Virtual Team Integration

We just hired five new employees, expanding our team by almost a third. As a fully virtual company, one of our challenges is how do we help our new team members integrate so everyone feels like we are one team.

Our VC investors have been warning us that some of their other portfolio companies that are virtual have run into troubles with new employee churn because virtual integration poses new challenges to a growing startup. We cannot claim success yet because we are at the beginning of the journey, however, we are alert and attentive and trying to be intentional about overcoming this hurdle. Here are some of the actions we are taking. Additional ideas are welcome, if you would like to share what you have tried or thought of!

• Strategy #1: Bring Everyone Together Briefly Every Day – We have a brief whole team “Standup” meeting on zoom every morning at 9 a.m. ET.  It takes less than 15 minutes for 15 people. With our new arrivals, we established a new “video-on” norm so everyone can see each others’ faces. As everyone gathers, there is usually a bit of silliness from somewhere. Then we “go around the room” and share about our top priorities for the day. This gives everyone a bit of exposure to each other and all the different puzzle pieces that our company is acting on right now. Everyone speaks and everyone hears. Detailed discussions are taken off-line. Company-wide announcements can be woven in. It is a touchpoint, a chance to link faces to voices to roles, and includes a few moments of social lubrication that feel a bit like a lunchroom encounter. It ensures we all see each other, and no one is forgotten.
  
  
• Strategy #2: Designated Manager — We make sure each new hire has a designated manager who is responsible for making sure that new person is equipped and supported in integrating into the company and becoming a contributing team member. The managers take ownership for supporting the new hire, taking temperature checks on how things are going, and providing context and barrier busting to enable success. Our culture is one where we succeed together and we all want our new hires to engage and contribute successfully as they are equipped and empowered.
  
  
• Strategy #3: Dynamic Collaborative Teams – To complete work, we will often take advantage of the diverse skills on our team to dynamically convene a group of two to four team members to accomplish some objective. Since we have multiple parallel objectives in play at any given time, there are often opportunities to get new hires working with different people on the team to assist with accomplishing different objectives right away. This enables the new people to contribute and learn and develop relationships with others as they work together.
  
  
• Strategy #4: Engage in Real Work Right Away – Rather than insisting on new hires doing weeks of training work, we get them started on real work right away. Even as we are onboarding and teaching background information to new hires, we also work hard to get new hires engaged as soon as possible in doing work that clearly moves the ball forward. To ensure success, often this is work done collaboratively with guardrails in place.
  
  
• Strategy #5: Recruiting Team Follow-up – Since multiple people on our team are involved in the recruiting process, beyond just the hiring manager, we also encourage people who were part of recruiting the new hire to check in with them after a few weeks on the team. If I am involved personally in their recruiting process, I will leverage the relationship established in the interview to touch base and see how they feel after a month or so as a secondary check-in to the hiring manager’s closer monitoring. Others on the recruiting team often take a similar sense of ownership towards helping new hires succeed, which helps all of us.

All of these strategies ensure that team members are succeeding, adding value, and building relationships as well as being exposed to the broader work of the company.  This also ensures that they do not get lost or forgotten or disconnected. It also helps us identify and hopefully address any emerging problems quickly. We care a great deal about getting our team members engaged and passionate about the work they are doing!