like, oh my god, you're the mj from?
Speaker 2:
yeah, I was at a starbucks drive-thru and then, um, the person who was not taking my giving me my coffee was the one day I always take coffee, the one day I didn't. And they were like, oh my gosh, wait, you're mj. You're mj from ucla. And I was like, oh god it's a thing.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it's a thing, but it's true. It's because you did actually take time to go to the events and the programs and whatever was going on around campus. Even if it wasn't relevant to your individual work or population you're serving, you still made the time to go, which has had a ripple effect, you know, on your work too, because it's helped you become more like people know you as, as a really great employee and all the things that you have to offer. So, yes, it's been like fun and building community, but it's also actually like helped her advance in her work yeah, so it's really allowed me other opportunities.
Speaker 2:
So know that community building isn't just like a personal, it's not like a personal accomplishment to do with your team, but it can lead to different career opportunities like, for example, I volunteered to participate in like a leadership, like a leadership retreat-ish thing for students this summer where you get to meet with like executive level people at the university. Those are opportunities that you create for yourself by trying to build community with others as well. So know that those are things you can do as a team, so it's not just individually, but you can serve as a team together and work with other individuals across whatever your industry or company looks like as well.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, definitely no, go ahead. Their way to build community in the workplace is through team building activity.
Speaker 2:
I was going to say you're a genius at this. You had us all blindfolded. I'll let you tell the story, but Armanay is the queen at doing team building activities.
Speaker 1:
Oh my gosh, I actually forgot about that, yeah you had us all blindfolded.
Speaker 2:
You're just trusting me. I did.
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah, and people were complaining but they had to go with the activity. It turned out to be great. We did an activity in one of our meetings where I was like leading a meeting. It was like a half day full on retreat type of meeting and yeah, the blindfold activity. We had a rope. So just think of it this way we had a rope, we had blindfolds and that was it. Yeah, and everybody was like so creeped out Like what are we going to be doing? But eventually, like the whole idea was that you guys had to put the rope in a square by communicating with each other without being able to see the rope. It wasn't bad. The turnout was actually pretty good.
Speaker 2:
Yes, and I would say too. Harmony mentioned something very important aside from the activity. She said she plans this day retreat. So taking initiative is also another key aspect and skill to have when you're building community.
Speaker 2:
Sometimes you can walk into spaces where people are like things are just this way, just accept. Oh, yeah, right, I'm someone who likes to challenge things, um, and I'm learning where my limits and boundaries are, but I'm someone who's like why, why are they this way? Why? I'm like a five-year-old asking all these questions. But armenia took initiative that day, that that quarter, to say hey, like we need to do this team, and she planned out strategically moments where we can work on our skills together as a team, like these activities, but taking initiative to do things like that, of course, not going above and beyond your supervisor, but working with them to create this, and that's what she did. So knowing also your limits and where you also voice your not your concern, but your want to want to do and create community amongst your team and the people that you work with too yeah, yeah, um, that is definitely true because if you are in a leadership position, you already have that green light right to say, okay, let's do this meeting or let's do this activity.
Speaker 1:
But if you're not in a leadership position, it could be kind of tricky, like can I even host a meeting or can I, you know, can I invite people to do this activity? But you may be able to. I would say, like, more often than not, like you would be surprised to see that your supervisors will be willing to give you that space. Sure, there might be unhealthy bosses out there and so forth and that's another topic for another day but more often than not, if you take the initiative and you actually like work with your boss on that, they're probably a lot of them are going to give you that space to try something new and see like, okay, my employee wants to try this, let's let them do it, and they're going to develop skills and it's going to be good for the whole team overall. You know, and that's what everybody wants. So I would say taking initiative to go above and beyond your role is the foundation of being able to build community in the workplace.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely, and also it's a plus for you because you're growing as a professional and as a human being.
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah, it's another bullet point on that resume that you can say you were able to facilitate this meeting or facilitate a team building activity.
Speaker 2:
And hiring managers or other people in different spaces love when they see that stuff. You taking initiative, going above and beyond, for sure.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, definitely. But yeah, you can do. There are so many. If you Google team building activities, oh my gosh, there are some elaborate ones and there are some basic ones that you could try out just to kind of get a feel for your team. One thing one of our supervisors did was was it Halloween? One of our supervisors did was was it Halloween? No, it was Thanksgiving, where she brought like little paints and paint brushes oh yeah, yeah, and we basically had lunch and painted an ornament or a decoration. It was like a turkey. Yeah, it was a turkey. It was like a wooden turkey that we painted together and decorated it for our offices and we had lunch together and she just kind of said, hey, guys, I'm going to bring this stuff Whoever is around. It was like no pressure, oh, it was Halloween, was it Halloween? Okay, no pressure, though, like, whoever was there actually did go and show up because, like, people gravitate towards those things you know, yeah, and I mean, who doesn't want to do arts and crafts on a Tuesday?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, Absolutely, you know of course I remember you were super pregnant.
Speaker 1:
Oh, I was. Oh yeah, I had my orange pumpkin jack-o'-lantern outfit and everything so cute. But yeah, so those little things kind of add up and accumulate, because I can't tell you how many times we've had conversations during those types of settings that turned into like oh, let's do this work project together.
Speaker 2:
Like it actually elevated our work because we thought about a new idea that we can implement yeah, I would say too, if you work in a space or with a team or with a boss or a culture where it's like, no, everything has to be work focusedfocused, okay, bummer. But you can also do this by participating in trainings together in courses, together in conferences, virtual physical. If you have the budget, go as a team, pitch that. Of course, you have to give your reasonings why, right, and all that stuff, but if it's an opportunity, you might as well do it. We are lucky to work in an education system that constantly wants us to be learning, and all of us are always wanting to learn best practices and new things that are out there. So do this. If your environment is more restrictive on, like the quote-unquote fun stuff, focus on opportunities where you can grow as professionals as well, and just call it professional development.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, there you go. Recently we all watched a training, no, a conference together. Um, again, it was like not forced. But our supervisor was like hey, guys, like I'm gonna be doing this virtual conference, I'm gonna do it in the conference room. Whoever is around, block yourselves off and come over. And people did. And then during the conference, as we're watching the sessions, we're like having conversations about new things we could do at work. So many new ideas came from that that probably wouldn't have came if we watched a conference separately in our offices.
Speaker 2:
True, I'll tell you too while you were gone helping the student, I had a whole conversation about protein, um, so there was like a non-work conversation too. So know that these these conversations are healthy in both the work way, but also in the human way too yeah, definitely okay.
Speaker 1:
So this is all creating shared experiences to build community in the workplace, right, there's so many different ways you can do that, but another aspect of building community is promoting open communication. This is hard.
Speaker 2:
It's hard because you have to. I hate to say this, but if you're a leader, like it depends on who you're being led by. Right, because if you're someone who has so much energy to want to do this, but let's say your team is not that way, or you're getting to know them, or you're new, or just this is the way things have been done for years, that's really hard to to bring in change, and you have to know how to do that in a strategic manner. So Arman and I have tips for our individuals who are leaders, but also for those who we would consider who are not necessarily have a leadership title, but do bring a lot of weight to the workspace too.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, definitely. So for those who are in a leadership position already, you have that authority, should say, to hold meetings and to gather people together or to have your employees take surveys. Like you have that position to be able to do that right. So one thing is holding meetings that go beyond work tasks. Those tend to be really beneficial, along the same lines of what we were talking about is, like you don't want to just do like boom, boom, boom, here are the uh agenda items and then that's it. Like we're done, everybody goes to their offices. There are companies that do function like that or people who do work in that way, but it takes away from that connection that we've been talking about. So if you can allow for space, even something as basically, as starting off the meeting with, like what's your favorite, um, summer treat? Treat that mj just did today, right, um, that that was great. Uh, it just like brings out conversation and we get to know something even small about a person, right, um? So allowing for that space to have those conversations is really important.
Speaker 2:
For our non-leaders or individuals who are mid or entry level or any other position that is in a leadership title. Talk to people. Honestly. It's really, I know I say simple, but for some of us I say some of us, because I'm a heavy introvert Depends I got to get comfortable with you first and then it's all extroverted from there. Um, just talk to individuals, right, if you are.
Speaker 2:
If you don't know, for example, like if you've never been into someone's office, schedule a meeting with them in their office right, get to know them. People have like different trinkets and things about them in their physical space. If you work in an environment that's purely virtual, let's say that you're what one of your co-workers always has a different zoom background. Ask them about it or whatever that is. But you need to put in that effort to connect with others, right. If I did not put that effort to connect with armenian, have lunch with her, get to know her, understand her as a human outside of her being a counselor, we wouldn't be doing this podcast oh, yeah, yeah, we would I mean yeah if we didn't share, like if you had never told me like you guys want.
Speaker 1:
I still remember how this whole thing started. Yeah, we were literally in the conference room doing something work related, and then we started talking about non-work related stuff, and then you said something I've always wanted to do was have a career blog. And that's where I was like oh well, I have Career Rise and have a podcast, and why don't we do it together? And sure enough, that's how it all started. So had we not come together in the conference room to work on this work project, we would have maybe never started this podcast.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so know this podcast, yeah, so know that you have to take initiative in this aspect? Yeah, I think in both leaders and non-leaders you just have different level of authority, like you said.
Speaker 1:
Definitely one thing too, for someone who is in a leadership position is maybe doing a survey with your employees. I know like the word survey is like cringe for especially people in education because there's so many surveys that go out to students and people don't really love taking them. But if you can make it work with your team, if you're in some kind of leadership role, maybe do a poll survey where you get a feel for your employees, like feelings towards the company culture.
Speaker 2:
Do you remember we had a colleague who actually did survey us her first week in the office and she sent out like a survey of like fun facts what's your favorite snack, Candy, birthday, all that good stuff, and it was like a pure. It was so innocent because it was like I just want to get to know you.
Speaker 1:
And.
Speaker 2:
I've never done that before and I was like, well, that's so cool, so cool. And if our leadership, if your leadership could do that too? It promotes positive, healthy work environment and culture for your team. Yeah, because it shows a genuine aspect that they have to want to get to know you again. You're spending legit 80% of your life with these people yes, definitely.
Speaker 1:
Yes, that was a really cool survey that, um, our colleague did, so you know. With that said, think about the position that you have. Leadership, non-leadership at this point is irrelevant. What matters is like how you're going into the space, what energy you're taking to the space with you and your genuine interest in getting to know your co-workers absolutely okay, that's two, two hows.
Speaker 2:
Our last how is recognizing and celebrating achievements. This, I think again, it's both for leaders and non-leaders, because you and I you and I have done that as simple as like holidays, but even just like celebrating people on linkedin, or if you have an internal messaging platform some people use Zoom, chat, slack, microsoft Teams, whatever that is and if you have like a channel or a space or a group chat where you're publicly like, oh, this person presented, or this person learned this today, or this person is their first year with us today. Right, like things like that that really do create that sense of space and culture and just positive, like positivity within your team. Right Like for me, today's July 1st. Today marks my two year anniversary with UCLA.
Speaker 1:
Oh my gosh, I didn't even remember that. Yeah, that is so exciting. Yeah, yeah, so okay, we're gonna do a slack message after this podcast, um, but it's true, I mean we have a feel-good channel on our company slack and, um it actually people are really good about that feel-good channel. They will like do shout outs when someone has had an achievement or a birthday or whatever. Like people will use that channel often, which is really awesome because it does actually remind us like oh so and so, like had this accomplishment and so forth.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and it's even. It's even so, yes, like work related, but like even for like event or I'm sorry, not events holidays. For example, we have a lot of moms on our team. We do Happy Mother's Day to all the moms who identify as, or Valentine's Day and things like that that just really celebrate whatever it is that you're also doing too. So having a space where it's literally non-work related conversations is great, just for achievements as well yeah, um.
Speaker 1:
So finding ways to share your wins, celebrate milestones. I think we do this in our um larger team meetings as well, where people will do like the past academic year, like what were some milestones that we achieved, and, I think, like people who had babies, like there was a photo to appreciate, um, all the newborn babies within the company, or other milestones that people might have achieved uh are are larger leadership. They make an effort to at least recognize it and mention it in the all staff.
Speaker 2:
So, yeah, absolutely um, even for, like birthdays. I know some people feel very personal and, um, non-birthday and they don't like they don't want to celebrate the birthday for whatever reason. But even doing like that, if you're in a leadership position, celebrate individuals as human beings they're. We're not just there to work like, yeah, please put in that effort, because you're going to make a hell of a lot of a difference in the workspace and people are going to want to be there and be more human with you. You're going to notice a change in the way they are in their work and how they produce and how they connect with you as well. So just please keep that in mind.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it all has a ripple effect and the effect is positive, yeah.
Speaker 2:
So if there's one takeaway, go out there and build community. Do it today. Do it today, even if it's like a simple message to your team, it's an email, it's a whatever, it's an appreciation text, whatever that is. Please go out there and build community, put the effort, take initiative. Your employees or your colleagues need it.
