Jab we met, the FlexiBees way!
Remote working is a way of life at FlexiBees. But that doesn’t mean we don’t like to meet! The pandemic sure did put its spanner in the works; but this year as soon as things started opening up, there we were, planning physical meets across the multiple cities that FlexiBees lives and works out of.
But what happens when you have 40+ folks (albeit in groups of 12-13) meeting for the first time? Many have joined recently, some that you may have worked with and know the faces of, some you know only by name, and a few not even that?
Hilarity, some misadventures, but mostly fun!
The “Kaun ho tum - Kya ho tum” syndrome
We definitely had those moments when we would wonder if the person walking towards our table was coming to join us, and who she was.
Now of course these moments didn't last long, one of us founders would know her, or the person who helped organize that meet up would, but for a while as every new person walked in, it was a bit like day 1 at college!
Moms just wanna have fun!
Since our folks live across 10+ cities in India, we try to club multiple cities in one go, where convenient. So the Pune team came to the Mumbai meet, and by all accounts it was an awesome girls day out kind of situation for them.
And while we understand and enable the balance that working flexibly creates for women professionals, a vast majority of who in this country and across the world are also primary caregivers and home-makers, sometimes you just gotta take a break from being the mom and an all-round useful person. A day just for your own selves, and that is what we saw in play through these gatherings!
Team building, a cliche but it works!
Most of us starting our own companies after working in corporates vowed that we would build a different kind of organization. But you know what, after being in this game a few years now, you realize that some things just work.
What do you do when not all folks sitting around the table know each other? Team building, that’s what!
But we made it slightly more fun, or at least we like to think so. So each person had to introduce themselves, and say something interesting about another person at the table! Cool, na? Team building, check; team bonding, check!
The people behind the people behind the people!
When founders meet teams, reporting managers meet reportees, things can get a bit appraisal-y. And even if it’s all good feedback, well, there is a time and a place?
Seriously though, it was much more fun getting to know the people behind the work, to be part of organic conversations about their lives and loves.
And am sure the team derived much mirth from the stories we founders spun, from our days as friends and idiots at B-school and beyond. Long before FlexiBees was even an idea.
Ain’t a lunch without shop talk
Well when folks meet folks who work together, some shop talk is bound to happen.
Some of it was successful, and a few like our dear Content manager, Deepthi, who had come loaded with ideas and paraphernalia to shoot some spur-of-the-moment videos, had to go back discontent (get the pun?). Who knows why. Maybe the electric blue of our gin cocktails had something to do with it. Or perhaps it was the dancing.
Tonight we dance, like no tomorrow
What do a group of girls do when they find a dance floor in the vicinity?
They dance, ladies and gentlemen, they D.A.N.C.E.
Mom or no mom, dancing is a birthright, but especially so when you are a parent. In fact, like ladies nights, restaurants and bars in India should do “parents days”, where ‘em parents can jimmy and shimmy and chiggy and wiggy to their heart’s content while jimmy, shimmy, chiggy and wiggy are in school. Backaches be damned.
We did exactly that. And soon we had the entire Bangalore FlexiBees toli heating up the dance floor, with not a care in the world. It was the highlight of the afternoon for me!
Yeh dil maange more!
Working remotely during normal times is very different from that during the lockdowns. It is in many ways a hybrid model, with meetings with clients and investors, conferences, team meets and outbounds (an aspiration and hopefully to be realized soon). For internal facing members, meeting others in the team occasionally is an important part of the professional experience.
So yes we definitely intend to do more of these meets, and create our unique organizational thumbprint that gives the best of both worlds to us and our team members.
