South Dakota moved to a hybrid virtual workplace with some staff at home and some in the library. They implemented weekly one-on-one meetings between remote and onsite employees as an opportunity to connect. The meetings are built into librarian calendars and shouldn’t be missed unless truly necessary. The librarians can discuss work topics, but also simply chat about each other’s lives, just as you would do in-person.
Tips From Participants
Several participants discussed how we often impose our own impossible standards about being constantly available. Susan Boland shared a what-not-to-do tip: “I know of one IT shop where everyone is on Teams all the time and if you don't pick up when someone calls / chats, you need to have a reason for it.” The discussion also included ways to document your work and focus on the value you are adding, not being on call all day, every day.
This section focuses on communication strategies for teams who moved to and are still experiencing total or hybrid virtual workspaces. We recognize that information professionals continue to innovate with technology and processes for conveying information to stakeholders and patrons, while also developing new best practices. Although the scope of this section focused on departments and teams, further exploration of communication strategies in other contexts would be a valuable future discussion.
Cutter, Chip. “Companies Start to Think Remote Work Isn’t So Great After All; Projects take longer. Collaboration is harder. And training new workers is a struggle. ‘This is not going to be sustainable.’” Wall Street Journal (Online), 24 July 2020.
Eikenberry, Kevin and Wayne Turmel. The Long-Distance Leader: Rules for Remarkable Remote Leadership. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2018.
Farrington, Jonathan. “The 4 social styles.” Think Advisor. 13 May 2013.
Narino, Santiago. “The Power of Applying Improvement Science to the COVID-19 Response.” Institute for Healthcare Improvement. 23 July 2020. .
Rosenberg, Robin S. “Viewpoint: Introverts and Extraverts in the Time of COVID-19.” SHRM, 29 Apr. 2020.
Rubin, Gretchen. The Four Tendencies. Harmony Books, 2017.
Forthcoming: Doherty, Ben and Rachel S. Evans. “AALL Virtual Coffee Chat: Maintaining Meaningful Remote Connections.” AALL. 19 Oct. 2020.