How to connect colleagues (and we’re not just talking AV tech)
From our 4-Word Thinking Series: small doses (four, to be exact) of AV tips, trends, terms, and tech.
A “place” brings community into context. Think about your neighborhood, your Discourse group, your cross-fit studio, and yes, your workplace. A place- physical/digital/hybrid- where you gather with others for a shared purpose lends credence to community: we are all here together intentionally and that means something.
That’s the catalyst behind Anchor Day. A pre-designated day during which a company asks employees to come to their respective regional offices to collaborate, innovate, socialize, and connect to build their (company) community. All in person.
Designed to strengthen an agile workforce, versions of Anchor Day vary across companies: frequency, length (i.e., Anchor Week), group size, and mandate are adjusted to fit a company’s needs. A non-variable for participants is the emphasis. During Anchor Day we are prioritizing being together face-to-face. With this driver in mind, we offer 4 recommendations for making your Anchor Day(s) the most successful possible.
#1 Have Purpose. We want employees to connect in meaningful ways and to make the most of their time together in the office during Anchor Day. While a rigid agenda may not be effective, you can make it a mix of both scheduled and impromptu experiences. Assign times for specific brainstorming or all hands sessions and leave room for socializing. If you have a meeting that normally takes place over Teams, Zoom, or Webex, hold that meeting in person in one of your conference rooms. Anchor Days are also perfect for town halls, corporate announcements, and celebrations, when more employees can share in the experience together.
#2 Prioritize Collaboration Before Desking. Anchor Days aren’t intended for heads down work; employees shouldn’t beeline it to a desk and shut the door (or put those ear buds in). These are “heads up” days that require groups, space, tech, interruptible schedules, and the proper mindset. To emphasize community & collaboration, ensure you’ve provided teams with specific areas like an employee work café, open collab spaces, and closed meeting rooms. Also, ensure all your collaboration tools and systems are fully functional including digital whiteboarding, interactive displays, wireless content sharing, and room scheduling.
#3 Make it Cross Functional. Over Anchor Day, connect teams that normally don’t collaborate or interact together. This is especially important when you have a mix of hybrid staffers that don’t have those spontaneous opps to chat with someone from outside their direct group. A great way to bring employees together is by hosting an Employee Interest Group on Anchor Day. EIGs, like SIGs (Special Interest Groups), focus on topics that affect all employees and thrive best with a diverse group of voices. Perfect for Anchor Day.
#4 Inspire. Our workplace environment should stir innovation, creativity, problem solving, collaboration, and an intentional choice to be there. During Anchor Day, create initiatives around the investment you’ve made in spaces and tech. Book that divisible room for training, showoff Marketing’s latest campaign on your interactive video wall, toss that Catchbox around during a Town Hall meeting, invite colleagues to your podcast space, and display creative content in your digital signage zones. If you’re inviting employees to an Anchor Day, make sure there’s lots of inspiration to well, anchor to.
Are you ready for Anchor Day? Are your workplace spaces and AV systems ready?
Take this 4-Word Thinking issue with you: