Megan H.
Employer Brand Co-op
Angela R. was joined by three Toasters for an internal panel where the discussion focused on fostering a globally inclusive culture at Toast. Hear how these leaders build trust, foster belonging, and combat challenges within hybrid work environments:
“Don't be afraid to speak up. If you see that something's going sideways or something doesn't make sense, don't just let it continue going off the rails. Feel free, at any level, to speak up and say, why are we doing that? Or have we tried looking at it this way? Having the freedom and space to question what we’re doing is really important.” Becky M.- Senior Director, Customer Care “Trust is essentially the foundation of effective collaboration and a hybrid work environment. When leaders lead with trust it essentially encourages everyone to participate in a high trust environment. One way to build trust is through regular check-ins, sharing progress updates, and delivering commitments. It’s also proven with data, that employees feel better and perform better in a high trust ecosystem. It is up to leaders to create an environment where everyone starts with very high trust.” Alok A.- Director of Product Management, Fintech
“Don't be afraid to speak up. If you see that something's going sideways or something doesn't make sense, don't just let it continue going off the rails. Feel free, at any level, to speak up and say, why are we doing that? Or have we tried looking at it this way? Having the freedom and space to question what we’re doing is really important.”
Becky M.- Senior Director, Customer Care
“Trust is essentially the foundation of effective collaboration and a hybrid work environment. When leaders lead with trust it essentially encourages everyone to participate in a high trust environment. One way to build trust is through regular check-ins, sharing progress updates, and delivering commitments. It’s also proven with data, that employees feel better and perform better in a high trust ecosystem. It is up to leaders to create an environment where everyone starts with very high trust.”
Alok A.- Director of Product Management, Fintech
“Assuming positive intent from people is where it all begins and it is a proactive exercise that we all need to practice, knowing that we are part of a global company. We work with people from different cultures and it is important to learn about their culture, learn the communication style within their culture, and that's something that's not passive, it’s a true proactive exercise.” Kevin D.- AVP, International Sales “Coffee chats can be one of the most powerful things you can do. Through coffee chats, even over zoom, you have the opportunity to meet new people. Not only do you learn about them as a person, but you can also learn about the work that they're doing right. And they might be someone in a completely different department who approaches things in a completely different way.” Becky M.- Senior Director, Customer Care
“Assuming positive intent from people is where it all begins and it is a proactive exercise that we all need to practice, knowing that we are part of a global company. We work with people from different cultures and it is important to learn about their culture, learn the communication style within their culture, and that's something that's not passive, it’s a true proactive exercise.”
Kevin D.- AVP, International Sales
“Coffee chats can be one of the most powerful things you can do. Through coffee chats, even over zoom, you have the opportunity to meet new people. Not only do you learn about them as a person, but you can also learn about the work that they're doing right. And they might be someone in a completely different department who approaches things in a completely different way.”
“Seek to understand, ask questions, and listen more. I have to heed that advice all the time. It can be something as simple as starting a meeting by having some form of small talk and just learning a little bit about the other person that isn't work related. By doing this, it can really open your eyes to who they are as an individual as well as cultural differences.” Becky M.- Senior Director, Customer Care “For me, it's listening to diverse perspectives and actually amplifying diverse and underrepresented voices in my team. This way, it helps me to broaden my understanding of the world and cultivate empathy across people with different backgrounds.” Alok A.- Director of Product Management, Fintech “I believe that, as a global company, it is crucial for everyone to be seen as equal, regardless of their location.” Kevin D. - AVP, International Sales
“Seek to understand, ask questions, and listen more. I have to heed that advice all the time. It can be something as simple as starting a meeting by having some form of small talk and just learning a little bit about the other person that isn't work related. By doing this, it can really open your eyes to who they are as an individual as well as cultural differences.”
“For me, it's listening to diverse perspectives and actually amplifying diverse and underrepresented voices in my team. This way, it helps me to broaden my understanding of the world and cultivate empathy across people with different backgrounds.”
“I believe that, as a global company, it is crucial for everyone to be seen as equal, regardless of their location.”
Kevin D. - AVP, International Sales
“Leaders should be mindful of meetings in order to treat different time zones fairly. Also, building this culture of trust and psychological safety is incredibly important. If everyone believes that there is a high degree of trust in regards to competence and their collaboration style, it enables a higher level of commitment to the work.” Alok A.-Director of Product Management, Fintech “Making sure that you're spending time equitably across the team, versus the people that are most convenient to you based on time zones is important. I think it's human nature to fall back into what's easiest. By setting proactive reminders we ensure that we're checking in with everyone on the team.” Kevin D.- AVP, International Sales “I would encourage you to continue to ask yourself, “Does this have to be a meeting?” Or, “Can we do asynchronous collaboration?” I think this is a really important point because a lot of meetings, specifically across different time zones, could be put into writing. It is also important to document high-priority items such as: this is the problem we're trying to solve, this is the timeline, and these are some expectations or some hypotheses we're going into this project with. Also, setting milestones for when you're going to test and calibrate and iterate on certain things, I think is really important for effective collaboration.” Becky M.- Senior Director, Customer Care
“Leaders should be mindful of meetings in order to treat different time zones fairly. Also, building this culture of trust and psychological safety is incredibly important. If everyone believes that there is a high degree of trust in regards to competence and their collaboration style, it enables a higher level of commitment to the work.”
Alok A.-Director of Product Management, Fintech
“Making sure that you're spending time equitably across the team, versus the people that are most convenient to you based on time zones is important. I think it's human nature to fall back into what's easiest. By setting proactive reminders we ensure that we're checking in with everyone on the team.”
“I would encourage you to continue to ask yourself, “Does this have to be a meeting?” Or, “Can we do asynchronous collaboration?” I think this is a really important point because a lot of meetings, specifically across different time zones, could be put into writing. It is also important to document high-priority items such as: this is the problem we're trying to solve, this is the timeline, and these are some expectations or some hypotheses we're going into this project with. Also, setting milestones for when you're going to test and calibrate and iterate on certain things, I think is really important for effective collaboration.”
“Rather than starting with a no trust environment on day one, I start with a very high trust environment. I tell my teams that it is completely okay to fail, which essentially encourages them to bring their true self to work without any apprehensions. This culture of embracing failures is truly, truly important, because they know they won’t be judged if they are wrong. All of us at some point in time are not going to know everything and are going to be wrong. If I myself, as a leader, show a sense of vulnerability and accepting mistakes when I make one, it essentially encourages my team to do the same.” Alok A.- Director of Product Management “I think if we all take on that challenge and start from a place of empathy and the drive to learn from one another, it will help us foster a positive global mindset and strengthen collaboration and communication across our teams, spanning multiple countries and cultures.” Kevin D.- AVP, International Sales
“Rather than starting with a no trust environment on day one, I start with a very high trust environment. I tell my teams that it is completely okay to fail, which essentially encourages them to bring their true self to work without any apprehensions. This culture of embracing failures is truly, truly important, because they know they won’t be judged if they are wrong. All of us at some point in time are not going to know everything and are going to be wrong. If I myself, as a leader, show a sense of vulnerability and accepting mistakes when I make one, it essentially encourages my team to do the same.”
Alok A.- Director of Product Management
“I think if we all take on that challenge and start from a place of empathy and the drive to learn from one another, it will help us foster a positive global mindset and strengthen collaboration and communication across our teams, spanning multiple countries and cultures.”
*We love any chance for a great bread pun
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