Remotely Love by Lori Thorn
Be on Camera
“Being on camera is important for developing relationships and the culture in a remote environment. Seeing expressions and reactions humanizes us and helps us understand each other.”
Present Day…
Hazel was wearinga formal-looking floral print top with a small ruffle on the high neck, had put on makeup, and adjusted her office lighting to look as professional as possible. She was also wearing blue pajama bottoms with penguins in Santa hats. The joys of working from home! In a few minutes, the CARE team and all their stakeholder contacts would be meeting for the first time. Hazel, Sam, and Lou were already in the SyncUp when the top of the hour struck. Other colleagues started filtering in, tinkling bells announcing each new entrant.
While the core team was limited to the three of them, the complexity of the CARE project was indicated by the sheer volume of stakeholders who entered the room. There were numerous people from Legal, HR, and high-ranking leaders from Operations and Services. Marketing, Regional Quality members from the states and the UK, Technical Writers and Training were also represented. Jasmond was the stakeholder from Training, and her heart briefly raced when she saw his name. They would be handing off to Training at the end of everything, and Sam would create the first leadership training. His role as a Sr. Change Management leader sometimes called on him to have substantial overlap with other departments this way.
Sam cleared his throat to bring the room to attention. His shoulders were relaxed and back, and he flashed a broad smile, causing his right cheek to dimple. Hazel wondered why she had never noticed before. He must have tweaked the lighting in his office too.
Sam began, “Thanks for coming today, everyone. This will mostly be a simple introduction for all of us who will be helping develop and roll out CARE. Before we make introductions, though, let’s talk about our mission with CARE.”
As Sam spoke about FutureApp’s mission to support their clients in the way clients want to be supported and how they aspire to bring up the best Apps available, Hazel couldn’t help but notice how he commanded the room. Sometimes in meetings, you could tell people were doing work in the background or idly engaging in another activity. The opposite was true here. Everyone stayed on camera, all hanging on Sam’s words. “The continued growth and success of FutureApp hinge on our successfully implementing this change. It is no easy task that we embark upon today, but one that will demand our teamwork, our courage to speak truth, and our relentless pursuit to be the best.”
Hazel broke from Sam’s enchantment when he switched the topic to role explanations. He introduced himself first with a chuckle, “I’m Sam, and I’m a Sr. Change Management Specialist. I’ll be leading this project and will likely be working with all of you over these next months. I will specifically be working closely with Training, Legal, HR, and department leaders as I craft the initial Leadership Training for CARE.”
He continued to describe Hazel’s responsibility of creating the Communication Plan through the Leadership Training and how she would work closely with department leaders, HR, and Legal. Then Lou’s tasks of updating written documents and the Expert Database and how that would require Strategic and Regional Quality and Technical Writers. “The rest of you will want to be aware of how CARE is developing for Phases 3 and 4, which we will hand off to after the Summit in November. We will be certain to keep you up to date and invite your feedback throughout our work.”
He dismissed the meeting but asked Hazel and Lou to hang back. They did, but so did the Operations VP. Sam addressed her, “Did you have a question, Samantha?”
She made a short, breathy giggle. “Oh, no. I just wanted to say I know CARE will be a success with you at the helm, and I’m eager to help you with anything. Give me a shout anytime.”
Sam gave her a nod. “Thanks for that.”
Hazel found she was glaring at Samantha and quickly fixed her face to a neutral expression. Why was she hanging around?
Once Samantha left, Sam whistled and said, “Here goes something. I wanted to talk to you both to get our meetings on the calendar. We really don’t have a lot of time.” He opened his Calendar App to count the weeks. “The summit is scheduled the week before Thanksgiving, and it’s September 12th today. We’ve got 10 weeks. What do you think our schedule should look like?”
Hazel offered, “The approvals will take the most time and are frequently bottlenecks. I’d suggest we meet frequently. We can give each other updates and then have working sessions. We might be able to seek several approvals at a time if we’re smart about it.”
Sam asked, “You think three meetings a week for us plus our update meeting for all stakeholders?”
“Yes, but let’s do the stakeholder meeting every other week.”
Sam’s calendar was still on display for them, their attention shifted to it, and they all seemed to realize there wasn’t much open time available. “I can make the Stakeholder event for today repeat at the same time alternating weeks. For our meetings, how about Monday, Wednesday, and Friday? I can do Monday mornings. As you can see, I’m pretty tight. Any issue with doing 4pm Wednesday and Friday? Actually, that’s too late for you, Hazel. I’ll rearrange….”
Lou interjected, “Is that Pacific Time on your Cal?”
“Yeah, I’m in Oregon, and Hazel is in North Carolina, so she’s Eastern Time. Sorry, I should have asked, where are you, Lou?”
“Haaa, well, I’m in Cork.”
Sam and Hazel both exclaimed, “Ireland!?”
Lou slowly nodded his affirmation. “So a 4pm Pacific Time meeting for you is midnight for me. Earlier morning meetings usually work best, 7am-9am Pacific.”
They all gazed at Sam’s full schedule for a moment longer until Sam said, “I know we can find some good time slots. I’ll try my best to rearrange some things.”
Hazel guessed he would be working on this right away and messaged him.
Hazel Rogers
Good intro there, you even made me feel inspired, like maybe we can pull this off! 11:14am
Sam Pierce
Well that’s a relief- phew! 11:14am
Sam Pierce
and thanks! 11:14am
Hazel Rogers
You gotta teach me your trick where everyone is focused on you sometime. What are you thinking on the schedule though? 11:15am
Sam Pierce
Easy, act so confident nobody dares to disagree, physically take up space. 11:15am
Hazel Rogers
That’s it? That’s the advice? Excuse me while I SCOFFSCOFFSCOFF. 11:15am
Sam Pierce
Bless you! And yes, it’s always worked for me. What is not working for me is the schedule… 11:16am
Sam Pierce
Monday is easy, and I can come in early Friday. Wednesday is the problem, I only have 4:30pm my time and that’s 7:30pm for you and the middle of the night for Lou. 11:17am
Hazel Rogers
I can do 7:30 on Wednesday. Maybe we can focus on Lou’s stuff on another day, he obviously can’t be here at 12:30am. 11:17am
Sam Pierce
Yeah… I don’t know. I know you’re out of here at 5pm and how important it is to maintain. You worked hard to get the balance you have. 11:17am
Hazel Rogers
Stop that. This is temporary and it’s one day a week. Plus you just sent the invites, don’t think I don’t realize you’re coming in at 6am on Friday. That’s even worse. 11:17am
Sam Pierce
It is usually when I run, I’ll have to skip the morning run but I’d be up anyway. 11:18am
Hazel Rogers
Gross. The point is we can make short term sacrifices as long as we know they’re really short term. 11:18am
Sam Pierce
You looked really professional in there today btw, I like the flowery top. 11:24am
Later that evening,Hazel’s doorbell rang. She quickly brushed the almond flour off her hands before running to answer it. Rosie and Nick streamed in mid-conversation.
“…it was totally appropriate. You’re just salty you didn’t think of it yourself.” Nick winked at Hazel as he passed her, heading into the kitchen.
Rosie rolled her entire head in mock exasperation and directed her reply to Hazel, “Nick’s Mom snuck in like 50 of those little liquor bottles into mini-golf in her purse.”
Hazel bit her lip to prevent the laugh.
“and how many did you partake in, my dearest wife?”
“That’s beside the point. We got KICKED OUT OF MINI GOLF!”
“We were asked to leave,” Nick corrected, “it’s one of my proudest moments.”
“I mean, it was pretty funny.” Hazel knew this had been where the conversation was headed. Rosie loved to play a humorous devil’s advocate, and both of them were all flirty smiles.
Hazel chastised, “How many times have I told you both to come right in? My house is your house.” As proof of this, they had both made themselves at home in the kitchen. Rosie was cracking eggs into a measuring bowl. Nick had begun chopping vegetables for the quiche they were making for dinner.
“Our hands were full!” Rosie motioned her head toward the bags they had brought with them, no doubt filled with other delicious goodies they’d get into.
As the quiche was baking, they moved into the living room, Nick handing out iced ciders he had brought. Hazel flopped onto the couch and propped her feet up on the coffee table, Nick sat beside her, and Rosie was perusing the bookshelf. They chatted more about Rosie and Nick's trip to visit his family. Rosie asked for advice on what book she should select for the club to read next, as it was her turn to pick.
The oven timer sounded soon after, and Hazel moved into the kitchen with Nick behind her. He set the table, and she began inspecting the quiche. Rosie called in, “Hey, what’s this?”
“What’s what?”
Rosie rounded the corner and put a worn brown book on the counter. “This!”
“Ah, my Mom’s journal.”
“Wow, what a cool thing to have. I should write when we have kids.” She met eyes with Nick.
Hazel shrugged. “I haven’t read it or anything. It’s her personal diary.”
Feeling the intensity of Rosie’s gaze, Hazel looked over at her. Rosie arched an eyebrow. “I’m sure she would want you to. I appreciate what you’re saying, it was private for her when she was living, but now it’s this insight into her adult life and perspective. It’s a gift for you from her.”
The conversation moved on while they ate dinner. Hazel updated them that CARE had started, and she would be working late on Wednesdays until mid-November. “You should have seen Sam in the kick-off meeting. Sometimes people think he’s an imposing asshole, but he’s so confident. He just demands all your attention, you know? Everyone was tuned in when he was presenting.”
Nick hummed and nodded knowingly as he finished chewing a bite. “People confuse confidence for arrogance and assery a lot. Happens to me all the time.”
Rosie added, “And if you’re a confident woman, they’d call you a bitch.”
Hazel knit her brows. “Too true. It’s just that both of my work friends think so. It’s weird, I can usually trust them with anything, but this doesn’t add up somehow.” She got up to clear the table (they had demolished the quiche) and continued, “After the meeting, the Operations VP stayed behind and talked to Sam. Said she was eager to help with anything and how she knew we’d succeed since he was on the job.”
Rosie had pulled out Cards Against Humanity and was dealing hands but froze mid-deal. “She said that in front of you?”
“Yeah, me and Lou were still there. We were waiting to talk as a team and figure out our schedule.”
“Brazen, I’ll give her that.”
Hazel glanced over the sink questioningly. “Why do you think?”
“She was obviously flirting with him! You were there. You didn’t interpret it as flirting?” Hazel was quiet a moment. “Maybe. It was hard to tell; honestly, it could be she’s trying to suck up too.”
Rosie said out of the side of her mouth, “She’s trying to suck something.” Everyone laughed, including Hazel, though she had a strange clenching feeling she couldn’t quite place in her stomach.
They played cards the rest of the evening. As Rosie and Nick were headed out, Rosie grabbed Hazel’s hand and leaned into her ear. “When you’re ready to read that journal, we can do it together if company makes it easier.” She pulled back and gave her hand a squeeze. “Up to you.”