Building Trust with Technology: Tips for Leaders and Organizations
In this podcast, Kris and Leanne discuss the importance of building trust in virtual meetings and share tips to create connections and foster productivity. Learn how to inject fun, ground and focus participants, and encourage video use to revitalize relationships.
Revitalizing Connections in the Online Space
Transcript
Hi Kris, hey Leanne, how are you doing? I'm good to see you too, so welcome everybody to the next installment of courageous conversations for leaders and organizations; good, so we are talking about building trust with technology, so this is module three of our code series. I'm going to tell you exactly what you're going to learn if you stick it out.
00:00:24
With us here for a few minutes, and we hope that you do so, we're going to talk about building trust using technology. We're going to talk about how to create connections on video, and we're going to talk a few tips about, well, we're going to share a tip about what to do if you've got people who are not going on video, okay and
00:00:46
Really, what the problem is we are experiencing this across in many workplaces that people do not have the same kinds of relationships that they were before when they were seeing each other every day, so the use of technology actually puts us in a position in which we can't build relationships as we did before and we can't maintain relationships as we did
00:01:09
Before, unless we put a little effort into it, and Kris, that makes so much sense what you're saying because we no longer have informal interactions. They're all formalized through these online meetings, so we're not running into people in the hallways or getting a cup of coffee or just those.
00:01:28
Informal ways that we say hi it's how's it going, and just that all does create connection, and we've lost that we have we've lost a lot of the many points throughout the day that we connect with people, so we are trying our best to revive that and to revitalize our relationships at work even though we have to use technology much of the time
00:01:49
Then that's the title of this actual podcast is to build trust through technology, so that's what this is about today, and I wanted to share just it's a very short story of an experience I had I was working on a project team, and I was hired to come in as doing some instructional design work, and I was on a team we started on a Monday I worked Monday
00:02:14
Throughout the weekend until the following Friday, we met daily as a team. No one ever came on video, and I never saw anybody. I could only hear their voices, and I did feel disconnected from that team. what a great example, so let's talk about what we can do to help that because I know.
00:02:41
Also, people out there who have teenagers or middle schoolers or even elementary schoolers, they're hearing from their teachers if they're in online school how a lot of kids are not going on video either, so like a lot of kids are not on video and they're you know they can't be forced to go on video, but this is it's a huge problem every level of our society right now
00:03:01
So, let's dive into some tips from our experience to help you create better connections in the online space. Okay, so now we're going to get into our tips. Tip number one is social time, so how do we take that social time we used to get in the hallway and get it in the video space in our meetings
00:03:26
So this can be done in a variety of ways, and one of them is a fun way, and so injecting some fun, even if for just a couple minutes or into the theme of that meeting, that's going to help everyone feel connected and Kris I'm going to hop over to you to give an example of wacky Wednesday can you talk about that yes the team I'm working on right now we do wacky Wednesday so every single
00:03:51
Wednesday, someone is assigned to do something fun, and it could share a personal story or wear a funny hat, or we did one when one of our colleagues was expecting a baby, so we did uh sort of a gender reveal party where we all guessed what she was going to have she's got a girl by the way great that's
00:04:11
A great example, so just injecting some fun what you know depending on the meeting depending on the context, it's just a great idea to think about it doesn't have to be wacky Wednesday, but it can be something creative, and then the other thing around social time is that if you have people that are not going on video this is important it's not something to
00:04:32
Be shrugged off, I think, as with a lot of things Kris and I talk about here, it probably requires a direct one-on-one conversation with that person uh from the perspective of just trying to find out what's going on with them what is the reason not in an accusatory way but find out the reason and express the importance of it because people can't connect that well if
00:04:55
We do not see each other in the video in the video space, so you want to add to that, Kris, it would be like, I mean, let's say there are times that it's absolutely okay for people to not be on video it's not necessary, but there are some times that it is necessary and the way I think about it is it would be like if you were in the office in a
00:05:18
Traditional meeting space where you were giving a presentation, and you wanted to look around the room and see what people were thinking and how they were reacting because you're looking for some input, some feedback, and when you looked around the room instead of looking into their faces you were looking into the backs of their heads but if that if that were your experience you would have really
00:05:42
You've lost the connection, and it is about the connection, especially so when you need a connection for work products, work projects, whatever it is. If you need that connection, it's absolutely fine to ask people to be on video because you need it to get the work done so true I loved your example, Kris turning your back
00:06:06
On someone, it kind of that really is a great metaphor, you know, so again, the tip there is to really have a direct curious conversation with that person. There could be a whole bunch of reasons why they're not going on video, and the other thing, of course, is finding ways to get people on video that might work for your contacts, maybe it's just for a few minutes at the
00:06:29
Beginning of a meeting, maybe it's, you know, be creative. Still, it is important to keep it from slipping if somebody is consistently not going on video. Yep, exactly the next tip we have is about grounding and focusing; when you come into a meeting and those there's those are the kind of techniques to help people to get into a meeting and to be as productive as they can
00:06:58
it's so true. Kris and I want to offer up the first grounding technique, so one grounding technique is to ask everyone to offer up something they're grateful for from that day and the reason that's a, well, it's a science-backed technique, okay, I know you've all heard about gratitude practices maybe people doing gratitude journals but when you start a meeting if you can
00:07:24
Ask everybody to share one thing they're grateful for in the day up till that moment they joined the meeting, and it might be something small it might be this you know that I had time to get a glass of water that I, you know talk to a friend today that know have a new pencil it doesn't have to be something huge
00:07:43
But just that practice, what it does is it interrupts whatever else they were thinking and doing before they arrived in the meeting, and I know a lot of people I work with and Kris, probably you too, they are running from meeting to meeting five six meetings in a day no time in between and even if they have the time they're so
00:08:03
Stressed out that they're sitting at their desk, you know, going over notes and getting ready for the next meeting without any mental break, so that's why I love the gratitude momentum; there are other things you could do as well. That's just one example. You could do deep breathing. You could ask everybody to take a couple of big breaths and get centered, and forget about whatever
00:08:26
This was happening before they came to this meeting but and there's a whole host of other things, but taking a moment to help people get grounded and to let go of whatever they brought with them that isn't uh related to the meeting at hand and I want to pass it back to Kris to do a focusing example thank you I love the grounding ideas, and the technique I use it's that's
00:08:51
similar, but it's a little different. It is about focusing, and I will do this as the facilitator, so this is part of my opening comments in a meeting, but I use purpose and importance, and the purpose will be why are we here right so why are we here if it's a group if it's the same reason for everybody then I will describe that if I'll say
00:09:22
The purpose for so-and-so being here is he's an expert, she's an expert, and basically, so everyone knows why they're in the room, and I'm saying physical room or virtual room doesn't matter the same thing and then in terms of the important piece you're saying the importance of this meeting is because x whatever that x is this is you?
00:09:47
Saying I'm bringing you here; your time is valuable, and we're going to talk about this because we have to make a decision, or I have to share some information. The purpose is x, and the importance is x; all of that helps to get people focused on the discussion that's coming up, Kris I love that so much; that's such a
00:10:07
Good point. It is not only that, as the leader of the meeting, as a facilitator, you're just keeping things organized, but you're also creating trust among the people that come to your meetings because they know when you they come to your meeting. You know empathy for them, knowing they've come from probably.
00:10:30
Several other meetings, but when they come to yours, they know you'll get them started strong; remind them while they're there. Set the importance of the meeting and make a strong start, so I love that tip; thank you; okay, the third tip is to refuel between meetings, and what does this mean? This means that
00:10:54
It takes a lot of mental energy to be in back-to-back meetings all day long, but that is more and more what our lives are like for working from home, and we have to meet with many people have many discussions, so refueling between meetings is having quality time some real quality breaks in between meetings and my recommendation is that for 30-minute meetings you end five minutes early.
00:11:19
For an hour-long meeting, you end ten minutes early; it's a little bit like going to school when you have to be in the classroom and then classroom b in class c, right, had we had some time to run in between classes, but this is important because we need to be able to transition to the next place and to be able to refocus otherwise
00:11:42
We're running behind; we're playing catch-up mentally all day long; it's very exhausting as we allow time to refuel this is saying to everyone, I honor your time, I honor your energy right, and to be able to give them a little bit of control over their day, so it does make a difference I love that Kris, it's so important to have just a couple of
00:12:05
Minutes to get up out of your chair or whatever it is before you go to the next meeting so as the leader of the meeting as the facilitator to honor everybody in that way, I think helps create trust in giving people what they need and to bring the stress level down maybe even just a little bit
00:12:26
Yes, it does make a difference, and I think I'd like to think that people love to come to my meetings because I do try to practice these kinds of things inside of meetings because it's important, and sometimes I'll put that at the top, of my agenda to say my goal for this meeting is to get everyone done 10 minutes before the top of the hour
00:12:49
And I need everyone's help, and so basically part of it is I say this is my intention as a leader of this meeting, but I need your help to be able to do it, which means the person that is extremely verbose at the end of the meeting were like you know time out we're going to try to remember we're going to this is our goal, and it takes a while sometimes
00:13:10
Especially if the culture is for meetings to run the full hour and some sometimes meetings run over, but these are cultural dimensions inside of organizations that can be adjusted and tweaked, and it truly does build trust because what we're saying is we honor your time and honoring people's time is a strong message that is so true and so great and as a
00:13:36
facilitator of a meeting, when you're trying to keep it within the time, and you've got people who are talking over talking too long, then there is the need to increase your own skill of getting people to bottom line it to cut in, I mean, it's not realistic that we never interrupt someone, but you can find your own way to do that uh you know respectfully like I'm sorry
00:13:59
To interrupt you, I'm going to have to, you know, ask you to, and then you can find your own ways to say, you know, what's the one important thing that you want us all to get out of what you were just saying, or something just real respectfully and then and be able to move people on so you can stay on time, and there's that there is the um age-old line
00:14:20
Of, in the interest of time but brushing up on these skills right, that's going to help keep you on time and help give people a little extra time which is what they need. Well, Kris, let's wrap this up. I think we wanted to talk a little bit about how you can start to implement new things as the leader when you might be a little uncomfortable doing so and what it takes to do that so
00:14:50
Some of the tips we've covered might require you to do things that might feel a little bit awkward to you or a little bit silly, like introducing a gratitude moment. We all know most of us to know this is science-backed stuff at this point, but you might feel a little bit silly and a little bit awkward doing that, and so this is why it takes a little bit of courage to show up differently.
00:15:10
And also, Kris, can you comment on the intention part of that and verbalize that so for many years, I taught new supervisors, so learning how to be a new supervisor is a real professional transition, and one of the things that I encouraged my new supervisors to do is to take back the skills that they were learning in this program it was it was a 10-day program they got 80
00:15:35
hours' worth of fantastic training and so taking new techniques back to the workplace back to the office trying them out with their teams was important for us in terms of the application. My tip for them to my new supervisors would be to preface something by saying you know I've been to supervisor basics program my intention is to be the best supervisor I can be
00:16:06
And I've just learned this. I'd like us to try this now; prefacing with an intention gives people you why what you're trying to do, and if you go about role modeling this new skill and encouraging people to try that new skill, you can change the culture and change the dynamic in your team and talk about building trust when they
00:16:31
See that you mean it. You express your intention, then you actually role model it, and you reward and recognize all these behaviors; this is a cycle, a virtuous cycle of building trust inside of organizations, so true Kris, and that goes hand-in-hand with what I've learned in my background of non-violent communication when you really want to be open and build.
00:16:55
Trust someone. If you're doing something in a new way, verbalize it; you know in the previous tip that we get got, if you're going to end meeting start to end meetings five minutes early or 10 minutes early, tell everyone you learned about this, you think it'll help it's a new thing you want to try and or even if it's a gratitude practice or a focusing practice.
00:17:14
Let everybody know it's a new thing you want to try and why and that'll go a long way to create trust in relationships, too, because it's not like you're trying to; you don't want to be trying to pull something over on people you're trying to help everyone be more connected more focused more able to do the work together and to do so with more wellness.
00:17:35
Well said, thank you, so I guess it's time for us to end, but so just to wrap up, what we learned about today was how to create a connection with technology, how to bring more connection into the video space with meetings, and how to help if someone does not want to go on video there's a lot of good tips things to try for leaders inside of
00:18:06
Organizations using technology, we just hope that you find some useful tips here today and keep trying with your teams. These things do work; it might take a little bit of time, but we hope that it helps you. Well said, Kris, and yes, if you're trying something for the first time, just realize there might be pushback other people might not like.
00:18:28
It doesn't mean you shouldn't try it. Try it a different way. Tweak it takes practice, practice, practice. Thanks for tuning in, everyone good to see you. See you next time. Bye bye
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Post by Dr. Kris Lea
Meet Kris Lea - an experienced consultant, facilitator, and trainer with expertise in OD, OCM, T&D, and Project Management. Kris empowers organizations to overcome challenges and achieve goals. As the founder of Lea Associates LLC, Kris is committed to building long-term client partnerships and delivering exceptional value.
