Bill Russell: How do you maintain culture?
And productivity and just all the
things that we have when we're together,
in a, in a remote work environment.
Tressa Springmann: Well, let me, I'll
start with the tools we had implemented
office three 65, but because of the
physical nature of where things have
been before COVID, tools like teams
were just kind of nibbled around
the edges and now they have become.
Core to our day to day work,
where we are convening and
collaborating in a virtual way.
similar to telehealth that until the
environment made itself, right, for
that change, it just didn't happen.
People would swing by your office
or still pick up the phone,
from a leadership perspective.
I come from a long line
of process improvement.
And so lean methodology has been really
core, to a lot of the management system
environment, that I've been exposed to.
And I've used in my experience.
That lean methodology focuses
so much on daily engagement and,
making sure there are a lot of open
opportunities for communication.
To make sure that I was overextending
myself and encouraging my leaders to
do the same and think differently.
What do I mean by that?
Some of the examples I'll give
you an example that I employ.
I have, two different sets one
each week and then one each month.
And I didn't use them as
extensively before COVID, but
I have virtual office hours.
And so I go online.
And for an hour each week, if anyone,
any one of my direct reports has
anything that they're stuck on, that
they need some advice or direction
or want to know what I'm thinking.
They could just hop on, ask a
few questions and hop back off.
You know, that used to be, Oh, well,
I'll see trust at that meeting.
Or, you know, I'll probably
pass her in the hall cause we
go to lunch at the same time.
Those just don't happen anymore.
So you really need to program them in.
So this idea of virtual office, are now
the mainstay of the schedule of my week.
A second technique has been what the team,
affectionately calls time with Tressa and.
I, I mentioned the tough economic times.
I mean, people's spouses
are losing their jobs.
We have had to employ some furlough
activities, especially during the
real height of the crisis and, your,
your whole world's already rocked.
Now you're rock to the core
and your own confidence.
A lot of our reassurance
comes from physical presence
and that was just absent.
So time with Tressa.
Again, this wasn't my leadership
team, but anyone in my division who
I do know, golly, what's going on.
And even though we have weekly huddles
where I try my best to provide updates,
That ongoing ability, not just to
hear from me, but to get reassurance
and reconnection, not just from me,
but from their direct supervisors and
the other leadership team members,
I think has just been essential.
You know, we we've been, as many people
have at their work from home and what
are we going to do in the grand design?
And, you know, we haven't landed yet.
Bill.
We do have some leases that we've
given up because we don't believe
we need people housed in those
areas and we can save money.
and we've gone through the process where
I've said, well, here are all my analytics
jobs or my analysis roles, my engineering
roles, that can all be done effectively,
remotely, but there's the role.
And then there's the individual, right?
I might be able to do
the job remotely, but.
Are my personality needs going
to be met if I'm so isolated
and the answer to that been very
different for, for different people.
we have weekly division huddles.
I have leadership, checkpoints
now virtually three times a week.
I have the virtual office hours.
and I'm ever amazed that every one
of these opportunities is used.
People take advantage of it.
You
