It’s been almost a year since we’ve left our offices and many are not considering a return until summertime, at the earliest.

Nonetheless, we’ve pivoted quickly and effectively without missing a beat.  In some ways, pitching and prospecting have become more efficient.  As for hiring, that opened up a whole new world of candidates, to fill positions, while sitting in their home offices across the country.

However, we must keep remote team members motivated and engaged in order to keep the agency morale and culture alive.

I want to share a few ideas to consider to help your virtual team remain enthralled.

Thanks to social media, the FOMO phenomenon has led to the belief that others might be having fun while the person experiencing the anxiety is not present. It is characterized by a desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing.

But how do you bake in a little positive FOMO into the professional lockdown life?

Much like other agencies, OMD USA’s chief executive, John Osborn, was holding two all-agency Zoom calls a week to cover the media agency’s response to the unfolding pandemic. Now, these Zooms are twice-monthly, and the content has shifted to a mix of agency news and headline guests. Nelly, Sloane Stephens, Al Roker and Dennis Quaid are just a handful of entertainment and sports stars who’ve appeared – each on their own dime – OMD USA execs point out, to discuss new projects and how they’re adapting to the new way of life.  As you can imagine, the attitude of “Ugh, another meeting” has shifted to, “I don’t want to miss this meeting.”

Pre-pandemic, many agencies built camaraderie by “grabbing a beer” or “breaking bread” after work.  That’s still possible but now you need to do it with an agenda.  Instead of jumping into the Zoom Room and making small talk, bring in a guest speaker to liven the room by focusing on a topic.  February 2019 (which feels like a lifetime ago), AAR Partners brought in a improv expert to the office and held a “cocktails and comedy” evening.  Aside from some networking and conversation, the focus behind getting together was to teach a few lessons around improv to help improve new business.  This can still be done virtually and allows for everyone to participate no matter where they’re sitting.

At Observatory, casual Slack channels are one-way employees stay engaged. “We encourage everyone to share anything they think is cool,” says Brendan Shields-Shimizu, managing director at Observatory. “It might be some awesome Bernie Sanders memes, a new advertising campaign or an interesting read. Those things you’d usually chat about around the espresso machine now get sent via Slack.”

Keeping team members engaged and interested is vital in our virtual world.  It just takes a little extra pinch of creativity and a “heart full” of care to help everyone want to opt-in…

And remember, my inbox is always open if you’d like to schedule a little time to connect live (one way or another).