Okay, well, hello and welcome to today's webinar. Our speaker today is Jessica Hope. Before I turn it over to Jessica, I'd like to let those of you who are live with us know that you may submit questions during the webinar via the Q&A tab at the bottom of the screen. This webinar will also be recorded so that you may watch or re-watch on demand at your convenience. With that, I will turn it over to Jessica. Hi and good morning. Like Liz said, my name is Jessica Hope. I've been speaking for AED for a couple of years now. And my entire background is in communications and storytelling, building teams, breaking down conflict. I actually, I started as a musical theater major in college 24 years ago. And the thing that, the reason I love to tell people, no matter what topic of a training I'm doing is on, that I started in musical theater, is to help you know how flexible I am with going off script. Because in a show, things are going to go wrong and you've got to communicate with people. So when Liz said, you know, the question tab is open, I am really looking forward to hearing those questions about here's the situation you're dealing with, what are some ways to handle it, here's some technology we're looking at, do you recommend this? I love answering questions. If you've ever gotten to see me present in person, I'm the woman who will get off the stage and will come sit with you and we'll dig deep and get into the weeds so that we can really solve problems. So even though this is a webinar, I really want to encourage you to feel like we're participating in a conversation together. So and the other thing about theater and musical theater is it gives you a chance to start off a journey learning about the other. You're digging into feelings, you're telling other people's stories. And I think in this time of, you know, and I was hoping by the time we got to today, it would be post pandemic. We're still right in the middle of it, that things have things have changed and people's stories are changing. People's relationship to their work and to the sales process and to leadership and to management has changed and is changing. But people's need to feel connected hasn't. And so I called this this session silos, silence and sanctuary, because those are actually three things that you want to look for when you are attempting to keep your team, whether it be a sales team, a management team, a service team, your operations team, whatever section or your entire company, when you're looking at keeping it going. You want to avoid silos, silence and sanctuary. And what I mean by those three terms is silos are when people are only focused on their job and they've stopped connecting with if they're in sales, they've stopped connecting with service. They've stopped connecting with the home office. They've stopped connecting with those who are who are following up for the account managers. When they've stopped connecting, they haven't stopped performing, but they've stopped connecting. You have a problem when they are silent again. When they're when they're not responding to emails, when the way they respond to emails has changed, if they turn off their camera during Zoom calls, when they don't participate in Zoom calls, when the way they communicate, the amount they communicate has changed, that silence can be really a big indicator of failed engagement. And then sanctuary is what I'm considering when they've taken sanctuary within themselves, and if they're working from home, if they're working out on trying to continue to make calls out in public, which is getting dangerous, but when they aren't performing anymore, and out of fear, because they are looking for safety in a very concerning, unsafe time, in a scary time, that sanctuary also means that they have stopped engaging with the work and they've stopped engaging with your mission, they've stopped engaging with your goals. Another reason I like to acknowledge that I started out my journey as a communications instructor is because I love to quote George Bernard Shaw, who is just a famously snarky playwright, who loved to point out the foibles of people. We are, no matter where you fall on the disc assessment, no matter if you've taken Gallup's strength tests and you have woo in you or not, we are all human, which means we are all bound to just be silly, intentionally or unintentionally, at one time or another. And George Bernard Shaw said, the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. And what I see a lot in teams trying to communicate, in businesses trying to engage, is one-way communication. That's not actually communication, that's messaging. That's advertising. And if you are just advertising at your team, if you are just advertising at your staff, you're not communicating with them. Communication is two-way. It's three-way. It is a sender and a receiver, and then the receiver sends it back. I saw that a lot, and the biggest example I can give is there was a lot of advertising during the initial, when the first hints of the shutdown, when we were really locked down in April and May, where you saw billboards and you saw magazine ads and you saw television ads and you heard radio ads or Spotify ads that said, you know, our company thanks our heroes and thanks our workers. And I know from my perspective, it was a lot of, wow, I wonder if you could have taken the money you spent on that ad and actually given that to the workers you're thanking. And I think those messages were really tone deaf to the employees and to the workers that they were supposed to be edifying. And that's the key example of that's not communication. That's not engaging your team. That's not building a unified vision. And so what I want to talk about is that idea of how do you keep your employees engaged? How do you keep your team engaged? And admittedly, what I don't have is I don't exactly know who's in the room. So I'm speaking in some generalities. But if you're a CEO, if you're a sales director, if you're the HR manager, there are lessons here that apply to everyone. But the thing is, is even now, even in a scary time where a lot of people do feel I'm just I'm blessed I still have a job. I'm blessed I still have a job. They also still want to feel engaged in that job. They still want to feel that they're valued, that they're appreciated, and that they're a fit for the company. Because there is a trend of a new perspective on what is work and what is family. You see more families appreciating stay-at-home moms. You see more families thinking, you know what? We're going to homeschool our kids. There's a different reason to work. And it has to be worth it. Work has to be worth it when looking at a world that is changing. And so you want to make sure that you understand why your employees are with you. And I've got some stats on here about 46% of new hires fail within the first 18 months. Out of those 40, so that's almost half. All of those failed new hires say that it's not a fit. And that's because they're there for the wrong reason. That money wasn't enough. That goals weren't clear. Or that they felt they weren't going anywhere. There's a phrase, life's too short. I believe that it ends with an explicative. When it's in the, oh, it was Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. And help me, Liz, what was the movie called? I completely just blanked out. Where he's like, I'm too old for this. Lethal Weapon. Thank you. Thank you, Liz. It was the Lethal Weapon movies where Danny Glover very infamously said over and over and over again, I'm too old for this. The world is changing. And folks, even the dreaded millennials who are getting into their 30s and their 40s now are saying, I'm too old for this. Life has to offer more. Work has to offer more. And 83% of working professionals consider the ability to learn and grow essential to their ideal job. That is even now. And so if you're just thinking, wow, well, we're lucky to be open. We're lucky to still be working. They should be happy. They should be grateful. That's not going to keep your team afloat. And if your team's not with you, your team's not keeping your business successful. And I empathize. It is a hard, hard time, unless you're Amazon, who has grown by leaps and bounds. It is difficult to know how to plan for the future. But let me tell you, you need your team. And that means that your team needs you. And your team needs you to communicate with them. And there's three reasons. And I said this. Liz and I worked on a, here's what we're going to learn. I'm going to go over kind of eight concepts to think about when you're communicating. And the reason you want to do these things is because that's going to increase your motivation of your team. That's going to reduce conflict. A lot of conflict is because people assign intent. I have my master's in communication studies. And one of the things that I really came to learn and understand is that when there's no such thing as, that's not what I meant. If somehow you said it, if you wrote the words down, if the words came out of your mouth, you meant part of it. There's a connection between our brains and our language with a biological imperative is the academic term for it. Which means part of your nervous system forced those words out. Forced that communication out. Which means you have to be really, really careful about the words you choose. And so in doing that as a leader and in encouraging better communication among your team, you are going to reduce conflict. Because no one's going to have to assign intent. No one's going to have to, well, they must have said that because. They must mean this because. They must not be talking because. When you open up communication, when you increase communication, when you improve communication, conflict decreases. And you're going to secure that unified vision. And what I love about that is that phrase and the reason I use it that way is it's not just about sales goals. It's not just about keeping the business open. It's not just about meeting quota or getting a bonus. The Old Testament says where there is no vision, the people perish. Hopefully your business, you know, when you talk about branding, when you talk about your logo and your taglines, what it means to do what you do, serving communities, providing a need, offering solutions, you know, employing families, a vision of why your business exists. And if everyone on your team understands that and is fully engaged in it, that's a step towards success. And so if you don't have a company vision, a department vision, a personal vision, I really recommend actually taking some time and doing some visioning exercises. And, you know, that's actually something we could do as another webinar, Liz, is actually going through visioning sessions and like what is a company vision? What is a vision statement? How is it different from a mission statement? Mission statement is what you do. A vision statement is who you are. And that's really important. It's actually something that's very well embraced within the nonprofit community that I think the business community could learn a lot from. So that's why you want to really, the eight things that I'm about to talk about, you really want to think about. And admittedly, I did not write all eight of these into a PowerPoint because I am hoping for questions, I'm hoping for conversation. Liz, again, if there are questions, have them pop in at any point. Part one of communicating well to overcome silos and silence and sanctuaries is to make sure that people are seeing what you do. We know you work hard. We know you put a lot on the line. Are you making what you do, how you do it, visible? Are you being transparent? Transparency is going to be a word I talk about a lot. You need to bring your work to the table. It's very easy, especially say in staff meetings, to kind of go over everyone else's checklist. But are you holding your team, not necessarily accountable or your team won't hold you accountable, but are you showing them what you're also up to? Or do they wonder? Does your team wonder what you do all day? And if they do, that's a problem. Not only are you going to lose their engagement, you're going to lose their respect over time. Just because they might see you at an office, just because you might be checking up and managing them, if they don't see that, if they aren't hearing that, that isn't being explained of, hi, my job here is to mentor you, is to listen to you, is to hold you accountable so we can all exceed. If they don't see your role in these conversations, that's a problem. This means getting your hands dirty. This means sometimes not just doing your job, but working with your teams. This concept is really directed at department managers, business owners, CFOs, folks who are leading a team, have people under them, who have people relying on your work for them to be successful at their work. Opening that up and showing what you're doing, what you're accomplishing, and how you're being held accountable to that is going to help break down those silos. It's going to help encourage communication and end that silence because people see it and they feel that they're part of something. It's not just you leaning on them, it's you leading them. Another reason is, and other leadership trainings will tell you that the reason to communicate this is to change the power dynamic. You're always going to be a boss. You're not always necessarily going to be a leader. Opening up that level of accountability and communicating, actually telling people what you're doing, showing them what you're doing, that is going to change the power dynamic and let you be a leader more than just a boss. Number two of a communication technique, a communication goal that I want you to think about embracing is clarifying goals. In a way, no matter how long an employee has been with you right now, their job is changing. You are technically onboarding them again for the first time. What is your onboarding process like? How do people know what their goals are, how they're expected to meet them, what's going to happen if they don't meet their goals? Are those goals even clear? Are the tools that are available to them clear? There are amazing pieces of technology that can help you communicate that aren't just emails or your CRM. I'm not downplaying CRMs, they're incredibly important. How are people communicating with you during these tough times that they're actually hitting their call quota or that they're keeping up with the HR files? The various projects that are part of your business. Is it only through a meeting? Is it only through an email? Are they allowed to use Trello or Asana? Are you using program management technology? Is that something you've even considered? More on that later. What are their goals? How do you expect them to meet them? Do they know how you expect them to meet them? If you're going, of course, that's their job. You need to go back to how are they onboarded and how are they being onboarded now? Now would be a great time to go over all of your employees' job descriptions. You could do it one-on-one in person. I suggest wearing a mask. You could do it over a Zoom call. You could do it over the phone. You don't always have to see someone's face. Go over that job description and say, hey, this is still your job. How does this feel to you? Has your job changed at all since you came on board, since you've been with us for five years, since you've been with us for 10 years? Has your job changed at all? Has your job changed over the last three, four months because of the pandemic? How do you feel it's changed? If you don't like what they're seeing as a change in their job, that's the time to talk about it and say, how do we get you back to what your job description is? What do you need to do that? How can I help you succeed? That conversation, understanding goals, that's going to help them pull back from sanctuary and get back engaged and say, okay, I understand. Admittedly, I know during the first month, I think, of the shutdown, I really got confused about how to do what I did because everything seemed to change. I'm a professional speaker. Speaking in front of a room of people is very, very different than speaking to this little camera in front of me. You can't see my hand motions. I can't call any of you out by name. I can't see you. This lack of physical feedback is very odd for me. Everything has changed for almost everyone. It's a good time to check in with that and also to make sure you understand job descriptions and their role in the company. One thing I see a lot when people do a new hire is they'll come in and say, okay, here's your desk and here's your branded polo and here's your pen and here's your number and here's your business card. This is your email. They get a tour around the building and say, oh, this is Karen. She works in HR. This is Robbie. He's head of sales. This is Julia. She's head of marketing. Then you never talk to those people again. Instead of actually saying, here's how your role interacts with sales. Here's how your role interacts with HR. Here's how your role interacts with marketing. Actually letting them see, much like I want you to show them what you do, let them understand and learn and be motivated by what's happening in other departments. That integration, the way the system works, the way you're all working together is clear from the get-go, not from the catch-up, which does sound like I just said catch-up and now I'm thinking about hot dogs. Sorry. It's probably too early for lunch and this is going to be a very weird joke for anyone who watches this as a recording, but plan ahead. If that's not how you onboarded people, actually setting up those meetings, setting up those introductions, letting your sales team work with your marketing team, letting your marketing team work with your service team, having your service team work with your executive team and really understanding what their jobs look like. Break down those silos, form relationships, form mentorships and help engage people back out of those silos, back out of their sanctuary and reduce the silence. Get people talking. Get people into two-way relationships, not just top-down relationships. Because top-down, that's that's not a relationship. That's messaging, that's advertising, that's being a boss, not a leader. That's not engaging your team. And at such a turbulent time, that's that's a very scary, scary premise. Number three is you need to be checking in with your team more frequently than you usually do. That being said, that doesn't mean a Zoom meeting every day, that doesn't mean calling them every day. You need to be checking in more often, but I suggest asking how they like to communicate. If they're working remotely, if they're working part-time, if they're working at their desk in your office but they're with a mask, would they like to text? Would they like to instant message? Would you like to have a group chat if you're not comfortable using personal phones? There's a great app called Slack where you can actually have secure group chats based by department, based by mentorship. There are options out there. Do they like Zoom? Some people might really miss meeting in person. Can you find a space where people can be six feet away and wear masks, but at least have that connection to see a person? I'll tell you, I miss people. I miss people. I already, as a communications consultant, already worked pretty independently and I counted on trainings and facilitations and consulting sessions to give me that connection to people. And there's something about staring at a camera and hoping you're still listening and watching that's not the same. Ask people what makes them comfortable. Some people just hate talking on the phone. They hate it and the pandemic and the isolation has made that worse. Some people miss talking on the phone. So ask your team, ask your employees, hey we need to check in two times a week, three times a week. Any particular way you'd like to do that? You know, do you want to just text? Do you want to chat online? Do you want to meet in person? What's gonna make them feel comfortable with that follow-up? And again, I understand that there might be some of you going, well they should just do what I say. It is a new world and you need your team. And the world is scary. I'm gonna admit that. Even for those who haven't found the way to identify the fact that there's a little bit of fear and there's a little bit of anxiety about the future. That security and that comfort of knowing that their team leader, that their department head, that their manager, that their boss, that their owner cares about their comfort and wants them to feel that they're in an environment where they can succeed. I'm great at texting. I hate talking on the phone. If you text me, I will text with you all day long. Even still, if you ask me, send a text and say, hey I really could use 10 minutes on the phone. Oh that's gonna reduce so much uncertainty for me and make me so much more comfortable getting on the phone if you tell me why we need to get on the phone. Just things to think about when you're wondering why are these people participating in Zoom meetings. Maybe they're just really burned out of Zoom meetings. Or if they're on a conference call, maybe they want the Zoom meetings because they want to see someone's face. They want to smile and wave and hope that somebody has a Harry Potter background on their Zoom. So yes, check in frequently, but make sure you're asking them how they want to be checked in with. Speaking of checking in with them though, now more than ever, your team needs autonomy. They need to know that you trust them. I know a lot of businesses are still doing time sheets. They are doing time trackers. There are programs out there that that monitor keystrokes. I get it. I do. If that is if that is your company, I would encourage you to find some new ways to do that if at all possible. There is there's a concept in the world of nonprofit called a time audit where a lot of grants ask for how does an employee spend their time. It can be really difficult to track in billable hours. I mean, if you talk to the fields that are most known for it, the two that come to mind for me are CPAs and lawyers. They work in billable hours and so they're always checking up either six minute increments or 15 minute increments. They talk about how stressful that is because it doesn't give them any freedom to just think or or brainstorm or pop out of a mode and go, oh, I have this note for this or what if they get interrupted, especially if they're working from home and now there are children or roommates or the air conditioner breaks or the sirens are going off or they're just really distracted by fireworks from the holiday we just had. Tracking that can be really difficult. A time audit in the nonprofit world, it could work for you, is where they say, okay, we want you to track in 15 minute increments for one day. And we're going to say that that one day represents your whole week. If you're actually asking your employees to check in in those time increments for accountability sake, I absolutely get it. Is there a way that they don't have to do it every day? If they're meeting their goals, if they're meeting their quotas, if the work is if the work is getting done, do you need them being monitored every day? If you do, that's fine. But is there some way else that you can give them autonomy to feel like they're still their own person, still the master of their domain? It might also, this is, this is definitely Jessica getting creative, so this would be a great one to ask questions about, is during this very strange time, is there other work for the company they'd like to be doing? Would they be interested in doing a social media takeover and talk about what your company and what your brand is doing during the pandemic, during this changing time, and show what their job's like right now? That might be something they're interested in. Some might actually want an excuse if they're working from home, might want an excuse to get out of the house. Could you bring them in for sanitizing the office? Believe it or not, some people might actually want to come in and just say, hey, we're going to make the office safe, and it gives them an excuse to not be home. Ask. Give them those opportunities to do something unique, to do something independent, and really, really listen. Again, these, these are all connected. It goes back to that, how are you checking in? It goes back into, what are the goals? What are your goals for them, and what are their goals for working for you? So, just, just a quick review. We've talked about, do your work well and communicate what your work is. Then two was, make sure that goals are clear. Your goals for them, their goals for you. That's part of a, almost a re-onboarding process. You want to make sure that you are frequently checking in, but in a way that makes your team comfortable, and you want to make sure that you are finding ways to give your team, your staff, your employees autonomy. Give them a chance to feel like they are their own person. Now more than ever, you need to pay attention to their lives outside of work. There was a time, a year ago, where your work could exist in a vacuum, where, where your team, your office, your job, your, your sales goals could exist in a silo. That world has changed a bit. It might be handy to know if you have employees who have, you know, a COVID at-risk family member. You know, if they have kids who can't go to camp, and, and so they are suddenly becoming homeschoolers. If they have more distractions at home, I'm not suggesting you become a babysitter or a marriage counselor, but now more than ever, now more than ever, it's important for you to be aware of the context of your employees' lives, because our work is so much more integrated with our home life than ever before, especially as we have 34 states with cases on the rise. Lockdowns, shutdowns, work from home mandates, very possible coming again very soon. Being aware of the home office that you're sending them to is, is going to help you help them, and if you're helping them, you're leading them. You're not just bossing them. Be open. This is number, it's number seven. Be open to constant improvement. You can probably do a better job. The best people who are going to tell you that are the people you work with. If you're open to that and give them the space to tell you, it would, you know, it would make my job easier if you were doing this a little differently, a little better. How do you ask that in an, it's, it's going to seem like I am asking a lot of you to be nice. You know, you want me to be nicer to employees. I, I'm not necessarily advocating for nice. I am advocating for a sense of kindness, for a sense of authenticity, for a sense of transparency. This is new for you too, and while you might feel like you need to act like the, the strong one, showing that you're a little uncertain about the world too, but you're all in this together, that'll help because there's a general response going around, especially with, with Gen Z, of people saying, well, we're all in the same boat. And it's like, no, no, we're all in the same storm. Some people have bigger boats than others. If, if you really want your team to feel like you're all in the same boat, you need to invite them onto your boat, not Dane to sit in theirs. And I hope, I hope that makes sense. And that gives you something to think about. And your final communication tip as when you're thinking about the words that you were choosing, whether this is in person, whether this is something written, whether this is in your marketing, whether this is in your instructions for work from home, is to be open, transparent, transparent, and most importantly, flawed. Now more than ever is the time for you to admit that you're not perfect and that you're learning and growing too. And yes, there's a lot of overlap between all of these things, but if you think about each one of them and you're not only being open about yourself, but you're open to what they have to say, that's going to change the way you communicate if you create that safe space. And so all, all of those notes and you know, that entire 20 minute monologue about approaches to how you're communicating, what you're communicating about, how the tools you're communicating with boil down to these three concepts for team communication. You need to develop a clear onboarding process that is more than just here's your tour and here's your polo and here's your email. That onboarding process has to include here's our mission, here's our vision, here's how we as your leadership are held accountable to that, here's how you as our new employee are going to be held accountable to that. And I highly recommend you consider this time of transition and this time of COVID-19 as a new onboarding. Everyone is starting again in a new way because it's a new world. Two is create a safe environment for them to tell you, I really hate Zoom meetings. I really don't want to be on camera. Couldn't, couldn't I call in? Couldn't we text? Could I use Trello? I'm taking care of my, my elderly sick mom. You know, could, could I, could I start work at 10 a.m.? Maybe that won't work, but let them feel like they can come to you and talk to you about new ways to do things, better ways to do things, questions about things. I was, I was going over some of these concepts with a different client of mine last night who is a boss and, and he actually said, well, I just believe people should just find joy in the work and if they need something, ask and just move on. And I was like, oof, you, you'd be a tough boss. And he said, what do you mean? I said that, that perspective on just, just, well, just go get your job done. That would make me, and that would make a lot of people scared to come ask you a question because they're afraid that they're going to be in trouble for not already knowing when, when the, when the best thing they can do is ask, when the best thing they can do is feel like, hey, I just, I just need to review, you know, how you want me to get this done. Especially if, if you're really participating in active listening, if you're really creating that safe environment, what you're going to start to be able to do is if you've got one person who loves talking and one person who loves data entry, pair them up, let them be partners, let them take part of the load off of each other. Maybe you've got somebody who has really great ideas but hates talking in a group, pair them up with someone who's, who's in your marketing department, who's in, who's a manager position and it's more of their role to speak up. Pair those two together so that the, the natural talker can represent the voice of the person who doesn't really want to engage. When you are creating a safe environment for people to communicate with you, you are going to find more opportunities for connection. You're going to find more opportunities for mentorship. That environment is not just going to be safe, it's going to be thriving. You're going to be a place people want to work because even in the midst of all this craziness, they felt valued and heard. That's, that's real communication. Not just, well we send an email, we put it on the, we put it on the, on the company app, you know, we released a press release, we put signs up everywhere. That's just messaging. If you really want team building communication, that safe environment, it's so critical and it, it starts with you. And then three, so again, the eight notes, they all sum up to these, to these three concepts for me, and me matters because I'm presenting, yay, is embrace flexible processes. I, you know, and there's, there's always concept of, of, well that's the way it's always been done. I'm not giving you a hard, sometimes the way that that's always been done is a really good thing. Sometimes tradition and, and, and the concept that, that hey, this really works for us, that's really good. You know, in-person staff meetings are great. It's a little bit of flexibility now. Flex time, flex technology, flex responsibilities, even, even you being flexible in the way that you communicate. Text, email, in-person meetings, being flexible is going to help you bend, not break in, in this, in this storm. And then something that I promised, and this is where, so those, those are my three things. Develop a clear onboarding process. Create a safe environment. Embrace flexible processes. Do, do those three things. Even if you just embrace one new thing for each of those three categories, you're going to be great. But something I said was, was in, in the abstract is, I wanted to suggest some games. Because I am, I am just a big believer in, in icebreakers and, and games that teach lessons. You may have played the, we're going to give you spaghetti and marshmallows, and you have to build a building. Those, that teaches things, that teaches teamwork. But now you, you can't actually give people a bunch of marshmallows and spaghetti and newspapers and tell them to build a building. It's, it's distinctly not safe. So I thought, how could we come up with some games that you could play over Zoom? And I came up with them. And so, and I'm not going to go into a lot of details, and if anybody actually wants like, here's the instructions on how to play these, I'll send them to you. But I think you're all going to be familiar with them. And one is, is back-to-back drawing. So as the facilitator for this game, you're going to have to go find some, some line drawings. Think, think just a simple outline of a duck, or a Rubik's Cube, or a hat, or a truck. Very simple line drawings. And with Zoom, you can actually send people private messages. You can send people, you can show people things in rooms. And so you, as the facilitator of this game, are going to give one person the picture. And then that person is going to describe the picture very simply. You know, and let's say I was drawing a duck. It would be, okay, start with half a circle at the top, and then to the left, a flattened C, without saying, okay, you're going to draw a duck. They have to describe how to draw it, and have everyone else on the call actually start drawing on a piece of paper. And then they can show what they've been doing on Zoom call. That's a way to talk about, why did you hear it that way? Why did you say it that way? How could I have changed that? It's not only fun and funny, but it is about communication. And it helps people understand that not everyone says things the same way. It also brings it back to that, to that earlier lesson I was talking about of, if you said it, you meant it. There's no such thing as, that's not what I meant. That one's a tough one to, it's a big mouthful of truth I just asked you to bite off there, and there's a lot to that. But it's something to think about, of if you said it, you need to step back and think about what part of you meant the words that came out of your mouth. The other game that you can play, and you do have to have Zoom Pro because you need Zoom rooms for this, but it's called Island Survival. And this is often played with boxes of stuff, but you can actually, you send five to 10 people, two teams, three teams, four teams, no more than four teams, but two to four teams, five to 10 people each, and you send them into their Zoom rooms. And then you read them all this story, that they have been stranded on an island following a shipwreck, and that they discover items washing up on shore. And then you give them, you can just type it into the Zoom chat, a list of 20 items, and explain that they're only allowed to keep five. Then they have to work together to identify which items they'll keep, and how they'll use them to survive. And then after everyone is done, they come back into the main Zoom, and they explain what they chose. It's fun, it's cooperative, it's creative, and it builds communication skills, because they have to work together, and then they have to explain it to each other. But not just about a team project or meeting goals. Again, it does the same thing as talking about how do we meet our sales goals? How do we increase our reach in our marketing programs? Same concepts, creativity, brainstorming, teamwork, and communication. But does it in an actually kind of fun way. Especially if you're willing to have fun with it. And I went back to the, going back to the beginning about George Bernal Shaw, be human, be foibled, be silly. And that's that. Silos, silence, and sanctuary, bad. Gosh, I'm gonna go back here. There we go. Clear onboarding process, safe environment, flexible processes, really, really, really good. My name is Jessica Hope. I have time, I have time for questions. I talked a lot, Liz, I talked a lot longer than I thought I was going to. I thought I was going to have that all down in 30 minutes. So I have time for questions. If you are listening, if you're watching this later, thank you so much. Yes, that's really how my first name is spelled. It was the 70s in California. My mother thought she was very clever. I am hopecommunications consulting.com. I hope to see you at an in-person AED meeting sometime in the near future, please in the near future. And I am sending a big hug because I know it's hard. And we are all in the same storm. And I really do wish you all the best. Liz, do we have any questions? We don't. But Jessica, could you share your email address real quick, just in case anything comes up later that people want to maybe reach out to you? Sure. It's, this should be pretty simple. It's jessicahopecommunications at gmail.com. So spell just jessicahopecommunications at gmail.com. Or my website has a contact me. Excellent. Well, Jessica, thank you so much for joining us today. And we will just, yeah, thanks for your time. We appreciate it. Always, always happy to help my friends at AED. All right. Thanks. Thanks, everyone.

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