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Remote Innovation: Overcoming the Challenges of Distance and Disconnection

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Remote Innovation: Overcoming the Challenges of Distance and Disconnection

Colleen Lerro Gallagher
President & CEO, OnWrd & UpWrd

At OnWrd & UpWrd, fostering a culture of innovation, especially in a remote environment, revolves around continuous learning and open communication. One specific strategy we’ve implemented is our weekly “AI Conversation” during team calls.

Each team member is encouraged to share their experiences with AI tools—what they’ve tried, what’s worked, and importantly, what hasn’t. These discussions not only demystify AI but also normalize the learning curve associated with adopting new technologies.

Additionally, we maintain a dedicated AI-focused Slack channel where the team posts articles, discusses different uses of AI, and shares updates on the latest developments in the field. This ongoing dialogue keeps everyone engaged and encourages a proactive approach to experimentation and learning.

The objective is clear: inspire every team member to embrace and explore new technologies, ensuring that experimentation and innovation become routine aspects of our work culture even when we’re spread across the country. We believe that understanding both successes and setbacks in AI applications is invaluable, as it drives improvement and sparks further innovation.

Burak Özdemir
Founder, Character Calculator

One effective strategy for encouraging innovation in a remote work environment is promoting collaboration between different departments.

By allowing team members from various areas to work together on projects or brainstorming sessions, you can bring different ideas and skills to the table, which leads to more creative solutions.

For example, pairing a developer with a marketing specialist on a project can lead to new ideas that neither would have thought of alone.

This teamwork not only sparks creativity but also helps break down barriers that can happen in remote work.

In our company, this approach has resulted in a 25% increase in new project initiatives over the past year.

Regularly switching team members into cross-department projects helps keep new ideas coming, which boosts innovation and improves overall productivity.

Gauri Manglik
CEO and Co-Founder, Instrumentl

In my experience, fostering innovation in a distributed team requires intention and effort. The spontaneous water cooler conversations that spark new ideas don’t happen when people aren’t together physically.
That’s why I make it a priority to create spaces for people to connect and collaborate across locations.

We have random virtual coffee chats, ideation sessions, and informal gatherings that are social but also spark that creative magic. I encourage remote brainstorming in small groups, using tools like Miro or Mural to capture ideas in real time.

It’s also key to promote a culture where speaking up and sharing ideas is welcomed, not just from the extroverts but from the quieter voices too. I consciously draw people out and make sure remote folks don’t get drowned out by the louder in-office crowd.

At the end of the day, innovation is unleashed when people feel empowered to think boldly and work creatively, no matter where they are. That’s the culture I aim to build.

Gary Collins
Managing Director, B2B News

To foster a culture of innovation in a remote setting, I recommend implementing a “Virtual Innovation Lab” program.

This initiative creates a dedicated space and time for employees to explore creative ideas outside their regular responsibilities. The program schedules monthly “Innovation Days” where team members step away from usual tasks to focus on innovative projects.

A digital platform, such as a dedicated Slack channel or Miro board, serves as a hub for idea sharing, collaboration, and voting on promising concepts. Cross-functional teams are formed to work on selected ideas, ensuring diverse perspectives and skill sets. Senior leaders provide resources and mentorship to help develop these ideas.

At the end of each Innovation Day, teams present their concepts to the entire company in virtual showcases. A reward system recognizes the most innovative ideas through acknowledgment, bonuses, or the opportunity to lead project implementation.

This approach fosters innovation by dedicating time for creative thinking, encouraging cross-departmental collaboration, providing a structured process for idea development, creating a safe space for risk-taking and experimentation, and recognizing innovative efforts.

This can be implemented by:

  • Utilizing collaborative tools and platforms like Slack, Miro, or custom virtual brainstorming spaces to facilitate easy sharing of ideas.
  • Scheduling regular virtual brainstorming sessions or “innovation days” where team members can step outside their regular duties to explore new concepts.
  • Creating a psychologically safe environment where employees feel comfortable sharing unconventional ideas without fear of criticism.
  • Implementing an “open door” policy for digital communication, where team members can easily reach out to leadership with new ideas.
  • Recognizing and rewarding innovative contributions through virtual “shout-outs” or other forms of public acknowledgment.

By making innovation a regular, structured part of the remote work environment, this strategy helps maintain creativity and forward-thinking, even when teams are physically apart, ultimately driving the company’s growth and adaptability in a rapidly changing business landscape.

Hayley Gillman
CEO of BOTI

A practical way to encourage innovation in a remote team is by setting up regular virtual brainstorming sessions using tools like Miro or Microsoft Teams. These sessions help break down barriers between departments and promote teamwork across different areas, often leading to new and creative ideas.

Using structured methods like mind mapping or SCAMPER keeps these sessions focused and engaging, giving everyone a chance to share their thoughts without feeling restricted by traditional office hierarchies.

Equally important is creating a space where employees feel safe to express their ideas without fear of judgment. Promoting open conversations and viewing mistakes as learning opportunities can help team members feel more comfortable taking risks and trying new things.

This supportive environment allows teams to explore new ideas and make continuous improvements, even when working remotely.

Nick Valentino
VP of Market Operations, Bellhop Atlanta Movers

If we want our remote teams to innovate, we need to give them time and resources to do it.

We keep a to-do list of innovation tasks: pain points in our business model, open-ended questions, and software platforms to try out. Our employees can spend up to 10% of their working hours each week tackling anything on this to-do list, and we offer performance bonuses for any problems solved or new platforms adopted.

This provides just enough structure to keep things on track, and lets employees display their creativity and versatility.

Warner Quiroga
President & Owner, Prestige Home Buyers

I would say first and foremost, be a great listener, we have two ears and one mouth for a reason.

Listen to your team members’ concerns, listen to what their needs are, listen to how they act, how they do their work, how they come into work.

If it’s virtual, how you see them on zoom, how they interact with other people on the team.

Listen and see because that tells you a lot about it.

Take it into consideration and who knows, you’d be surprised and in some cases their advice or the collective advice of a big group of team members talking and just debating ideas could result in a better idea than the one you might have initially had.

That’s why it’s also important to know and make sure you hire people that are willing to be coachable and to grow with you.

As the company grows this way, nobody gets left behind and everybody can stay ahead and continue growing because as the years go on, there’s gonna be more and more obstacles and competition that will arise.

So we need to stay ahead of the curve to be able to continue succeeding and having a prosperous future.

The HR Spotlight team thanks these industry leaders for offering their expertise and experience and sharing their insights.

Do you wish to contribute to the next HR Spotlight article? Or is there an insight or idea you’d like to share with readers across the globe?

Write to us at connect@HRSpotlight.com, and our team will help you share your insights.

Recent Posts

Building a Content Dream Team: Leaders’ Strategies for Conquering New Markets

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Building a Content Dream Team: Leaders' Strategies for Conquering New Markets

Ben McInerney
Certified Arborist & Founder, GoTreeQuotes

As the founder of GoTreeQuotes.com.au, Australia’s leading online platform for arboriculture services, I’ve learned that creating content for new markets is like planting trees in unfamiliar soil. My journey from a local Sydney tree service to a nationwide digital enterprise has taught me valuable lessons about adapting content strategies to thrive in new environments.

When hiring a content creation team for a new market, my advice is this: Prioritize local expertise and cultural understanding over pure content creation skills.

Just as different tree species thrive in specific climates, content must be tailored to resonate with local audiences.

When we expanded GoTreeQuotes from Sydney to other Australian regions, we initially stumbled by using a one-size-fits-all approach.

Our content, while technically sound, failed to connect with audiences in tropical Queensland or arid Western Australia. The turning point came when we recruited local arborists as content consultants.

These local experts helped us understand regional nuances – from prevalent tree species to colloquial terms for common tree issues. For instance, what Sydneysiders call “tree lopping” is often referred to as “tree topping” in Perth. This local insight allowed us to create content that truly spoke to each region’s unique needs and challenges.

By prioritizing local expertise, we saw a 40% increase in engagement rates and a 25% boost in conversion rates across our new markets. More importantly, we built trust with local communities, establishing GoTreeQuotes as a familiar, reliable resource rather than an outsider.

Remember, in content creation, as in arboriculture, understanding the local ecosystem is key to growth and sustainability.

Dan Ben-Nun
CEO & Founder, Adspace

Prioritizing cultural intelligence and local knowledge goes beyond just language fluency; your content team needs to understand your target market’s behaviors, nuances and preferences.

You need content that resonates with the local audience to succeed in a new market. Even a technically perfect design will fall flat if your content creators lack local context.

For instance, a simple visual element or slogan that works perfectly in one country might carry unintended connotations elsewhere.

Ensure your content creation team has local insights and is better equipped to create culturally relevant and more engaging content.

For example, if you are expanding into the Asian market, where collectivist values are emphasized, you will want your content to reflect community-centric messaging. You may want to focus more on group harmony rather than individual achievements.

This approach is critical to ensuring that the content not only reaches the target audience but does so in a way that aligns with their values and norms.

Dev Chandra
Chief Executive Optimizer, The Process Hacker

My advice to businesses hiring a content team for a new market begins with understanding the differences in market dynamics.

Rather than replicating the strategies used in their existing markets, they should focus on localizing their content to resonate with the new audience. Having native members who understand the market’s unique culture, language, and norms can give a competitive edge.

Secondly, encouraging creativity can help develop content that stands out and engages the new audience.

Most importantly, employing data-driven decision making and process automation in content creation can streamline the operation, helping businesses adapt, iterate and innovate faster according to the feedback received from the new market endeavors.

Fundamentally, my mantra is: Understand the market, localize content, foster creativity, and leverage automation for efficient content production.

Sarah Mitchell
Marketing Director, Relyir

As a marketing director who has extended a brand’s reach into over 50 countries, my key advice for businesses hiring a content creation team for a new market is to prioritize cultural fluency and audience-centric approach.

It’s crucial for the team to understand the culture, language nuances, and consumer behaviors specific to the new market they are catering to.

For instance, at Relyir, during our expansion into the Asian market, we hired content creators well-versed in regional languages and cultural traditions. This allowed our content to resonate more effectively with our target audience, driving customer engagement and brand loyalty.

Moreover, ensure the team is adept in adapting the company’s core messaging to align with the local market, without losing brand consistency.

A successful content team can communicate your brand’s values in a way that feels personal and relevant to the new audience, laying the groundwork for sustainable market growth.

Andrew Pierce
CEO, LLC Attorney

Entering a new market is a colossal task, and your content strategy will play a crucial role in connecting with your audience. My advice to businesses venturing into new markets would revolve around three main aspects: research, local adaptation, and authenticity.

Firstly, thorough market research is mandatory before curating content. Understanding local culture, customer behaviors and needs will help your team create compelling and personalized content.

Secondly, local adaptation of your content is pivotal. Translating your brand’s message to satisfy the local audience, not just linguistically, but also culturally, is an aspect that businesses often overlook.

Lastly, ensure the authenticity of your content. Your brand should exude a genuine desire to serve and connect with the local audience. Authenticity forms trust, and trust translates into business.

Remember, good content is more than just facts and figures- it’s the values, experiences, and stories that align with your audience preferences. Make sure your content creation team is fully-equipped to resonate with the new market.

Kira Chesalina
Creative Director, AAA Agency

As a Creative Director of an international influencer marketing agency, my key advice would be to define your KPIs by mapping out value-inspired trajectories and equipping them with measurable endpoints.

If your strategy is niche-focused, with specific platform goals and a limited budget, think about partnering with managers who can offer specialized expertise, flexibility, and direct communication.

However, for a broader, multi-channel campaign that requires in-depth analytics, long-term strategy, and risk management, consider hiring an external marketing agency.

Agencies provide comprehensive support, including advanced tech solutions and creative projects.

Your choice should align with the specific campaign needs, budget, and the level of strategic guidance you require to succeed in the new market.

Sam Jacobs
Head of Marketing, Ammo

My advice would be to start with your business goals.

How do you want to measure success in penetrating the new market? Is it through clicks, views, or engagement?

It is a very important step in determining the exact skillset of content creators you need.

If your success is best measured through clicks, you will need articles, which means hiring writers. If your success is best measured through views, you will need video creators to film and edit. If you need a mix, you will need a sure way to structure your content team.

Then, once you put a content team together, hire a content lead to manage the KPIs.

When hiring, consider finding someone through reference, someone who has done what you need and done it effectively.

Jonathan Goldberg
Founder & CEO, Kimberfire

When it comes to hiring a content creation team for a new market, my advice is to focus on ensuring that the team possesses a deep understanding of the local culture and consumer behavior.

As Founder & CEO of Kimberfire, a company that bridges the gap between online and offline diamond jewelry retail, I’ve seen firsthand how crucial it is to align content with local values and expectations.

The content team should not only be skilled in creating compelling narratives but also be equipped with the cultural intelligence necessary to adapt those narratives to resonate with the local audience.

This often involves hiring local experts or team members who have an intimate understanding of the market’s language, customs, and trends.

The ability to craft content that feels authentic and relevant to the target market is what ultimately drives engagement and builds brand loyalty.

For businesses looking to make an impact in a new market, this blend of content expertise and cultural insight is essential.

Tony King
Manager, JobSpace

When hiring a content creation team to thrive in a new market, the most crucial piece of advice is to clearly define your content strategy and objectives.

Before bringing a team on board, it’s essential to have a well-articulated plan that outlines the type of content needed, the target audience, and the goals you aim to achieve. This clarity ensures that the content creators understand the brand’s vision and can align their efforts accordingly.

A well-defined strategy also helps in selecting the right talent whose skills and expertise match the specific needs of the project. By setting clear expectations and objectives from the outset, you can foster a productive collaboration that drives engagement and growth in the new market.

This strategic alignment is key to maximizing the impact of your content efforts and ensuring that your brand message resonates with the intended audience.

Allie Wickam
Owner, Allie of All Trades

Businesses looking to hire a content creation team for a new market should seek out a team that provides market research and relevant, valuable content, as opposed to teams that offer large quantities of content.

Consumers are exposed to so much content each day that posting low-value content for the sake of posting will quickly be forgotten.

Businesses that stay up-to-date on trends find it easier to expand their audience while also providing relatable and personable posts to encourage the conversion of likes to sales.

The best content creation team a business can find is one that is committed to continually learning and adapting to keep up with algorithm changes and consumer trends.

Abhi Madan
Co-Founder & Creative Director, Amarra

When venturing into a new market with a content creation team, understanding the audience is crucial. From my experience in fashion, where the stylistic preferences of consumers can vary significantly from one location to another, I recognize the importance of local perspectives.

My advice is to hire local talent or consultants who deeply understand the cultural norms, local trends, and language nuances of the new market. They add authentic voices and attract local consumers more effectively. For instance, when Amarra expanded into the Middle East, we collaborated with local fashion influencers who understood the region’s specific aesthetics. This led to content that resonated strongly with our target audience, effectively enhancing our brand visibility in the region.

The HR Spotlight team thanks these industry leaders for offering their expertise and experience and sharing their insights.

Do you wish to contribute to the next HR Spotlight article? Or is there an insight or idea you’d like to share with readers across the globe?

Write to us at connect@HRSpotlight.com, and our team will help you share your insights.

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Connecting Workforce Development to Leverage Empowerment in 2023

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Connecting Workforce Development to Leverage Empowerment in 2023

HR Spotlight - Polina Kovaleva

Empowerment Beyond Marketing

Empowerment has been recently seen and used as a tagline or marketing ploy, especially in a recruiting manor for more employees or customers.

It is important to be sure you and your organization foundationally understand that there need to be 3 things involved for empowerment to be present in a moment and that is Authority, Power, and People.

A corporation or organization is not part of that equation based on the definition of empowerment which is the authority and power connected to people.

Authority is centered around how people feel empowered and the confidence that they have but also all the way that they care for themselves. Authority-driven items usually produce that boss-like mentality you get from being empowered. It can be very emotionally driven, and it is usually hard to track an honest answer.

See your nearest supervisor feedback review scores that paint a different opinion than the turnover rate is telling you. How does it make you feel to provide the rideshare car driver with a 5-star rating?

That process is all tied to the authority portion of empowerment. All things in this world either raise or lower someone’s authority of empowerment. The emotional side of empowerment can often have different answers to the same exact question because it is based on people’s perceptions.

On the other side of these parts of empowerment is the power side, and that portion is where all the data and numbers live.

Do you have a take on why an HR team is important, even if it’s a one-person team? Or is there another insight you’d like to share with readers across the globe?

Write to us at contribute@HRSpotlight.com, and our team will help you share your insights.

Power in Empowerment

Power in empowerment is where people usually get caught up in trying to acquire these intrinsic items. The tangible measured items like money and all its derivatives, functional power like energy, and the most powerful of all the power items, which is time, are some examples.

Most of the power items can be captured, grown, and invested, except time which is only exactly what you get but also how much time you devote to something and collectively as an organization how many resources you use to impact change or produce a profit margin.

Tracking the impact of these power items in your leadership and workforce development programs should be inherently easy because they all involve some sort of measurable number tied to each of them.

Often organizations are the only ones attempting to track these items and the successes of the DEI program. They are looking to provide an impactful number of promotions or pay equity of the organization among other metrics.

Where we can create more change for 2023 through our people is by helping them better understand how to measure and track their own empowerment this year. And that is why people are the final part of empowerment and they must be involved to connect your program to empowerment.

People in Empowerment

People will always play a critical role even with machine learning and artificial intelligence. They are all a part of your workforce, and all can be collectively working together to track the impact that they each make this year.

To track authority accurately in 2023 you are going to have to teach your employees more about empowerment by connecting it to your leadership and workforce development programming. By measuring the authority each person has within themselves will help your employees develop by understanding how they feel about their own commitment to your organization.

Then remember the power items can be easily tracked since they all contain a measurable component to them, but the key element is teaching your people to also track their power items as well which they contribute to the organization.

If your people are truly empowered in 2023, then they should be able to provide their empowerment report at the end of the year. This report can showcase all of their successes personally but also how they connected to other people through authority, as well as the power numbers of their business results.

DEI programs are only successful when they ultimately tie back to business and if your people are empowered then they should be able to communicate exactly why they are instead of it just being a blanket statement.

Development that Aligns with the Empowerment Shift

Having served for 6 years as the VP of DEI for 60,000 people at PNC Bank I saw how empowerment moved and was received through DEI and community driven programming. This is what led me to finish my research on empowerment and create a world class leadership development organization.

I get the pleasure of helping great organizations become better by connecting my research on empowerment of people as well as measuring how empowered your people are across the differences that we have as humans.

Remember that empowerment is felt differently across all our top differences so our groundbreaking empowering differences assessment helps to provide data surrounding which differences need the most empowerment in your organization as well as providing recommendations on which leadership actions people can do to drive more empowerment faster.

For 2023 you can create a leadership development for your entire workforce based on each person’s intersectionality and that can help truly empower all differences.

 

Ashley T. Brundage HR Spotlight

All About Our Guest

More about Ashley

She transformed from homelessness and being an out woman of transgender experience to gain a job as a part time bank teller in 2010, then became the national vice president of Diversity Equity and Inclusion at PNC Bank in 4.5 years. After being featured in several media outlets she left her job running DEI and publishing an award winning empowerment and leadership book/program. Now she runs her own transformational leadership development organization traveling the world sharing her insights while also serving for several nonprofit organizations and sharing her research on how to drive empowerment faster though all of our differences we have as humans.

About Empowering Differences

International award winning leadership and empowerment expert Ashley T Brundage shares her insight into numerous especially tracking DEI efforts through what she calls Empowering Actions with the APP of Empowerment. Her leadership development program teaches people how to track the DEIB work they do for organizations by measuring the authority driven items through human capital surveys as well as tracking the power driven items through their natural measurement and tracked nature since they are all easily accountable. The power items are like actual power, monetary instruments, and time as 3 common examples. The authority driven items are more people centric placed surrounding feelings like confidence, learned skills, and wellness. Her program focuses this tracking effort as the APP of empowerment deeply rooted in the foundational definition of empowerment which is authority and power connected to people. She also professionally advises several other corporation and meeting organizations on inclusive practices for meetings to address LGBTQ+, Disabled, and other marginalized communities to make access to programs more equitable for all.

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6 Tools and Platforms to Make an HR Team’s Life Easier

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Linda Scorzo CEO, Hiring Indicators
Hilary Kozac VP of Marketing, LivSmooth
Laura Martinez, Consultant, PersonalityMax
Yongming Song, CEO, Live Poll for Slides
Amer Hasovic, Content Writer, Love & Lavender
Brett Ungashick CEO & CHRO, OutSail

6 Tools and Platforms to Make an HR Team’s Life Easier

An HR team has a lot to do even on a day that does not have them lining up and conducting interviews, meeting with hiring managers to understand their requirements, or putting to work retention strategies that keep their workforce engaged. And without the right list of tools and platforms backing them up, it would indeed be difficult for any HR team to get any work done, let alone create impact.

6 Tools and Platforms Recommended by Leaders

Here are six tools and platforms these leaders set up to make things easier for their HR teams

  • Reveal 
  • A Good Communication Tool
  • Workday
  • Human Resources Management System
  • Google Drive
  • BambooHR

Reveal

In order to improve hiring, HR teams should be making use of reliable pre-hire assessment tools that can give their companies a definitive edge when it comes to employment recruiting. So, in my opinion, an HR team that isn’t taking advantage of the best pre-employment testing software, like Reveal, is truly missing out.

Linda Scorzo CEO, Hiring Indicators

Reveal is a dependable, accurate assessment platform that puts companies in the best position to identify high-potential employees and fill open positions with them.

Linda Scorzo, CEO, Hiring Indicators

Reveal is a dependable, accurate assessment platform that puts companies in the best position to identify high-potential employees and fill open positions with them. What’s more, pre-employment testing can help HR teams improve employee retention rates. The benefits of pre-hire assessment tools speak for themselves!

Linda Scorzo, CEO, Hiring Indicators

A Good Communication Tool

The right mix of tools and platforms can make a big difference for an HR team. Having the right tool or platform the team can always depend on can be extremely helpful. One tool or platform that an HR team can always depend on is a good communication tool. Communication is essential for HR teams, as they need to be able to communicate with employees and managers.

Hilary Kozac VP of Marketing, LivSmooth

Communication tools can help the team stay organized and efficient and make better decisions about HR-related matters.

Hilary Kozak, VP of Marketing, LivSmooth

A good communication tool will allow the team to stay organized and efficient. The communication tool is one essential tool that the team can always depend on. These tools can help the team stay organized and efficient and make better decisions about HR-related matters.

Hilary Kozak, VP of Marketing, LivSmooth

Workday

It is a cloud-based platform that can help organize, simplify and ease the tasks of HR personnel. It is a provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance, HR, and planning. It has many features and functionalities. With the right tools, it can help save unnecessary costs, time, and effort.

Laura Martinez, Consultant, PersonalityMax

Workday can help change the HR staff’s daily experience. It will help them focus on tasks that need more urgent attention. It simplifies work processes and policies.

Laura Martinez, Consultant and Content Writer, PersonalityMax

Workday can help change the HR staff’s daily experience. It will help them focus on tasks that need more urgent attention. It simplifies work processes and policies. It can enhance performance and help the organization in achieving its set goals.

Laura Martinez, Consultant and Content Writer, PersonalityMax

Human Resources Management System

The HRMS is a one-stop shop for human resource management to store, retrieve and manage human resource data and processes while still remaining compliant to changing tax laws and labor regulations. Rather than having to organize data in physical files, HRMS allows the human resource department to access employee profiles, schedules and attendance lists.

Yongming Song, CEO, Live Poll for Slides

The HRMS is a one-stop shop for human resource management to store, retrieve and manage human resource data and processes while still remaining compliant to changing tax laws and labor regulations.

Yongming Song, CEO, Live Poll for Slides

The HR team can always depend on a HRMS to save time when accessing employee data, generating payrolls and planning workforce. HRMS is the HR team’s best friend because it makes it easier to manage employee benefits, efficiently manage overtime and arrange employee training and development.

Yongming Song, CEO, Live Poll for Slides

Google Drive

For me, it’s Google Drive. I’ve used it for everything from creating a new document to uploading files to sharing them with my team members. The best part about Google Drive is that you can access it from anywhere – and it’s totally free!

Amer Hasovic, Content Writer, Love & Lavender

Google Drive is great for sharing files because it’s so easy to use. You can access your files from any device and they’ll be there when you need them. You can also share those files with anyone you like.

Amer Hasovic, Content Writer, Love & Lavender

Google Drive is great for sharing files because it’s so easy to use. You can access your files from any device and they’ll be there when you need them. You can also share those files with anyone you like. It’s perfect for distributing documents or newsletters, as well as collaborating on projects with colleagues and clients. Another thing I like about Google Drive is how much space you get for free 15 GB! That’s more than enough room to store all of your documents and photos (or even videos) in one place.

Amer Hasovic, Content Writer, Love & Lavender

BambooHR

Having worked at a few different startups, the technology stacks always change from company to company, but one platform that I find tremendous value in everywhere I go is BambooHR.

Brett Ungashick CEO & CHRO, OutSail

It may not be a perfect system for larger, more complex companies, but at the smaller startups I’ve worked in, BambooHR provides a lot of user-friendly functionality at a great price point and backs it up with great support.

Brett Ungashick, CEO & CHRO, OutSail

It may not be a perfect system for larger, more complex companies, but at the smaller startups I’ve worked in, BambooHR provides a lot of user-friendly functionality at a great price point and backs it up with great support.

Brett Ungashick, CEO & CHRO, OutSail

The right tools and platforms can make all the difference to an HR team’s performance

While this lineup is a favorite with these leaders, there are plenty of other tools and platforms out there that help an HR team increase efficiency, save time, enhance resource mileage, and provide more value to their functions. 

Does your HR team have a favorite tool or platform that makes their work easier? Let us know if you have one that you think should absolutely make this list! 

Write to us at connect@HRSpotlight.com, and our team will help you share your insights.

5 Effective Ways to Motivate Your HR Team

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Tim Toterhi, CHRO, Plotline Leadership
Yongming Song, CEO, Live Poll for Slides
Amer Hasovic, Content Writer, Love & Lavender
Luciano Colos, Founder & CEO, PitchGrade
Lindsey Hight - Terkel for HR Spotlight

5 Effective Ways to Motivate Your HR Team

Here are 5 ways to motivate your HR team:

  • Spotlight the Impact of Your Team’s Work
  • Increase Interaction With Employees to Put a Human Face to Your Work
  • Create Opportunities for HR Team Members to Get Together Outside of Work
  • Give Your Team a Sense of Purpose by Recognizing Their Impact on the Company Culture
  • Encourage Teamwork as Well as Having Fun Together as a Team

Spotlight the Impact of Your Team’s Work

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when your department’s to-do list reads like a copy of War and Peace. That is why it’s important to pause and appreciate the breadth and depth of the impact their work has on the company.

Tim Toterhi, CHRO, Plotline Leadership

As an HR pro, what you do saves money, reduces risks, and propels the organization to increase both top-line value and bottom-line results. Want to motivate your HR team?  Hand them a mirror.”

Tim Toterhi, CHRO, Plotline Leadership

Let’s face it. HR isn’t just HR anymore. It’s also marketing and communications and digital strategy with elements of IT, Legal, Finance, and Big Data-management sprinkled in. As an HR pro, what you do saves money, reduces risks, and propels the organization to increase both top-line value and bottom-line results. Want to motivate your HR team?  Hand them a mirror.

Tim Toterhi, CHRO, Plotline Leadership

Increase Interaction With Employees to Put a Human Face to Your Work

HR teams deal with people. While their work involves analyzing multiple processes and reporting HR data, the human resource department experiences an unfair reputation as the majority of employees do not trust their HR. Putting a human face on the data they report daily through improved internal employee communication gives the HR team the motivation to keep going. Rather than spending time analyzing complex data, HR can spend more time interacting with employees and putting a human face into the work that they do.

Yongming Song, CEO, Live Poll for Slides

I motivate my HR team to keep delivering its best by involving them in strategic plans. I ensure that the HR team plays an integral part in strategic workforce planning and recognizing their efforts when there is a good performance.

Yongming Song, CEO, Live Poll for Slides

I motivate my HR team to keep delivering its best by involving them in strategic plans. I ensure that the HR team plays an integral part in strategic workforce planning and recognizing their efforts when there is a good performance. I also encourage them to communicate with the workforce and have healthy professional relationships.

Yongming Song, CEO, Live Poll for Slides

Create Opportunities for HR Team Members to Get Together Outside of Work

How does an HR team find the motivation to keep going? One of our biggest challenges is staying motivated as a team. We work hard and long hours, but we also want to make sure we’re not taking advantage of our employees’ goodwill, and that means finding ways to stay focused on building our relationships with them.

Amer Hasovic, Content Writer, Love & Lavender

We work hard and long hours, but we also want to make sure we’re not taking advantage of our employees’ goodwill, and that means finding ways to stay focused on building our relationships with them.

Amer Hasovic, Content Writer, Love & Lavender

One way we do this is by creating opportunities for our team members to get together outside of work. For example, every year, we host a holiday party in which employees bring food from their home countries and share stories about what makes them feel most at home. It’s a great way for us all to get out of the office and into a space where we can relax – and bond over shared experiences. Another way we stay motivated is through training sessions on topics like communication skills and conflict resolution. These are important topics because they help everyone feel like they have an equal voice in the company – which can be especially challenging when you’re working remotely.

Amer Hasovic, Content Writer, Love & Lavender

Give Your Team a Sense of Purpose by Recognizing Their Impact on the Company Culture

There is no better feeling than when you’ve been involved in a project that you’re proud of and when you lead a team that’s been able to deliver and make a difference.
It’s the reason that a lot of people end up in HR, and it’s what keeps them going.
HR professionals want to have that impact, and they want to be able to feel that they’re making a difference. That’s an important thing to keep in mind when you’re building your HR team and when you’re building your company culture.

Luciano Colos, Founder & CEO, PitchGrade

HR professionals want to have that impact, and they want to be able to feel that they’re making a difference. That’s an important thing to keep in mind when you’re building your HR team and when you’re building your company culture.

Luciano Colos, Founder & CEO, PitchGrade

You need to give people that sense of purpose and sense of impact. It’s going to drive their performance, and it’s going to drive their feelings of fulfillment and satisfaction. If you can’t do that, then you may not be able to get the best out of your workforce. To get the best out of your workforce, you need to give them a sense of purpose, a sense of impact, and a sense of meaning. I think that HR is the most important group within a company because they influence the company culture.

Luciano Colos, Founder & CEO, PitchGrade

Encourage Teamwork as Well as Having Fun Together as a Team

Our HR Team finds the motivation to keep going by having a good team that works well together and has fun at work. We take our work seriously, but we also find the time to have fun every once in a while.

Lindsey Hight - Terkel for HR Spotlight

Our HR Team finds the motivation to keep going by having a good team that works well together and has fun at work. We take our work seriously, but we also find the time to have fun every once in a while.

Lindsey Hight, HR Professional, Sporting Smiles

This could be as simple as decorating our office and dressing up for Halloween or getting employees together to do a tour of our company while learning the history around it.

Lindsey Hight, HR Professional, Sporting Smiles

A Motivated HR Team Equals Overall Performance and Productivity

When your HR team is motivated and working at optimal levels, this energy helps them bring to the floor various resources and solutions that drive the overall performance and productivity of the company. The positive and go-getter attitude of the HR team is where it all begins, and it is this energy that trickles down to the rest of the workforce too. All this makes a motivated HR team one of the most essential components in an organization that aims for growth and success. 

As lone rangers driving entire organizations, how does your HR team find the motivation to keep its own clan going? What is one thing that motivates (or how do you motivate) your HR team to keep delivering its best?

Write to us at connect@HRSpotlight.com, and our team will help you share your insights.

13 Factors Impacting Your Team Productivity

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13 Factors Impacting Your Team Productivity

HR teams around the world fight the productivity fight each day, within their own teams and out on the work floor of the businesses they serve.

What is team productivity, and why is your team productivity nosediving?

The HR Spotlight team set out to find answers to these questions, and here we are to provide you with a list that helps you identify shortcomings and shows you where you might be going wrong.

What is Team Productivity?

To shed more light on what team productivity is all about, let’s consider workers A and B contributing to the productivity charts of the company they work for with their own set of tasks and responsibilities.

Employee A is doing wonderfully well at the workplace and has all the traits from self-motivation to work ethics that keep delivery and performance 100%.

On the other hand, Employee B suffers from low morale and a general dislike for every task placed at their desk each day, which means that the delivery and performance B brings to the table is only 50%. Put the two together, draw out an average, and you know your team productivity stands at 75%.

But is this team productivity number of 75% only because of the high performance that A delivers and the low performance of B? Or are there other factors at play behind the scenes? Is this even the right method to derive team productivity? Or does this method take the spotlight away from other prevalent factors at the workplace and beyond?

Of course, employee contribution does drive productivity, but will the resolution of the problem on an individual level provide all the answers?

Factors Impacting Your Team Productivity

Well, as it turns out, team productivity has to do with a lot more than employee productivity, and here’s the list that tells you why your team productivity is nosediving.

#1: Recruitment

Your recruitment process is where it all begins, so yes, the recruitment strategies you have in place do have an impact. After all, it is your recruitment process that determines the percentage of As and Bs in your organization. It also determines the overall commitment you’re able to derive from your employees through all that you offer them right from the recruitment stages. If your recruitment isn’t being done right, it has a direct adverse impact on team productivity.

#2: Onboarding

Your onboarding process determines the commitment you derive from your employees. When an employee meets a highly driven HR team and is introduced to managers who are heartily sharing stories of how they lead a workplace that is all about performance and productivity, this approach rubs off on employees.

On the other hand, when new employees are met with a lethargic onboarding process and interact with a team that is not very willing to inspire or lead from the front, chances are they witness this same attitude playing out on the work floor too. Under these circumstances, even the most productive employees will find it challenging to keep up their drive to perform well.

#3: Managers and leaders

Are the managers and leaders at your workplace an inspirational lot? Or do they suffer from performance and productivity issues too? When the ones who lead are lost, how can they lead their teams toward optimal performance?

In the absence of managers and leaders who believe in leading from the front, no team can even create a team productivity roadmap, to begin with. If your managers are uninspiring, do little to trace the negatives in your team, do even less to inspire, and are just not committed to their roles, your team productivity is bound to nosedive.

#4: Productivity roadmap

No matter how self-driven, self-motivated, and well-trained, every employee requires a productivity roadmap that clearly references their tasks and responsibilities and shows them exactly how they can contribute to the team’s productivity. When this roadmap is unclear, when it is vague enough to confuse employees, or when it doesn’t even exist, team productivity will undoubtedly take a hit. After all, even the best workers need direction and know at least the basics of their production schedule to deliver their best. Without this roadmap, even the best efforts of an outstanding workforce are wasted.

#5: Learning and development

Every workplace requires a set of learning and development practices that help employees do better. When your workplace does not commit to learning and development and has a workforce that isn’t learning anything new or even forgetting what they’ve learned until now, you will soon have a team that just isn’t as capable as their peers who are exposed to regular learning opportunities.

In addition to affecting team productivity, the lack of learning also leaves employees less capable. They learn nothing new, have nothing to show for all the months or years they’ve spent at your company, and soon enough, will realize that all they’ve done is work without learning anything worthwhile. And one look at the productivity numbers will show that they haven’t contributed a lot on that front either.

#6: Remuneration, perks, and benefits

Different factors drive every employee in your team, and it is up to you as a leader to provide the right balance. When you fail to do so, employee performance will face a negative impact too. The remuneration your employees receive on a regular basis and the perks and benefits that add up to this fixed amount are major influential factors on this list.

Suppose you do not offer suitable remuneration, and the perks and benefits in line do little to drive employees to give their best. In that case, there is a strong chance that your productivity numbers will reflect this lack of motivation.

#7: Growth opportunities

Promotions to the next seat in the hierarchy, better positions within the team, or even a full-fledged bump to the post of a manager are all key influencers that inspire employee productivity. Employees are driven hard by the motivation to grow within the team and even more by opportunities that lead them to managerial positions. In the absence of these opportunities, employees have little to work towards, and this means that your productivity will nosedive too.

#8: Ownership issues

When employees know they are being held responsible for certain productivity factors, they also plan their input accordingly. In the absence of ownership, employees find it difficult to peg responsibilities on themselves. This means that the onus of performing well at the workplace seldom finds its way to them. If your team hierarchy lacks this critical element of ownership and creates a rather vague ownership structure, it can affect productivity negatively too. After all, when employees don’t even know what they’re responsible for, how can they measure the effort required to accomplish them?

#9: Work distribution

Every employee has unique strengths and weaknesses, and when the work they do matches this unique list, the output is of the same caliber too. For example, if your employees are being allotted tasks that they’re not really good at, it would be a joke to expect high team productivity. On the other hand, when you’re able to identify each employee’s strengths and prepare a work list that makes the most of these strengths, productivity is bound to spike. Not paying enough attention to the work distribution process is, therefore, one factor affecting team productivity.

#10: Project management

A solid project management system helps managers define every work process and distribute responsibilities to the right members of their team and enables real-time tracking of every function. It shows managers as well as employees where they stand at any given point of the project in terms of schedule and output.

When your team does not have a robust project management system in place, there is no way to measure output against the requirements of the project, and even the timeline goes haywire. So if the project management system your team relies on isn’t the right one, you can be sure that this factor is draining your team’s productivity too.

#11: Employee freedom

Employee freedom is a rather delicate subject, and every manager who heads a team knows how tough it is to create the right balance when it comes to allowing certain employees freedoms and disallowing others. When the balance is right, team productivity is hardly an issue; when it’s wrong, the direct adverse impact on productivity is quite evident. So what is employee freedom in this context?

Suppose your managers are micro-managing the entire workflow and not giving employees the freedom to make even the most minor decisions. In that case, your employees do not have enough space to give their best and work freely. On the other hand, if your managers are not paying enough attention to their employees’ work patterns and it’s all haywire from a team’s point of view, this approach contributes to a productivity nosedive too.

#12: Teamwork

You can have 10 of the world’s best players on your team and still lose the easiest of games if there is a lack of teamwork and camaraderie among the players. This is how it is at the workplace too. If the employees on your team do not get along with each other, if there is a dearth of collaboration and communication, and even worse, if there are employees who make deliberate attempts to sabotage the performance of others, there’s no way your team productivity can stay away from the damage caused by such an environment.

The lack of teamwork contributes to a drop in productivity in more ways than you think, and even the ease of projects and simplicity of work schedules will cease to matter under these circumstances.

#13: Health and wellness

The health and wellness of your individual employees add up to the health and wellness of your team. And while encouraging your workforce to pay attention to their physical and mental health is always a good thing, ensuring that this is a thing at the workplace is crucial too. After all, your employees easily spend the most waking hours of their day at the workplace, and what they do here regarding their health is also influential to their well-being. In the absence of company commitment to employees’ health and wellness, team productivity is sure to bear the brunt.

Pulling Your Team Up from a Productivity Nosedive

Now that you know the possible reasons behind the nosediving productivity of your team, you can lay out the plans to tackle each problem too. At HR Spotlight, we have all the answers you need to latch on to high-productivity models at your workplace and enable the HR team to do more than they ever thought they would.

Do you have any more factors you think we can add to this list? Or is there something else you’d like to share with us?

Write to us at connect@HRSpotlight.com, and our team will help you share your insights.