I wanted a story to launch a newsletter and all I got was a burglary

Written by Technically Media CEO Chris Wink, Technical.ly’s new Culture Builder newsletter features tips on growing powerful teams and dynamic workplaces. Below is the latest edition we published. Sign up here to get the next one this Friday.

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I actually laughed when I heard our offices were burglarized.

After more than a decade running a news organization that covers the people and companies driving local economic change, the last 10 months have certainly been the most disruptive. Why not include my first robbery?

I hadn’t planned to have such a memorable incident lead our first Culture Builder newsletter. It serves as a fine microcosm of what we as organizational leaders, people professionals and organizational culture champions confront in our work — never more so than in the last year.

With our all-remote COVID workforce, I knew our empty office presented some security risk — despite our being in a secured suite on a top floor of a big city office building. Like all of you, though, I juggle a lot of risk. I miscalculated, so I feel embarrassed, frustrated and short of the professional I want to be.

Depending how our insurance claim plays out, I’ll have cost my organization thousands of dollars in damaged and stolen electronics and tools, and more than a little discomfort.

Every leader misses a chance to prevent a known threat. We must accept responsibility and move on to what your team will rightly most judge you for: How will we respond? (For one, let me advise you to get the second security camera, check your insurance policy and take a thorough inventory of your most valuable in-office assets.)

Maybe you’ve had a moment like that? I’d like to hear about it. Reply here and commiserate with me! If you’re up for it, I’ll share some of your tips for recovering from your own workplace misses in next week’s newsletter.

Thanks for joining this newsletter. I know how busy our email inboxes are, and I also know how helpful a cheery email from a friend with advice can be. Culled from years of interviewing and tracking thousands of leaders and companies, I hope to curate some of that each week, with the help of Technical.ly reporting and links from elsewhere.

I hope to limit the amount of larceny referenced in these notes and maximize the steps and lessons on creating vibrant workplace cultures. For starters, accept the disruption and laugh whenever you can.

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Weekly tip and what else we’re reading

• Team culture tip to try — Pair teammates across functions for a day of music exchange. Each volunteer listens to the suggestions of the other.
• Do you know burnout when you see it? — This HBR piece has lots we’re all thinking about, especially the “internal passive” burnout we all risk.
• (In)dependent contractor misclassification — This 2015 policy paper from left-leaning think tank EPI points out that as many as 1 in 5 organizations misclassify at least one employee as an independent contractor.

Company culture stories we’ve published lately

• NET/WORK 2021: Skills, culture and ‘location’ to be front and center at Technical.ly’s niche job fair
• Working women are ‘in crisis.’ Here’s how their workplaces can better support them
• ‘Life is a blob’: How this Azavea team has kept remote worklife human
• April Christina Curley spoke out against racism at Google. Her story points to the struggles Black women face in tech