5 Apps We Use to Keep our Team Happy and Productive
We’ve been outsourcing for a while now and have always had some sort of team regardless of the size. Over the years, we’ve had various highs and lows with our team, and team members have come and gone. However, now we’re at a place with our current team where we feel really good about the energy and cadence we’ve built in the workplace, no matter the fact that we’re virtual.
Our team members are happy to come to work. They know that this is a safe space, that we value life first in our business, and that they’ll be recognized for their achievements. We’re able to keep them happy and productive using 5 apps and tools, which we’re going to share in this blog post!
1. Voxer
Sometimes there’s just too much to type or a conversation seems more appropriate over voice, and Voxer allows us to send voice messages back and forth. Think of it like a walkie talkie app. Although it’s used most for voice messaging, you’re still able to send texts, GIFs, and photos.
We have weekly team meetings via Zoom, but sometimes if there’s just not much to cover or it’s a part-time day, we’ll all check-in via a group Voxer thread. We have multiple group chats for specific topics with only the team members who are involved in that department, so communication via Voxer is super organized.
There are mobile apps for iOS and Android, plus you can access it via desktop. It’s completely free to use, so we highly recommend checking it out!
2. Slack
Slack is our main method of communication between our team members. It’s very similar to Discord but made specifically for teams. You’re able to create your own Slack workspace with custom channels. When you add people to your workspace, you’re able to choose what channels they have access to.
We have channels for all of our programs like the Incubator and the Co-op, for social media, Facebook ads, web development, team check-in, announcements, non-work related things, email, blog, etc. Just like with our Voxer group chats, only the team members who have a hand in these channel topics are added. This keeps them from being notified about things that they aren’t involved with or being distracted.
You’re also able to direct message people or start a private group chat. Sometimes there are conversations that don’t necessarily need to be shared in a public channel, so being able to DM is super helpful.
There’s a “Connections” channel category where you can create channels with other Slack users who aren’t native to your workspace. This makes it easy for us to chat with affiliates or partners via Slack without having to add them to our workspace.
3. Range
Although we do use Asana for project management, it’s really nice to be able to know at a glance what our team members have planned to work on or tasks they’ve already completed, and that’s exactly what Range allows us to do. You create your own workspace, similar to Slack, that you can add team members to.
You get to choose how often you want team members to check-in. We choose to check-in daily since we have a lot of moving pieces. Team members can list tasks they plan to complete, as well as check tasks off the next day to get added to the “What happened” section of their check-in.
Range allows you to set your mood for the day-- whether you’re feeling green, yellow, or red-- and you can choose an emoji to convey your emotions. There’s also a fun question you can choose to answer that changes each day. We’ve learned so many new and fun things about our team members solely from Range’s check-in questions!
What we really love about Range is that it connects to Slack. Whenever someone checks in, it adds their mood color and emoji to a message and then adds their check-in as a reply in that message thread for easy viewing. It also tells you who still hasn’t checked in yet and when the last time they checked in was.
4. Loom
With Loom, we’re able to screen record our desktop to easily show and explain things to our team and vice versa. You can choose to record just your screen or use your camera to show your face also. This makes it super easy to show a team member how to do something, show an issue we may be experiencing, walk through how something works, etc. There are so many possibilities for what you can do with Loom!
We use it outside of our team as well to explain things to our Incubator clients or Co-op members. With the Google Chrome extension, it’s super easy to simply click the icon on our browser and hit record.
5. HeyTaco
We saved the best for last! HeyTaco has been an amazing addition to Slack to use with our team. Anytime you want to show appreciation to someone for something they’ve done, all you have to do is tag them with a taco emoji. You’re allotted 5 tacos to give away each day.
Every week during our team meetings, we check our HeyTaco leaderboard to see who received the most tacos that week, so we can celebrate them! It makes our team feel really good about their accomplishments during the week.
You can even add your own rewards to HeyTaco, so when a team member has received certain amounts of tacos, they get to choose a gift! As you continue to give tacos to others, you level up in HeyTaco as well, so you can unlock other cute things to send, like a super taco, pet rock, and cactus.
That wraps up the 5 apps we use to keep our team happy and productive! Learning how to manage a team is a learning experience, and even though it may seem overwhelming at times, there’s no better feeling than knowing that you and your teammates are crushing it every single day.
