In this podcast, Dovico's COO, Felicia Flewelling and CEO, Shelley Butler, talk about how they build connections with coworkers while working remotely. They discuss creating an 'office' that is virtual but still allows for casual interactions like the good old days!
Felicia: "I loved being part of that community. I wanna help; I wanna serve. But I also recognize that that social connection fuels my joy."
Shelley: "The awareness there is just absolutely beautiful, so exciting. And that truly is the Dovico Way. Find a way to fuel your joy."
In this podcast, Dovico's COO, Felicia Flewelling and CEO, Shelley Butler, talk about how they build connections with coworkers while working remotely. They discuss creating an 'office' that is virtual but still allows for casual interactions like the good old days!
Felicia: "I loved being part of that community. I wanna help; I wanna serve. But I also recognize that that social connection fuels my joy."
Shelley: "The awareness there is just absolutely beautiful, so exciting. And that truly is the Dovico Way. Find a way to fuel your joy."
Hello and welcome to Girls Without a Box. I'm Felicia
Speaker 2:
Ing. And I'm Shelly Butler.
Speaker 1:
And on today's episode, we're gonna be talking about my office
Speaker 2:
Felicia's room. Mm. Felicia's office.
Speaker 1:
So, um, BC before Covid, um, we had this office space where we all had our own individual offices that we could do with whatever we wanted to. We could close the door, have it open. Most of us left the door open unless something was going on. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> and I<laugh>. I always had like two to six people in my office almost at all times.
Speaker 2:
All the fun was in Felicia's office.
Speaker 1:
All the fun was there.<laugh>? Yes.
Speaker 2:
All the good vibes.
Speaker 1:
Oh yes. All the good vibes. Yes, exactly. Um, well I almost ripped this whole configuration down<laugh><laugh>.
Speaker 2:
That should have been on video. Yeah,
Speaker 1:
It should have been coming soon to a YouTube near you.
Speaker 2:
Yes. You're gonna be able to see us. We're gonna actually have to get dressed.
Speaker 1:
Oh my God. What? I mean, I'm dressed, but
Speaker 2:
Yeah, we are dressed sort of, This
Speaker 1:
Isn't Naked podcast
Speaker 2:
And Felicia's room. There wasn't any nakedness. No.
Speaker 1:
There was, you know, full always full clothing at all times. All
Speaker 2:
Times
Speaker 1:
<laugh>. Um, yeah. So it was really fun just to, um, build those connections with people and, uh, have that follow up. And, um, it was nice to be that kind of go to person that people felt comfortable just to whatever. Like sometimes it's work, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's like, oh man, like this is going on. And just to like let it out and talk it out. And
Speaker 2:
It was a place to vent. It was a place to have fun. It was a place of gathering. It was a place of community. Right. Absolutely. It was always, you know, you'd hear the laughter from the room and you wanted to join in. It was like whenever we fried onions and garlic in the kitchen Right. Everybody was like, Ooh, what's going on in the kitchen? But it was, it was, uh, yeah, it was that safe space, right? Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, it was that place that you always know. Um, no matter how you felt going in, you were probably gonna feel really good coming out and Yeah. And then you did something miraculous, um, as Felicia Coin BC uh, before Covid. So, um, you did something miraculous the other day in our Wednesday meeting, our team meeting and, uh, yeah. Fill everybody in. It was so great.
Speaker 1:
<laugh>. So I had the idea last week, well, it's kind of been stewing for a while, honestly, because of course after, um, Covid, you know, we have this new, this new beautiful working space that we have, but, um, it's not necessarily as individualized and, you know, most people are working from home. We have a few hybrid workers, but for the most part people are at home. So it's really easy to kind of stay, I don't wanna say stay in your lane, but it's easy.
Speaker 2:
Lose connection.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. Yes, exactly. Just to sit in front of your monitor and do your work and only kind of, you know, collaborate with the people that you directly need to work with. Um, so I really wanted that, you know, connection again. So I was like, I'm gonna make, well actually it started off I was gonna make a teams channel, but then, um, Dominic had the grace suggestion of doing a Slack channel instead, which I love because that's where everybody already is. Like I don't think people would've probably checked teams. So I just made a Slack channel called Felicia's office, and I opened the huddle when I'm available, and if I'm not available, I closed the huddle. And, uh, yesterday I had Shelly join, I had Diane join, I had Carolyn join for a quick minute. I had Martin join for a couple minutes. So it was good. The first kind of day was, was really good. And I'm looking forward to having those connections again.
Speaker 2:
I love that. I absolutely love that. Does huddle allow us to see one another
Speaker 1:
Though? No, that's the one thing that I,
Speaker 2:
That's the one thing that I, I kind of, and, and that's what I believed because I've had a few meetings on huddle. Uh, but it was just voice conversations, real easy peasy. And, and I never really looked into the fact if I could have video, um, so the one thing about social connection is, um, that visual mm-hmm.<affirmative>. So yeah, while this huddle is fe fantastic, it's a great place to start. People will feel like, Oh, I can go if I'm not dressed. Um, uh, then, then that's really cool. But I would watch it. I would watch it and, and, uh, yeah, allow that to morph into more of a visual party. We do actually have a happy hour here as well. We do. Um, that, that is people can gather mm-hmm.<affirmative>, we have it on Friday afternoons, um, and I know I haven't been present for them. I take most Fridays off. My husband and I have been Harley Davidson all over the place, so That's right. That's our kind of our time, um, when him and I, neither one of us work, but, uh, yeah, I think it's really important that we have some kind of visual connection, a continued visual connection. So that's why I thought this was so brilliant.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. I feel the same way about the visual. Like, I really wanna see people and, and even though it's only on video, I still wanna have that face to face connection. So,
Speaker 2:
Cause it's not just about, um, it's not just about anymore about just us coming into the room. I mean, when you have that visual connection with somebody on Slack, now I get to see their cats and their dogs and their husband walk through. Many times I've been, I Hey Curtis in the background, Felicia's husband, you know? Yeah. It's, it's, um, it's being part of a really, their household as you're, you're sitting there, I think we just have to get out of our minds and the way things were to understanding that there still can be social connection through this equipment, if you will, virtual this virtual, this virtual world. Yeah. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And if we are close mind to that, because I believe social connection isn't just visual, it just isn't about seeing your eyes and your smiling face, but it's also sharing in those deep-seated thoughts. It's also sharing our truths as we share our pieces of ourself. Um, there's no other way than we can say that we're more connected, you know, as we share more, we become closer mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:
<affirmative>.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. Yeah. So for you to open up your doors and your time for that, because you also have a, uh, you know, I do one and a half
Speaker 1:
Workload. Well, yeah. Well, she's at daycare through the day, so, you know, I don't, uh, I would not be able to work with her home. Oh my good lord. She is wild and gives off major to second child energy.
Speaker 2:
Yes. Yes. Absolutely. And everybody remembers what that's like, so
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So good for you for, you know, taking that time and, uh, opening up your doors Yeah. To the people, that employer around you. It's so important. So I would suggest that, uh, everybody should take a page from Felicia's book here and, and create in your way your own social connection at work. So Felicia is our coo, and in no way, shape or form is this part of her job description. Um, we don't do that here at Dova Co. It is not the dova co way to put poly policy and procedure. We are all leaders of our own lives. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, you understood what fuels your joy. You are aware enough that you understood that that social connection was gonna keep you going. Not only were you gonna be there for your folks, for your coworkers, for your dova, Conan, um, but you understood that that also fuels your joy.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely. So I'll share, and maybe this can help somebody else cuz maybe a Slack channel is not for you. My girlfriend told me about this app called Marco Polo, and it's very cool. So there you, you know, you can upgrade your platform if you want to, to have a few more features. Personally, I haven't done it. I didn't really need to, but you can have a group. Um, so you could have a, your whole company, if you, I mean, I don't know if you would want 50 people in there perhaps, but<laugh> mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:
<affirmative> you
Speaker 1:
Or maybe you do team or maybe you do, I don't know. That could be fun. That might be interesting. Um, or you can have one on one, whatever. But just like as the day, like I share it with my friend who lives in Alberta. So as the day as we think of each other or wanna send each other, No, we just click up the little camera and just, hi, just thinking about you. And then you can kind of go and see like, I'm gonna show Shelly, but you guys obviously can't see. So you can see the whole history of your messages and you can go back. And
Speaker 2:
So this is an app called Marco
Speaker 1:
Polo. It's an app called Marco Polo.
Speaker 2:
Okay. So in no way shape, are they, you know, or we get a spot We're not sponsor, I'm not absolutely not. But we're willing there's to take on sponsors, Marco Polo, if you're out there and listening. Yes. Well that seems amazing.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. It's really super cool actually. Um, yeah,
Speaker 2:
I love that. Yeah.
Speaker 1:
I wanna bring that up next
Speaker 2:
Week. Oh, okay. Awesome, awesome. So sharing and caring and, and, um, that is, that is really what this, this podcast is all about today, right? Yeah. It's really about finding a way, not saying I can't get back to the way we were BC because, um, of all these obstacles, right? I can't get back to the way before Covid because of all these obstacles. Instead of you doing that, you said, Look, this is what fueled my joy. I loved having two to six people in my office. I loved being part of that community. I wanna help, I wanna serve. Um, but I also recognize that that social connection fuels my joy. Ugh. The awareness there is just absolutely beautiful, so exciting. And that truly is the dova co way. Find a way to fuel your joy.
Speaker 1:
Yeah,
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Whatever that looks like.
Speaker 2:
Whatever that looks like. All right. So this has been Girls With a Box. I'm Shelly Butler.