Teams Come in Many Forms, But Trust Does Not

There is a new program on CNBC at night titled No Retreat: Business Bootcamp. Teams of co-workers crawl through mud, climb walls, figure out how something works or why it doesn’t. Everyone gets tired, dirty and often frustrated but you have to assume there was going to be a good outcome or it wouldn’t have made the airing.

Corporations spend tens of thousands of dollars building teams. Admit you’ve seen video of, were forced to participate in and/or made a snarky comment when someone falls backwards on a mat only to be caught (or not) by a co-worker.

All of these physical tests are intended to install trust and build communication within the team. A century of evolved tethering isn’t going to be stopped by a little pandemic, is it?

So, how does that work when the only contact is via Zoom?

In gathering data for The NonProfit Times’ 2022 Best Nonprofits To Work For, communication and transparency in every imaginable form was cited by both staff and management as key to getting the job done. Are staff members really this happy in their professional lives and are they really that much more productive in a remote setting? Technology has been a lifeline to people in both their private and professional lives but is being held hostage to a laptop or other mobile device really the key to success and growing client services?

While extolling the success of the remote staff, many of the managers mixed in comments about the differences in gatherings. Executives described how the weekly water cooler event was replaced by an online discussion which in some cases involved the organization sending out snacks for the staff to consume together on the scheduled team call. The description was how everyone chatted and sometimes needed to be hushed to get everyone in on the conversation while in the office. That was immediately followed by depictions of the virtual team online meeting where people became very quiet and needed to be coaxed into saying something.

One executive acknowledged the quandary, saying that there’s a growing realization that there are some really important parts of being in a space together along with the flexibility of being able to work from anywhere. The challenge is bringing staff back to a physical space that embodies the best of both.

Executives spoke of wrestling with guidelines and procedures for welcoming at least some staff back into the office. Others talked about mixing and matching days in the office based on organizational roles, such as bringing fundraising staff in on Monday, finance on Tuesday, and so on.

How will that work? The twains never meet even though finance and fundraising are interwoven in the modern nonprofit sector. How will that trust in those vital personal relationships be developed?

Some managers and staff are chomping at the bit to get back in the office. There really isn’t an organizational culture if it’s imagined and not involving people. Platitudes can’t be substituted for genuine camaraderie.

There’s no doubt that a form of hybrid work will continue. The challenge will be how to do it and build a winning team. Nonprofits are in the humanity business. There is no digital connection that can exude empathy and few that can catch the sometimes nearly imperceptible nuance of a challenge. The “wait a minute” moment comes from contact and familiarity.

There is the obvious question regarding handling vaccinated versus unvaccinated staff but that is a very different issue given an estimated 80 million Americans still have declined COVID vaccinations due to pre-existing health conditions or other reasons.

Artificial intelligence can’t replace human interaction. It can anticipate the need for it but can’t replicate it. Most people seek feedback on performance that isn’t in an official job review. Senior executives admitted during interviews that it has been “harder to show people appreciation when you’re not with them in person.”

There is comfort and strength in the foundation people develop within their environments. If you need a video example other than No Retreat: Business Bootcamp, flip over to BritBox and watch an episode of Law & Order UK — dun-dun.