Company Culture

It’s Team Dynamics Month. Tell us: How do you build a better workplace culture?

For August's editorial calendar theme, our reporters are taking a look at the ways a company can be more than the place its employees work.

The Technically Media team at York Central Market, July 2019. (Technical.ly file photo)
What makes a group of professionals a team instead of just coworkers?

Technically Media, Technical.ly’s parent company, spent a gleeful two days out of office last week for our annual retreat, this time in York County, Pennsylvania. We made soap, we ate tacos, we mini-golfed, we roasted marshmallows, we listened to Todrick Hall.

This small break is one of the highlights of my year. Each summer, the ~20 of us pack into vans and post up at a giant Airbnb in places such as Surf City, New Jersey, and the Southern Tier of New York. We discuss strategic initiatives and the state of digital media — but mostly, we hang out, laptop free.

Why take two days to just be together? Because separate from the daily grind, it’s a chance to remember that we’re people first — people who happen to like each other, but who are also working toward a common goal of sustaining an independent newsroom and convening local tech communities. It helps solidify — at least to me, a TM staffer of nearly four years — that we’re a team.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0YflhojwHr/

The retreat seems especially timely this year, as August is Team Dynamics Month of Technical.ly’s 2019 editorial calendar. That means our reporters are taking a look at the ways local employees interact with each other and feel about their shared workplaces. This will include topics such as internal culture, organizational structure, professional perks, HR best practices, inclusivity, remote work and the like.

Some questions we’ll explore this month:

  • What informs a workplace’s culture?
  • What makes employees feel good/bad about where they work?
  • What strategies should be put in place to create the culture that you want?
  • How can workplaces be actually, honestly inclusive? (What does that mean?)
  • How can you fix a “bad” culture?
  • How do team dynamics change as a company grows?

This month will be likely be “how-to” heavy, with lots of shared strategies from biz leaders and culture managers. Send story ideas to baltimore@technical.ly, and find stories here once we get rolling.

P.S. We’re also looking to hang out with YOU in person on Thursday, Aug. 8, at our annual Super Meetup. This year, we’re taking over R. House. It’ll rule. RSVP here.

This editorial article is a part of Technical.ly's Team Dynamics Month of our editorial calendar.

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

Our services Preferred partners The journalism fund
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending

The person charged in the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting had a ton of tech connections

From rejection to innovation: How I built a tool to beat AI hiring algorithms at their own game

Where are the country’s most vibrant tech and startup communities?

The looming TikTok ban doesn’t strike financial fear into the hearts of creators — it’s community they’re worried about

Technically Media