I love living in the digital age. We’re in the midst of an era where entire companies can- and do- run with a workforce fully distributed across the globe. At Unosquare, we support remote work for large numbers of our employees, and we’ve seen the positive results time and again since we started business 10 years ago. As a company we believe in using the best tools for effective communication and I’m here to advocate for bringing back an oldie but a goodie – the webcam.
As my own role within Unosquare has evolved over the years, I’ve seen my workday evolve as well. Each stage of my career has had its own learning curve, of course, and I’ve had the good fortune to learn from professionals within Unosquare, as well as beyond. Through these relationships, I’ve come to deeply value the following: showing up with a pen and paper, the art of the follow-up, and the critical importance of using a second set of eyes for all key documents. All are essential and now come naturally, but they didn’t always…
When I was a brand-new Biz Dev rep, my calendar was embarrassingly sparse as I worked to build out a network and a sales pipeline. Nowadays, as a Client Success Executive, my days start early and are filled with conference calls with clients and coworkers from around the world.
The most recent tool I’ve adopted into my own bag of professional tips and tricks is something gleaned from our clients – using my webcam. Our clients are solid folks who treat their teams well, show up to meetings on time, and are never short on smiles. Seeing smiles, or anyone’s actual face in an online meeting is rare. But these folks make it a point to have their webcams on during conference calls. It’s conscious and intentional and it makes a big difference. It shows me they’re engaged, present, and attentive which is something that can often be missing from meetings online.
I’ve tried to emulate this positive addition to my own client and coworker interactions. While I’ve always strived for a high level of engagement, I find that actually showing a responsive and engaged face during calls facilitates increased interaction and holds me accountable to the people who trust me with their time. I’ve started making it a point to keep my webcam on whenever I can, and I intend to keep it that way. It’s an easy habit to create and one that I think can make a big difference in our interactions. Give it a try, I think you’ll agree.
