variability, stability and redundancy

Hi there 👋👋

Welcome to the Teams, Talent & Productivity weekly newsletter, brought you by Midnight Labs, the remote and hybrid teams specialists.

In this week’s newsletter: 

• Teams: Why local variability ensures global stability and vice versa.

• Talent: Why AI is not making your L&D team redundant. 

• Productivity: How to optimise your team’s meeting cadence.

Teams

Imagine you're at a party, showing off a little by balancing a rod on your hand (okay, so you might not be the life of the party…). It wobbles, threatens to fall, but with tiny, almost invisible movements, you keep it upright. Each little twitch of your hand is a response to the rod's motion—this is local variability in action, ensuring the rod, or the global stability of your trick, doesn't come crashing down. This dance between the micro-adjustments and the overarching aim of not letting the rod fall mirrors how teams, especially remote ones, navigate the complexities of working together despite the distances between them.

So, how can this balancing act inspire better teamwork, particularly when your team is spread out across different locations? First off, think about giving team members the freedom to make those small tweaks—encouraging autonomy and quick decision-making. It's like trusting everyone to keep their own rods balanced; this trust can fuel creativity and a sense of ownership. Then, there's the power of diversity, bringing together a mix of people, much like a party crowd, each with their unique way of keeping the rod aloft. This mix can lead to innovative solutions, crucial for teams that collaborate digitally, where fresh ideas can bridge the gaps distance creates. And let's not forget the need for being agile, ready to adapt—essentially, being prepared to shift your stance as the rod wobbles, ensuring the team stays on track towards its goals, even when plans need to change at the last minute.

Now, why do remote teams often seem to fail more slowly? It's partly because those crucial micro-adjustments, the quick conversations, and the spontaneous brainstorming sessions, don't happen as naturally as they do in person. There's a delay in communication, a missed chance for collaboration here and there, making it harder to catch and correct the wobbles early on. It's like trying to balance the rod over a video call—you can't quite see the nuances of its movement, and your adjustments might come too late. By intentionally creating spaces for open dialogue, fostering a sense of belonging even from afar, and ensuring everyone's ready to adapt, teams can overcome these challenges.

Embracing the interplay between local adjustments and overall stability isn't just about preventing failure; it's about setting the stage for success in the dynamic, often unpredictable world of modern work.

Talent

If you've ever thought your Learning and Development (L&D) team's role was just about churning out content, then sure, the rise of AI might make it seem like they're heading towards redundancy. But that's a big misunderstanding of what L&D should be bringing to the table. Far from being mere transactional content producers, L&D teams should be strategic pillars of the business, crucial for fostering a culture of continuous learning, driving innovation, and ensuring that teams can adapt and thrive.

At the heart of effective L&D is the ability to cultivate an environment where learning goes beyond consuming information. It's about creating experiences that stimulate growth, encourage exploration, and build the resilience necessary to navigate challenges. This involves understanding the unique dynamics of each team, facilitating connections that empower individuals to share knowledge and skills, and designing programs that align with both individual aspirations and organisational goals. 

The focus on connection-making aligns with the principles of connectivism, a theory for the digital age that posits learning as a process of navigating and growing networks. By embedding these principles into their strategies, L&D teams should ensure that learning in the organisation mirrors the complex, interconnected nature of the modern world. It's this ability to weave a rich tapestry of connections—between the new and the known, the individual and the collective, the local adjustments and the global goals—that underscores the strategic importance of L&D.

Productivity

The anticipation of an upcoming meeting can significantly disturb focused work, particularly for individuals deeply immersed in complex, creative, or analytical tasks. For instance, a data analyst working on a critical report that requires deep concentration and manipulation of complex data sets might find it challenging to reach a state of deep focus if they're aware of an impending meeting. This anticipation creates a psychological barrier, a sort of mental countdown, that can prevent them from fully diving into the task at hand. It's as if part of their brain is always checking the clock, unable to commit fully to the depth of thought required because it's preparing to switch contexts.

Team leaders or project managers responsible for coordinating various aspects of a project face their unique challenges with upcoming meetings. The need to prepare, organise thoughts, and perhaps anticipate the discussion's direction can make it difficult to concentrate on the immediate tasks that require attention before the meeting. This split focus can lead to a superficial engagement with their work, where they're going through the motions without the full cognitive engagement necessary for high-quality outcomes. Therefore, the disturbance to focused work isn't just about the interruption during the meeting but also the anticipatory effect that shifts attention away from deep work, underscoring the importance of mindful meeting scheduling and management in remote and hybrid teams.

When we work with teams, we run an entire workshop specifically on building empathy with each team member's tasks and responsibilities and developing an understanding of personal preferences. We then use this data to co-design meeting cadence and meeting management systems with the team.  Meetings get a bad rap, but we find that often it’s more about the quality of meetings rather than the act of having them itself. Here are some tips if you’re like to run a similar workshop for your team:

• Start with Storytelling: Kick off the workshop by inviting team members to share stories about their most and least productive workdays. This storytelling approach opens up a space for empathy by showcasing the variety of tasks and challenges faced by different roles within the team.

• Map Out the Work Week: Use visual tools like calendars or Kanban boards to map out a typical work week for each team member. This visual representation helps everyone understand the peaks and troughs of workload across the team, fostering a deeper appreciation of each other's schedules and high-focus times.

• Identify Personal Work Styles: Have team members identify their personal work styles and preferences, such as their most productive hours, how they prefer to receive feedback, and their ideal meeting times. This step is crucial for designing a meeting cadence that respects individual rhythms and productivity flows.

• Co-Create Meeting Agendas: Together, develop a template for meeting agendas that ensures time is used efficiently, topics are relevant, and outcomes are clear. This collaborative approach ensures that meetings are valuable to all participants and directly contribute to team goals.

• Establish 'No Meeting' Zones: Based on the team's input, establish certain hours or days where meetings are off-limits, allowing for uninterrupted deep work sessions. This practice acknowledges the importance of focused work time and reduces the cognitive load of switching between tasks.

• Feedback and Iteration: End the workshop with a commitment to regular check-ins on the effectiveness of the new meeting cadence and management system. Encourage open feedback and be willing to iterate on the process to better serve the team's evolving needs.

By following these tips, you can create a more empathetic, productive, and collaborative team environment where meetings enhance, rather than disrupt, the flow of work.

I hope some of this was useful to you, if it was, please feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss the next one 🙂 

Thanks for reading!

Tom