blattert2 in team building

There was a special appointment recently with Blattert² to: Instead of going about our day-to-day business with media and influencer relations, social media content and community management, clippings, ad handling and sending review copies, we took three hours — for ourselves as a team. Business coach helped us with this Jasmin Meranius of Femolution. She came to us at the agency on the banks of the Main for a team coaching workshop.

First of all: There were no confidence-building games or anything like that! It was therefore not a classic “team building event” as many know it. Jasmin sent us a questionnaire a few days earlier, in which our coaching expectations and goals were asked. For some of us, that was a bit difficult to answer because we couldn't yet grasp what to expect. In the end, however, it turned out that the entire team had the same goal: communicate even more efficiently, identify factors that rob us of time and energy at work and thus hinder the workflow.

We optimize: role clarity

We started by describing the roles within the team to Jasmin and we were already right in the middle of coaching. Because even though everyone has their area of responsibility, some things overlap in everyday life and responsibilities are sometimes passed on unnoticed as a “hot potato.” With this picture, Jasmin vividly describes tasks that are pushed from one to the other because no one really feels responsible. In the worst case, the task is lost because everyone involved thinks the other person would take care of it. To avoid such scenarios, Jasmin helped us reflect on our roles. Together, we also looked at exactly where internal communication could be tackled. In principle, we agreed that she is always appreciative in the team and calm and constructive even in stressful situations. Nevertheless, we were able to identify a few points that we could improve, such as the high volume of emails, the different organizational tools we use, or the type of task communication.

We have adopted these measures to make the organization of our daily tasks even smoother:

• Email: Only put colleagues in CC if they are really involved
• Adjust notification settings in tools like Trello
• Communicate tasks in fewer steps
• Clear timelines and deadlines for time-critical to-dos
• Delegate tasks in a team when it is foreseeable that you will not be able to do it yourself within the time
• Emails and WhatsApp messages only during working hours (except in urgent cases, of course)

We optimize: Responsibilities

With that, the first block was over and I was surprised how quickly and clearly Jasmin worked out strengths and weaknesses in the team by letting us reflect for ourselves. Once the points had been identified, the suggestions for improvement came naturally.

Next, we moved on to responsibilities. We have a flat hierarchy at Blattert², but each of us naturally has their own place and areas of responsibility in the team. We had already defined these in the distribution of roles and now looked closely at the responsibilities again: We reflected on whether the difference between a task and a responsibility is always clear to us. I found this particularly exciting, as it showed that we can save resources at this point. If I am responsible, I don't need to get a second opinion and save valuable time — not only mine but also that of my colleagues. The “hot potato” from earlier is therefore not passed on if I am responsible for it (of course this does not apply to a second look at texts, etc., there must always be time for that as part of quality control).

We have stated the following again:

• Miriam: Blatert², social media, new biz, own PR, quality assurance, media relations, client lead SmartGames, PAIDI, rollplay
• Sabine: Accounting, Quality Assurance, Personal Information, Website, Media Relations, Client Lead Silverlit, Monchhichi, ENGEL
• Betina: Media + Influencer Relations PAIDI, ENGEL, SmartGames, media planning
• Cansu: Community Management, Content Management, Reporting, Media Relations², Rollplay, Monchhichi, Silverlit
• Source: Content Plan, Community Management, Content Production, Influencer Relations, PAIDI Reporting, Silverlit, ENGEL

Conclusion

Did the team coaching meet my expectations? In any case, I was relieved that we didn't have to fall backwards and be absorbed by the team — I don't think that exercises like this would have helped us as much as Jasmin's coaching. I was surprised how cleverly she guided us through the workshop and let us work out our strengths and weaknesses ourselves — in fact, these were all points that basically every one of us knows about ourselves, but which are sometimes “buried”. It's amazing how a little guidance and a glimpse from outside have made us aware of the small adjustments that make our team even more harmonious and allow us to work more efficiently. In fact, we've already noticed that the “gears” in our team structure mesh even better. Ultimately, this not only increases the output of our work, but also keeps the stress level low for the sometimes demanding everyday life in a growing agency. The “hot shower” at the end was also particularly nice, during which we could tell each other once again what we appreciate about each other. The time invested was definitely worth it — we get back to work with a good feeling and full of fresh energy!

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