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Measuring workplace inclusion has become crucial in today’s business world, as companies strive to cultivate strong workplace cultures that prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). According to Deloitte’s Leadership Center of Inclusion study, 80% of employees consider inclusion a critical factor when choosing an employer, while nearly 40% would switch to a more inclusive organization. 

A culture of inclusion is, without a doubt, critical to achieving success in all aspects of your business. And one aspect where it really matters? Retention – especially for millennial and Gen Z employees. More data from Deloitte shows that 69% of these young workers are more likely to remain with an organization for five or more years if it has a diverse workforce. And according to research by Glassdoor, a whopping 76% of employees consider DEI in company strategy to be a “non-negotiable” factor. 

Here’s what it comes down to: if companies want to attract and retain top talent in today’s diverse workforce, they’ve got to make inclusion a priority. And that means creating a workplace culture that values diversity and makes everyone feel welcome and supported. 

In this exclusive interview, Lisa Russell, CEO of Aleria, shares her insights on measuring workplace inclusion and fostering an inclusive company culture. With her years of experience in DEI, Lisa breaks down simple ways to gauge the inclusivity of your workplace and offers practical solutions to create a culture of belonging.

With Lisa’s strategies, any company can build a more inclusive workplace where employees feel valued, respected, and supported. Keep reading to find out how your company can measure and prioritize inclusion as a core part of its culture.

Why measuring inclusion in the workplace matters

For Lisa, measuring inclusion in the workplace isn’t just about employee satisfaction – it’s also about the bottom line. 

“We’re looking to understand the day-to-day experiences of employees and use that information to pinpoint where business leaders can decide where to focus their resources and really drive impact. That impact is in employee satisfaction, but ultimately, also business performance. That’s really what we’re looking to do – we want to make it easy for folks to make the right decisions as they look to drive more diverse and inclusive workplaces.

Ultimately, making employees feel valued is one of the easiest ways to improve productivity and profits.

I genuinely believe that we can and should have more business leaders who are approaching everyday business differently, right? We need more entrepreneurs that can accept that. We have this opportunity to not only prioritize purpose and impact, but also drive profit. And those things don’t have to be at odds with one another.”

Lisa Russell’s inspiration behind measuring workplace inclusion

For Lisa, measuring inclusion in the workplace isn’t only about driving impact. Her passion for her mission truly comes from her upbringing.

“I have a personal mission to remove barriers for folks. A few months after I graduated high school, my mother and her husband went to prison. Almost immediately, I was able to see how society expected less from me and gave me access to fewer opportunities – all as a result of something that really had nothing to do with me or anything that I could control.

That experience changed the way that I see the world and put me on the path where I am today. I work each day to understand and highlight opportunities to truly remove these barriers from the day-to-day experiences of folks and make things more equitable.

Over the course of my life, that began to look very different. Early in my career, I focused on community building, educating and creating opportunities for meaningful connections – really, just opening doors for folks.”

The birth of Aleria started when Lisa met her co-founder, Paolo Gaudiano.

“Paolo is a complexity scientist who studied ways to measure and predict the outcomes of changes in behaviors in the workplace. We took his foundational academic research, developed the product – our process and the frameworks that we’re using today. We’ve been working together ever since. For the past five years, we’ve taken the application of his underlying research and applied it to the workplace to help folks understand what impact and outcomes they can drive through change behavior.”

How Aleria creates an inclusive culture

Aleria’s culture is cultivated through its mission and data-driven approach, developed as a team effort. 

“We are on this mission to change the way people think about diversity and inclusion, but more importantly, what they do about it. We’re also data-informed in how we make decisions, both internally and externally. We’re also impact focused. We hold ourselves accountable for measuring and understanding the impact that our work has on folks on a day-to-day basis.

One thing that’s truly foundational to our culture is that as a team, we’ve collectively developed a very intentional set of values that guide how we work, who we work with and how we prioritize things.” 

A unique factor that shapes Aleria’s cultural approach? Unsurprisingly, their own work. 

“Realistically, it becomes a bit of a harsh mirror sometimes. We are constantly talking about how to improve the employee experience in other settings, or flagging opportunities for other organizations to do better.

That naturally sets a very high bar amongst our team and our employees internally. Everyone on our team is aware of ways to measure and create inclusive organizations. We’re a constant work in progress because of it.”

From past to present: Aleria’s challenges

“We’ve been in business for over five years, but the earliest days of that work really looked like consulting. As we were developing, we really wanted to ask ourselves, ‘How do we measure inclusion?’ and ‘How do we drive change?’”

While Aleria’s mission has remained the same, the way they’ve executed their work has changed as their client base grew bigger.

“We launched technology to enable it to scale in mid-2020. And then more recently – last year – we rebuilt the product from the ground up and launched a new version that was more in line with your typical B2B SaaS startup. Our mission has always been the same, but how we deliver on that mission has evolved at least a couple of times at this point. 

With each of those iterations, we find that our day-to-day looks different. The people we need on our team look different, who we’re selling to might look different. Being able to maintain culture and folks’ sense of value and recognition in the organization through those shifts was always very challenging. 

We made sure we were over-communicating, and that folks had that level of transparency that allowed them to be comfortable. We made sure we were still recognizing them for their contributions, even if the contributions look different than they might have a couple weeks ago when we were selling something different.

That’s really on business leaders themselves. As we’re navigating pivots and redrawing the boundaries of what business is, we have to make sure that we’re keeping folks looped in and letting them know that we still value what they’re doing.” 

How day-to-day interactions shape workplace inclusion and culture

For Lisa, the connection between workplace inclusion and culture lies in the day-to-day interactions we build with employees.

“One of the clear findings that we’ve seen over the last couple years is this idea that it’s not policies or systems that make folks feel more included or supported. It’s people – it’s individual interactions. I’d encourage everyone to take it on themselves and think about the one thing that you can do as an individual to make one person in your company feel a little bit more included each day.” 

Companies like Aleria have already built systems of recognition throughout their employee experience, but has yours? 

Building systems of culture from scratch is hard, but it doesn’t have to be. Airspeed has recently launched a suite of Slack apps to help you build moments of recognition and appreciation for every employee. Whether you want to introduce new hires, give kudos, celebrate work birthdays/anniversaries, start meetings with icebreakers, or see where your teammates are – we have an app for that.

Ready to build an inclusive workplace culture? Unlock free early access and get started with Airspeed.

Welcome to Culture Champions, a blog series where we dive into the minds of exceptional individuals who are driving positive change in their workplace. In each installment, we’ll be speaking with culture-focused managers and contributors who care about making a positive impact on their team. 

We spoke with Rob Ryan, the Marketing Operations Associate at ZBiotics. Rob shared his unique perspective on building culture at an early-stage startup, and divulged some tips and tricks for other employees looking to do the same. Keep reading to learn how you can boost your workplace culture!

Can’t wait to learn more about being a Culture Champion? You can also read past interviews here. Explore our conversations and discover new ways to build a workplace where everyone can thrive.

Culture Champion Tips & Tricks

1. Give us your one-minute pitch on who you are and what you do.

“I’m the Marketing Operations Associate at ZBiotics – we’re dedicated to creating, providing, and championing GMO products for good.

I really help our marketing department run like a well-oiled machine week in and week out. I coordinate follow-ups after our weekly check-in, which we have every Tuesday. We meet as a department and just go over what’s going on. 

Among other things, I help manage our marketing expenses and make sure those are all in line. We also partner with a lot of different YouTube and podcast influencers on YouTube and podcasts, so I help build out our landing pages for these partnerships, which we have every now and then. We have 15 people right now, so I would say that no task is too small these days.” 

2. Tell us about your favorite team-building activity or tradition.

“This is an easy question to answer. We have a company-wide standup every day of the week (except on Wednesdays) where we meet for 20 minutes. We’re still small enough to do this. It’s just our daily standup with the whole company and we get to see each other, which is awesome.

The main focus of this meeting is to outline what our main priorities are for the day individually and to inform people what we’re doing that day. But after that, we have 5 to 10 minutes where we give colleagues or team members kudos. We give shoutouts to team members for going above and beyond, or knocking a task out of the park. I really love that recognition that we have on almost a daily basis, because it really helps maintain positive morale. Every day, we get to acknowledge the positive in what we do for each other.”

3. What’s one thing you do to build a positive culture for your teammates?

“I try to be positive day in and day out, but that’s obviously not always easy week over week.

One of the biggest things for me, especially for a remote-first company like ZBiotics, is trying to maintain watercooler conversations. We might not all be together in the same physical space, but that doesn’t mean you can’t reach out to a colleague and just chat with them. 

We use the Google suite of tools (like GChat), so it’s really easy to start a conversation and ask, ‘Hey, how’s your day going?’ 

It really helps when work isn’t necessarily the main topic of conversation. You get to know each other in a better way, and on a deeper level, it helps build empathy across the team because you get to know your colleagues personally. 

There’s really no downside to just asking someone, ‘Hey, how’s your day going?’ every once in a while.”

4. If you had all the budget and time in the world, what’s the first thing you would do for your team culture?

“Having more opportunities to meet in-person, maybe even quarterly, would be fantastic.

Being a remote-first company, we really make it work well for us – but it’s always a pleasure when we get to meet in-person. At ZBiotics, we have an annual kickoff every year in January where we all get together. This past year, we met in California, just south of San Francisco near our lab (which is in Mountain View). It was really cool – we got to tour the new lab and meet everyone. 

I even got to meet some coworkers for the first time who had recently come aboard. We also have a company retreat halfway through the year in July where we try to all get together again. 

Those in-person events are so invigorating to me. Of course, we’re there to do work first and foremost, and these in-person events are always really productive when we are together. But it’s just amazing to see the work that everyone does and to just be around everyone. We get to see each other face-to-face and bond in ways that we normally wouldn’t if we were working remotely.”

5. What’s one thing a manager or higher-up has done for you that made you feel like you were truly part of the company? 

“I really felt like I was a part of the company really early on and I think that is a testament to ZBiotics, its onboarding process, and the culture in general. 

We’re a science-first company and we have quite a few PhDs on the team. Our CEO, Zack, has a PhD as well and he meets with every new hire to walk them through the company’s science for an hour as part of the onboarding process. Bringing that into the fold is really awesome and I hope we keep doing it as we continue to grow.

Zack is also such a personable guy, and it’s really easy to get along with him and chat about anything. He’s always willing to answer questions about the science behind our products, and it can get complicated very quickly.

Another thing is that when I was first brought on to ZBiotics, I was hired as a Growth Marketing Associate. Over time, the work that I enjoyed doing and gravitated to towards most was more in line with marketing operations. My manager, Candace, not only recognized and identified that, but also had the frame of mind to allow for flexibility in my role and responsibilities. She and ZBiotics’ leadership team really helped transition me to the role I’m in now, which really meant a lot. You don’t really come across companies that do that kind of thing and have that kind of flexibility.”

6. If you could share one piece of advice for building a strong work culture, what would it be?

“You can’t force culture to happen, but you can encourage it. There’s kind of a fine line there in terms of culture and walking the walk, but there are ways to foster it. 

One thing that we do during our startups, which is kind of fun and helps foster constant learning, is sharing a fun fact of the day at the end of every standup. We choose someone the day or week before, and we have this person present as a fun fact for 5 minutes. It can be about anything! We’ve had a lot of random ones – we’ve had fun facts about pickles, we’ve had fun facts about snails, and anything in between those two things. It feels very natural and just kind of genuine, which is great.”

For Rob, ZBiotics’ strong culture and leadership team motivates him to do his best work for the company and stay with them for the long haul. 

“I love this company so much and the people are so great. The culture is really phenomenal. I’d love to stay long-term and see ZBiotics grow as a company. I think most, if not all, my colleagues would say the same. It’s just such a unique company and culture, and everyone really enjoys it.

It really motivates me on a day-to-day basis. I want to do my best because I see my colleagues doing amazing work, and I want to meet them where they are.”

What’s Next for Rob Ryan?

In his free time, Rob enjoys reading and writing as much as possible. He has a personal Substack newsletter that he sends out occasionally to friends and family. “It’s a fun, creative outlet for me just to share what I’ve been thinking about or what I’ve been listening to.”

When he’s not reading or writing for his newsletter, you’ll most likely find Rob at a concert.

“I’m really big into music as well, so I try to see as much live music as I can. I have a lot of shows coming up this spring and summer here in Chicago, so that’s exciting.”

And even more exciting news? ZBiotics is hiring! If you’re interested in being a part of ZBiotic’s community-focused culture, you can apply for open positions here.

More Than Just Culture Champions: How Airspeed Can Help You Build a Cohesive Team

If you enjoyed reading our latest installment of Culture Champions, check out our other blog posts here. Read helpful tips, insights and best practices to help you create a stronger, more engaged team at work.

Would you like to be featured as a Culture Champion? Let us know here.

And if you’re looking for a simple and effective way to build culture at your company, check out Airspeed’s suite of Slack apps. Airspeed is an all-in-one platform that can help you create a more connected team with built-in engagement tactics. You can introduce new colleagues, encourage watercooler conversations, celebrate milestones, recognize your team’s hard work, and see where your coworkers are located – all without leaving your team’s Slack workspace! Start creating your remote work culture with Airspeed today.

Libby Rothschild is the founder and CEO of Dietitian Boss, a coaching company that helps registered dietitians start and grow their business. As a health-centered founder, Libby has taken a lot of care in building a strong remote work culture that empowers her staff. 

Dietitian Boss has been remote since its inception, and Libby has always made sure her employees are satisfied and fulfilled in this virtual environment. Libby is also passionate about hiring employees who align with the company’s values. She believes it’s crucial for building a strong sense of connection among team members while also keeping everyone focused on the company’s mission.

“We live our values and our mission. For us, it matters most when you’re working with clients or staff and you’re faced with issues or have hard days – you remember what you’re doing it for,” Libby says. “One of our staff members has recovered from cancer and she’s really connected with our mission because of her history. That’s a really deep, profound connection that makes the work feel more significant – and the highest human need is to be fulfilled and to feel like your work matters.”

To Libby, this poses a challenge: Finding staff members who are competent, skilled, excited about the mission, and able to work well remotely. 

“With the fast growth in our company, it’s been challenging for employees at any level, to adapt to the pace we’re implementing. Dietitian Boss grew 220% from 2019 to 2020. We have a lot of needs and clients, and it’s been really hard to find people who can adapt to the culture,” Libby says. “Finding the right people that can adapt to our learning curve has actually slowed down some of our growth with having to give people more time and space, while also competing for talent.” 

She speaks further on building a strong remote work culture to differentiate Dietitian Boss from other companies while empowering staff along the way.

Building a unique remote work culture in the competition for remote talent  

As more and more companies went remote post-pandemic, Dietitian Boss needed to find a way to set themselves apart besides just offering a remote work environment. To Libby, this meant thinking further about the company’s brand itself and what they could give. 

“It came down to building a strong brand and making sure that our values as a company were unique,” Libby says. “We want to attract people who are interested in and aligned with our mission. We want to hire staff that are excited to build on that. But that does mean if we’re competing for talent that can also adapt fast to a remote work culture, there are still struggles with filling spots fast enough.”

Once new hires are onboarded, there are other factors to consider when getting them up to speed. Perhaps new employees have never worked remotely, or aren’t with the tech stack. Ultimately, it’s Libby’s goal to get her team members working as autonomously as possible and guiding them where she can. 

“We have a lot more of our staff reaching out to upper management, needing extra support because they might feel lonely. To combat that, we have to bake in extra coffee chats where upper management is able to be responsive, but not necessarily so much that people aren’t able to get work done.”

“We want to develop people and help promote and encourage them to develop that talent. This helps me feel secure in our recruiting and hiring process: I know that any hire is going to be treated well when they’re in the company.”

Another way Libby gets ahead is by coaching all her staff and providing them with growth opportunities. She also works with them on their professional and personal goals. She pays special attention to those in upper management, so the work they do can trickle down to all staff. 

“I put a lot of attention into upper management because I know that we have to put our oxygen masks on first before we can save anybody else,” Libby says. “People management is an ongoing issue and I’m always trying to empower staff, so they can empower others to be honest and open about what their needs are.”

Using employee surveys for better communication and culture 

In order to create the strong remote work culture that Dietitian Boss has, Libby and her leadership team check in on their employees by sending out monthly surveys. This type of benchmarking helps the leadership identify when problems arise and solve them quickly before they become systemic issues. 

“Each month, we send out a survey so we can check Net Promoter Scores for employees. It’s like a temperature check to make sure our employees are satisfied,” Libby says. “We’re doing well on making sure that our employees are happy – and we have the data to prove it. We know if there are any issues, we’d be able to rectify that immediately and see exactly when the problems started.”

This type of reflection isn’t only for team members at Dietitian Boss. Libby and her co-founder also partake by checking in on themselves and how they can better serve their team.  

“I’m in an entrepreneur organization, and I always talk about leadership. How can I be a better leader? What am I not seeing? How can I empower people better on my team?” Libby says. “My biggest piece of advice is to take some time to think about your communication, and to not be afraid to ask for some honest feedback about yourself. That’s more important than ever in a virtual setting.”

This kind of open communication and feedback is what helps make Dietitian Boss’s culture so strong. Despite being remote, they are able to grow and learn from each other and the work they do. While they utilize intentional one-on-ones and coaching opportunities, companies can also offer low maintenance communication using Slack apps, like Airspeed’s Icebreakers and Shoutouts. 

Ultimately, it will be each company’s individual journey on finding the best way to create a strong remote work culture. Libby agrees:  

“Every company is going to be different, but the willingness to find new ways to measure what works with your culture and your staff. And that’s something that is a big learning lesson for me, that the emphasis is not on the frequency of the test, but the willingness to adapt to what your staff needs and be really open about it.”

Welcome to Culture Champions, a blog series where we dive into the minds of exceptional individuals who are driving positive change in their workplace. In each installment, we’ll be speaking with culture-focused managers and contributors who care about making a positive impact on their team. 

Our guests come from a variety of industries and positions, but they all have one thing in common: a passion for building and maintaining a positive work culture. We’ll hear from managers, team leads, and other experts who are dedicated to creating a workplace where employees feel supported and empowered.

Throughout each interview, we’ll explore the various methods our guests use to build a strong and inclusive culture. Our Culture Champions will share their insights on what works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to creating a healthy and productive work environment.

To kick our series off, meet Liz Leary – a self-described events and experiences designer that builds team connections through intentional, unique events. She works in her company’s Events and Connections department and makes their “Team Anywhere” policy possible by creating global gatherings that bring teams together, no matter where they are in the world. 

Keep reading to learn from one of the brightest minds in the world of workplace culture!

Culture Champion Tips & Tricks

1. Tell us about your favorite team-building activity or tradition.

“The first thing that comes to mind because I’m a total foodie is breaking bread. There is nothing like having an IRL dinner with people and sharing a good cocktail or mocktail. I’m very thoughtful about food and being mindful of dietary restrictions. I love to curate events so it’s specific to everybody and everybody gets the same kind of experience, no matter what their tastes are. I think there’s nothing more unifying than being able to share a great meal together and have a good conversation. It’s a natural conversation starter to be at a table with a whole bunch of people and share in a great meal.”

Another honorable mention for Liz? Competitions! 

“I’m a really competitive person. I think bringing people together on the same team and having to work together towards a common goal is a great thing for a team to do. You could do a cornhole tournament or mini golf – anything. You can go so far with that competition! It doesn’t even have to be sports because you’re going to have teams that don’t want anything to do with being physical. I started organizing trivia nights, which have become a really big thing at the New York office. I break people up into very specific teams – you get to know people you haven’t met before, but that competitive nature comes out and your teammates get to bond over over those things. Good friendships have been formed over those competitive feats.

2. What’s one thing you do to build a positive culture for your teammates?

“Connecting people to people – everybody talking is the big thing. It’s so easy to get siloed at work, especially within your teams. You can even see it when you go out for those nice big dinners. If you don’t have somebody thinking about putting different groups of people together in a very calculated way, you are going to have pockets of people that are always together. You’re never going to get the team to really collaborate and connect the way you need them to in order to see your product just soar.

That’s one of the biggest positives about where I work. One of the things I learned the most from being there from the very beginning is there were all these different teams and pockets, but they all connected. We would purposely plan for the marketing team to come to New York at the same time the sales team was coming, and make sure that they met up at least once. 

You can cross-pollinate and that’s the only way I think you’re gonna have a really cohesive, genuine team. That’s the biggest thing I do – get everybody talking, whatever way that means.”

3. If you had all the budget and time in the world, what’s the first thing you would do for your team culture?

“Hands-down, a non-work retreat. Why spend time going through annual planning and budgeting when we have the opportunity to all see each other face-to-face? We know how to work together remotely – we’ve been doing it forever. But when you’re in-person, you get to connect and really bond with your team. People don’t talk about how important it is to give people downtime.”

For Liz, making retreats unique, fresh and fun is really what drives productive collaboration and innovation.

“When somebody says ‘offsite’, I feel like a lot of people imagine being in a conference room for four hours, somebody’s talking at them instead of with them, and the team has dinner together before going back to their room.

Flip that perception over. Completely surprise your employees: bring them there, and have zero talk about work. When people who work together are put in a room without having to talk about work, they end up talking about work most of the time anyway because you want to find common ground with your people.

But now you’re not talking about what we’re going to do for roadmapping. Now you’re talking about your passion project, or you might think of a good feature that you want to tell the engineering team about. All of a sudden, you’re coming out of this retreat with a completely new PowerUp or product feature.”

4. What’s one thing a manager has done for you that made you feel like you were truly part of the company culture? 

For Liz, working at a startup gave her the opportunity to create her own role thanks to the autonomy and trust-focused culture at her company. 

“When I joined my company in their early startup days, I came on as an executive assistant. All of my managers and the team that I was supporting were my same age. We were all trying to just figure out how to make our product work. They told me, ‘We know we need you as an executive assistant, we just don’t know what you do. So show us what you do.’ And that was probably the best thing. 

I am who I am today because they gave me the autonomy and trust to create my role.”

Liz’s unique past and experience with a variety of industries shaped her passion for building great experiences tailored for fostering connection at work.

“I was an executive assistant for a very long time, but I worked across very different industries. My first kind of foray as an executive assistant was actually working for Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas for three years. I was kind of just a jack of all trades. I came in there and essentially took care of their family. That’s where the love for event planning and organizing people’s lives and taking care of them came from.

I sought stability and structure, so I ended up going into the nonprofit world and that was a very traditional executive assistant role. I built my skills here, and I saw the opportunity to merge what I learned from the Douglas job with my traditional EA role and see what comes of it.”

Liz’s company allowed her to use the skills she gained from her vast experience, but also gave her the chance to focus on the thing she loved the most: planning events that build moments of human connection in the workplace.

“The thing that always stuck with me is that I love events and bringing people together. I knew that this is what I wanted to do. I built my own adventure essentially, but was also given the license to do that.

I teetered between doing traditional EA tasks like putting together our town halls, but there were a lot of connection-based tasks I extracted and decided to take one step farther. 

For all the executive assistants who are listening too, this is something that your role is capable of. You’re supposed to be a jack of all trades. Executive assistants are like Chiefs of Staff at most places, in a way. You have a lot more autonomy than you think.”

5. If you could share one piece of advice for building a strong work culture, what would it be?

“Always assume positive intent. Think about how we communicate. We’re doing it through Slack, we’re doing it through email. Everybody is dealing with their own things behind the scenes. And sometimes when a person replies to you, you’re going to think they’re maybe coming at you from a bad place. 

Communication can get so lost if you don’t go in with an open mind. Be open with people, be vulnerable. Most of the time people are good and you just need to talk through it and dig a little deeper.

When you’re on your next Zoom call, instead of going straight into the content of that meeting, talk to these people! Turn on your camera and interact. Even if that meeting doesn’t go the way you want it to and you end up just making small talk the entire time – that’s where the gold is. That’s where real human connection is made.”

What’s Next for Liz Leary?

Liz is currently on a 2-month sabbatical. In her time off, she’s focused on herself and her family – as well as a personal side project of hers.

“This has been the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. I’ve taken a lot of time to just not be a human doing, and be a human being because my brain is constantly working. By doing that, I wasn’t taking care of myself. And I needed to really take a very big step back and look at my self-care. It’s so important to just be introspective and aware of your tendencies to be unhealthy. Especially in the tech world, we’re going through all these layoffs and it feels like a dark cloud over everything. And you just have to kind of take a minute to take a break.

I’ve been doing a whole lot of nothing, which has been amazing. I’ve been present with my kids, coaching my son’s basketball team. And for the last couple of years I’ve been working on my own brand and kind of going out on my own.

It’s called Gather with LL and my website will be launching April 29. I’m going to be concentrating on all things employee experience and connection. IRL isn’t the only way for us to connect – and a lot of people are burnt out in the virtual world right now. Connection can be done intentionally, and it can be well done. There are other things to do than just these awkward Zoom icebreakers. I want to help others be creative and thoughtful and intentional about all the things that you’re doing for your teams. 

I also want to touch on the fact we are going through kind of an unprecedented time in tech where people’s budgets are small and we really have to be fiscally responsible about what we’re doing. In spite of that, there is still an opportunity to connect, whether that be IRL or virtual. You can still really keep your team top of mind because you’re going to lose them if you don’t make them feel seen, heard and appreciated in this future of remote work.”

More Than Just Culture Champions: How Airspeed Can Help You Build a Cohesive Team

If you enjoyed reading our latest installment of Culture Champions, you can access our other blog posts and interviews here. Read helpful tips, insights and best practices to help you create a stronger, more engaged team at work.

Would you like to be featured as a Culture Champion? Let us know here.

And if you’re looking for a simple and effective way to build culture at your company, check out Airspeed’s suite of Slack apps. Airspeed is a free all-in-one platform that can help you create a more connected team. You can introduce new colleagues, encourage watercooler conversations, celebrate milestones, recognize your team’s hard work, and see where your coworkers are located – all without leaving your team’s Slack workspace! Start creating your remote work culture with Airspeed today. 

Starting a company is one thing – building, growing, and managing a global team is another. For remote and hybrid teams, scaling presents an additional challenge of making sure your growing team is strongly connected at work.

Mada Seghete is the co-founder and managing director of Branch, a mobile linking and attribution platform. She started the company in 2014 along with three other co-founders. Nearly a decade later, Branch just raised its Series F round of funding at a $4 billion valuation. 

The company seeks to build, grow, and win as a team, together – quite the feat with headquarters in Palo Alto, CA, and 11 offices around the world. For Mada, connecting each and every employee to Branch’s mission is critical to the company’s success. 

Mada discusses how Branch’s hybrid model has leveled the playing field among its international offices. She also shares how she empowers her leaders to bring members of the team together and feel connected at work. 

Building a culture remotely 

In addition to being a managing director, Mada is also the Vice President of Marketing at Branch. Mada wanted a way to connect her team and build culture at work. Yet with more than 600 employees scattered across the globe, finding a way to plan and execute this process was a job in and of itself. 

It’s the reason why Branch created an employee experience position. This person’s main role is to help leaders and managers bring their teams together – not just for work collaboration, but also for social connection. 

“This hire helps me with everything that goes into planning an on-site: finding fun things to do for my team, getting accommodations, helping create the agenda, making reservations for dinner, etc.,” Mada says. “We’re trying to do this for regional leads and more functional teams, because having someone who can actually help plan makes managers more likely to have these events for their teams.”

Even for department-specific on-sites, Mada encourages managers to build relationships with their employees through team dinners and other activities to foster a sense of connection in the workplace. 

These activities allow leaders to recognize who their employees are and how they show up in their best way. Maybe you have an extroverted employee who needs a social outlet to be productive. Or maybe a more shy employee who needs some extra attention to get out of their shell. Bringing people together in a way that makes sense for them can help them feel connected and cared for at work. 

Mada shares her own experience: 

“Even introverts miss being around people. One of my co-founders is an introvert and I know that even he misses being around people not coming into the office. If you’re the type of person who needs to code or work independently, a lot of your time is already spent on your own.”

And while building connections between colleagues takes more work in a remote or hybrid office, there are benefits to the working environment as well. In a way, a hybrid or remote environment levels the playing field among global offices. 

“Disconnection among employees and worrying about remote vs. in-person employees and what is going on in different offices is less of an issue now than it was before when we had some people by themselves versus 200 people in the Palo Alto office,” Mada says. “It’s less of a disparity especially because not only do we not have as many people coming in anymore, but we also bring the entire team together every few months.” 

Future planning at Branch 

When it comes to planning for the future and hiring for other positions, Mada wants to emphasize the flexible nature of Branch’s environment, as well as the company’s mission, to future employees. Connecting the team to the mission is really important to get everyone – no matter where in the world they are – on the same page. 

“Our mission is to make a more open mobile ecosystem. We want our people to understand how each project and product at Branch is tied to the mission and how the work that they do on a daily basis is also tied to the mission,” Mada says. “I actually do onboarding sessions with all new employees where I talk about the mission. It’s not just the mission either – it’s also the values of the company and having them understand the differences that Branch has.” 

“I did a big project on employer branding and one thing that makes us different is making sure that everyone involved in the interview process tells the same stories. I want to make sure we present a unified front on what Branch is and what makes us unique,” Mada says. “That has helped a lot in closing candidates and retaining people even amidst the Great Resignation. We’ve also had people even come back to Branch. In the past six months, we’ve had close to 10 people return to work at Branch.”

While Mada does not see a full-time return to office in Branch’s future – especially considering its global offices and their specific needs – she recognizes that there is a greater need for human connection at work. Without regular in-person time, this connection is critical in making sure that all team members are invested in company growth. 

For Mada, though, she sees the future of work as hybrid, with every company having its own unique circumstances. Perhaps there needs to be more in-person collaboration based on the nature of the work. Maybe leaders have studied productivity and have seen that quarterly on-sites are good for maintaining connection and optimizing work production.

The key to hybrid or remote work? Helping your employees feel connected

Whatever environment your office has, leaders will need to get to know their employees on a deep level to understand what they need to give their best and how to help them feel connected at work. 

When operating in a hybrid or work setting, consider implementing certain tools or apps to help. Airspeed’s Icebreakers and Intros Slack apps make it easy to help team members learn about each other and stay in touch, regardless of location. Not having a physical office doesn’t mean you can’t have a virtual one!

In a world where generative AI is becoming increasingly omnipresent, many people fear that this technology will replace human jobs and reduce the interactions we have with each other. 

However, for Chris Lochhead, the godfather of category design and co-creator of Category Pirates, he fully embraces AI and its potential role in fostering workplace connection.

Lochhead was chief marketing officer of three publicly-traded Silicon Valley tech companies, most notably Mercury Interactive. After a successful acquisition by Hewlett Packard in 2006, Lochhead went on to write over 30 books – and 13 of them became #1 bestsellers. When he’s not busy writing, he runs 2 podcasts and advises legendary executive startup teams.

In this exclusive interview, Lochhead shares his thoughts on why he believes AI is the future of human and workplace connection. From his unique perspective, he explains how the digital-first world has changed the way we operate, and why AI can enable us to do more meaningful work while developing deeper relationships with our coworkers.

Join us as we dive into the mind of this visionary leader and explore the way the world of work has transformed – including why AI could be a solution to existing workplace challenges.

How to build culture and attract top talent in digital environments

As an experienced marketing executive, Lochhead has had the opportunity to witness many great company cultures. The best culture he’s been directly involved with? None other than Mercury Interactive.

“The thing that was great about Mercury was absolute, maniacal focus on results and customers and their problems,” Lochhead says. “From the very beginning, the company was radically customer-centric.”

“Mercury was a place where if you produce legendary results, you were going to love it. If not, you were not going to like it.”

Lochhead went on to describe a situation that made him realize just how legendary the culture at Mercury Interactive truly was.

Mercury’s European marketing division had an open position for quite some time. Lochhead’s direct report had finally found someone who they felt was a perfect fit. She joined, and by the end of her first week, she had quit. His report had apologized for the setback this would cause, but Lochhead had a different point of view. 

“[My direct report] called to tell me this, apologizing that he had gotten this wrong and how we would have to start all over again,” Lochhead stated. “I told him, ‘No, that’s great!’ And he said, ‘What do you mean?’”

“I said, ‘If after a week she was terrified of our culture, then she needed to leave and we needed to hire somebody else. I think legendary cultures attract the kinds of people they are designed to attract and literally repel others.”

Lochhead notes that mission-driven employees are particularly important for startup founders and entrepreneurs. “If the mission excites you, then you want to be there. And if the mission doesn’t excite you, maybe we need to free up your future.”

Attracting top talent with mission-driven mindsets, especially among Gen Z, is no easy feat. But Lochhead says that learning how to prioritize workplace connection in a digital environment is key to acquiring excellent employees. 

“The first thing we have to understand is there has been a radical shift to a native digital world. White-collar knowledge work is going to be digital-first at many companies. It already is, and it’s going to be at virtually every company,” Lochhead says. He explains that there are more native digitals (those who grew up with the virtual world as a primary life experience) than there are native analogs (those who grew up with the virtual world as a secondary life experience) in the workforce. 

“Today, many of us are trying to find this magic line. On one hand we want to be very empathetic, we want to be very welcoming, and we want to focus on connection and collaboration,” Lochhead says. “We want tremendous focus on performance and results, but at the same time we want to be very human with each other. And so I think that’s the place that we’re all trying to get to.”

“To attract native digitals – Millennials, Gen Z – I think we want to create an environment where they feel their digital-first nature is respected. And I think native digitals want some flexibility and agency.”

Small talk, big impact: why virtual watercooler conversations foster authentic workplace connection

Creating a digital-first work environment isn’t just good for your hiring efforts. Acknowledging the shift to a native digital world is also great for your retention rates – and will help you build meaningful workplace connections among employees.

Lochhead acknowledges his ability to build deep and profound relationships online before ever interacting with them in-person.

“I have incredible business and personal relationships with people that I met and collaborated with. I got to know them in the digital world first, long before I met them.”

Lochhead also understands that while collaborating and communicating online is easier than ever, it’s not necessarily the case when it comes to building workplace connections through virtual means.

“In the work world, the digital technologies that have become incredibly powerful and important like Zoom or Slack are for communicating and collaborating, but they’re very rarely, if ever, used for building human connection.

The question at hand for all business leaders, particularly those of us who care deeply about culture, is this: How do we create real, deep, meaningful human connection in addition to communication and collaboration?”

The answer? Small talk. And there’s some science behind it too.

According to a TollFreeForwarding study, analysts found that the positive mental effects of small talk are anything but small.

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of workers said that small talk makes the workplace more bearable, and also increased employee motivation and wellbeing. And 77% of those surveyed said that small talk helps them improve and maintain workplace connections with their colleagues. 

“Small talk is the way human beings connect, establish, or re-establish relationships and it allows us to kind of ease in. It gives us an ongoing thing to connect about, and that’s very powerful,” Lochhead states. 

In today’s remote work environment, it can be challenging to foster the kind of casual conversations that happen naturally around the office watercooler. 

However, with the help of tools like Airspeed’s Icebreakers, it’s easier than ever to encourage these types of interactions. By automatically sending out recurring conversation prompts on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, Icebreakers can help you build workplace connections on a more personal level, develop stronger relationships and enhance collaboration. 

The Future of Work = the Future of AI

With so many unknowns regarding the future of work, there are a seemingly endless number of questions about how to make the workplace a better world – and no answers in sight.

According to Lochhead, the answer is already here in front of us – it’s called generative AI. However, he doesn’t discount the fears that skeptics may have.

“Is it scary for some? Sure, new things are scary. It’s a little scary for me too. Are there big questions that we have to get answered around privacy and a whole bunch of other things? Absolutely. And do we need to be wise about that? Of course. That said, it’s amazing.”

“Now, in reality, will some people lose their jobs? They will, there will be some displacement,” Lochhead says. “But here’s the flip side. Being legendary at AI prompts is now going to be a radical career differentiator.”

Lochhead shares that this revolutionary technology will not only encourage innovation, but also help level the playing field for those with disadvantaged backgrounds. 

“I’m a writer, but I’m also dyslexic and I also have four or five different diagnosed learning disorders. All my books are co-authored with partners. And as a writer, I use ChatGPT to help me. It’s making me more effective – having both human collaborators and robot collaborators is teaching me.”

It’s important to welcome these rapid breakthroughs with open arms – not shy away from them. For Lochhead, AI will be a building block of the future instead of the fire that burns it down.

“The people who are going to thrive are the ones that embrace the future, not run from it. That’s always been true and it’s going to be true now. When the commercial Internet exploded in the 90s, it set off a wave of innovation that, at the time, we had never seen before,” Lochhead notes. 

“Creative, forward-leaning people are gonna do amazing things with this technology.

The demos that I’m already seeing from entrepreneurs are incredible, and we’re barely in the first inning. I think it’s time to be excited and to embrace this technology and to get ready for a category of new AI-based innovation.”

Creating stronger workplace connections with technology

As companies continue to support virtual work and rely more on digital tools, it’s essential to leverage these technologies to support our human abilities – but not replace them. 

Living in a digital-first environment doesn’t mean you should disregard work culture entirely. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Adapting the ways your company fosters workplace connections through remote or virtual means is now more important than ever when it comes to hiring and retaining top talent. 

“The team at Airspeed has built a radically connected, super fun, native digital startup. And that’s awesome,” Lochhead says.

Current technologies like Slack and Zoom have already helped us learn how to communicate effectively, but most companies haven’t caught up when it comes to building a meaningful work culture online. AI can help take on the repetitive tasks that add hours to your work so you can focus on the more important things – like spending time connecting with your coworkers.

If your tech stack is stuck in the pre-pandemic days, consider using a platform like Airspeed. Airspeed’s suite of Slack apps helps you build meaningful work moments at every step of the way, from onboarding to daily recognition.

Ready to take your team’s workplace connection to the next level? Unlock free early access and experience the magic of Airspeed today.