Viva EA boosts team camaraderie – Shippo case study

Fostering a strong sense of team camaraderie directly impacts the overall success of your team. But as an exec, you aren’t the only person responsible for your team’s cohesiveness and morale. A well-trained executive assistant also fulfills this role, applying their skills to help you realize your team-building objectives. 

See how Shippo’s SVP of People leveraged her executive assistant to improve team engagement.

The importance of team camaraderie

As a leader, it’s important to make sure the group of individuals under your direction doesn’t always behave as individuals who happen to be striving toward key results, but as a close group where each team member feels like they are a part of something bigger, that they can count on each other, and that they can seek help and guidance from you as their leader and from all their colleagues.

Having a sense of camaraderie is always important, but it plays an even bigger role in remote-first teams, like in Shippo’s case. 

Importance of team camaraderie for remote teams

When you have a fully remote team, you need to pay special attention to their morale, to prevent team members from feeling disconnected, disengaged, or isolated. Doing that can be a challenge, especially if, in addition to being remote, there is also time zone misalignment. In such cases, conversations that would happen organically in the office are reduced to async updates. Spotting when a team member needs support is often harder on a screen than it is face-to-face, which means it’s more challenging for you to identify when to intervene.

There are big risks of having a team member who is not in sync with their role: nothing prevents them from seeking other job opportunities, even if they’re not more attractive than their current position. Keeping in mind that the average tenure for startup employees is only two years, you have to start thinking about how happy your team is and how you can do everything in your power to retain A players.

What’s Shippo?

Shippo is the best multi-carrier shipping software for e-commerce businesses. This tech startup has over 250 remote-first employees and in 2021 announced its Series E funding round, reaching a valuation of $1 billion. Shippo’s investors include Union Square Ventures, Uncork Capital, Bessemer, and more.

What do they do?

When it comes to simplifying shipping and returns, Shippo stands out among its competitors. In contrast to dealing directly with shipping providers, Shippo, a shipping software provider, offers a more cost-effective and straightforward solution. With access to discounted shipping rates, it provides essential features such as package tracking, pickup scheduling, and hassle-free printing of shipping labels. Shippo simplifies the entire process, making it both efficient and budget-friendly.

Shippo automates the comparison of different shipping providers all in one place. This platform connects to shipping providers across North America, Europe, and Australia so merchants can find the best shipping provider for each package they are sending out. 

Through Shippo, e-commerce businesses, marketplaces, and platforms can connect to multiple shipping carriers around the world from one API and dashboard. Businesses can get shipping rates, print labels, automate international documents, track shipments, and facilitate returns.

What did they need? 

Hiring and retaining top performers is a priority for any startup executive, but for anyone part of the People function, it’s especially important. For Teryle Aguilar, SVP of People at Shippo, hiring, training, and retaining top talent is an indisputable priority and a permanent concern. That’s why she contacted us, because she was looking for an executive assistant who could help her look out for the team, listen to their needs, and offer quick solutions.

Why did Teryle want an EA specifically? Executive assistants are a part of both worlds: as part of the larger start-up team, they understand colleagues’ sentiments. As your business partner, they know what matters to you. This combination is so powerful, that they can act as an extension of you and help you become a better leader for your team.

That’s why we paired Teryle with Marina, an executive assistant with outstanding emotional intelligence, a trait that made her the ideal business partner for the SVP of People. 

How can your executive assistant help you improve team camaraderie?

As an executive, you have too many responsibilities and not enough time to take action on all of them, but the consequences of not paying enough attention or not tending to one of them on time can cause irreparable damage. If one of the responsibilities you’re neglecting is leading your team, it can result in accumulated tension, lack of guidance, and even a delay in your team’s progress and the company’s goals. 

Having an executive assistant who prioritizes your team’s needs is insurance that you will never drop the ball when it comes to listening and guiding each member of your team. The EA role is incredibly powerful, due to the privileged vantage point they have: by working closely with you, they know the executive’s expectations and priorities, and by being a part of the team, they understand line staff’s needs and struggles. By doing so, they can spot any dissatisfaction, flag it so you can take action, and in that way, prevent any friction from increasing. An EA can help you plan team-building activities, make your team grow faster, and turn recurring meetings into meaningful, growth-filled sessions with highly engaged team members.

Team-building ideas for remote teams

As a fully remote company, we are strong advocates of remote work. At Viva, we value the time savings of not having to commute and the ability to work from anywhere in the world. At the same time, we also know that working remotely can make team members feel isolated and disconnected. That’s why we’ve put together a series of initiatives to make sure no one feels left out, and that’s exactly what Marina has done for Teryle and her team.

A team-building activity can be anything that helps you and your team get to know each other better and leaves them with a feeling of belonging. These are some of the team-building activities Marina put into place.

Offsite planning

When you plan a company offsite you can’t just wing it; there are many things to consider and schedule, and something as little as not making a reservation on time can get in the way of your vision. That’s why designating someone to run the offsite is key to its success. 

All our EAs have set up dozens of offsites for some of the fastest-growing startups in the United States, and Marina could leverage our EA network and database with carefully curated information on the best restaurants, venues, traveling options, and activities to deliver a thoughtfully planned offsite created specially for Shippo.

Design creative reward initiatives

Another great way to build team camaraderie is by acknowledging your team’s hard work. Getting a paycheck, a performance bonus and perks and benefits is not always enough. Going the extra mile can make all the difference when it comes to boosting morale. 

One of the teams at Shippo was working on a very important project for the company: a software upgrade that would positively impact Shippo’s operations. As the project was being developed in Python, Marina had an idea: send a pie to each of the team members involved in the project. 

But the pie wasn’t the whole idea. When the pie was delivered, it was accompanied by a card with a QR code that announced a surprise: it took them to a Typeform they could use to choose between a $100 gift card, a donation to a non-profit of their choosing for the same value, or company swag. By giving them options, Teryle and Marina sent a clear message to the team: there is nothing more important to the People department than employee satisfaction. 

Marina took care of the whole initiative, from beginning to end. She ordered and shipped the pies, designed the card, created the QR code and the form, bought the gift cards, made the donations, sent the swag, and acted as the point of contact for the team, answering questions and inquiries.

Ramen and sake online tasting

You don’t need a work-related milestone to create a team-building activity. You can plan a fun moment for your team just for the sake of having fun, getting to know each other better, and getting rid of some of the stress that comes with the job. When it comes to team-building activities, you can let your creativity run free.

If you don’t know where to start, ask your EA to take over. In Shippo’s case, Marina got creative and came up with a ramen and sake tasting for the team. They enjoyed a delicious meal, learned about Japanese cuisine, and bonded over food and drinks with one goal in mind: to have fun.

This is how your EA can make your team grow

The idea of moving fast and breaking things is something every startup executive has heard or even said at some point. At Viva, the one thing we always suggest not to rush is your hiring process. Hiring and firing take up valuable time and resources you cannot afford to burn mindlessly. That’s why we suggest taking Teryle’s approach. 

Since Marina joined, she made scheduling interviews one of her top priorities. Organizing one executive’s calendar is a challenge on its own, but when it comes to interviewing a new candidate adds an extra layer of difficulty.

Since Marina joined, she made it her top priority to make everyone’s calendar align, and thanks to her speedy answers, the recruiting process is much faster.

How to improve team engagement in meetings?

Teryle had a weekly People team meeting that she organized and facilitated, and Marina realized that the meeting had very low engagement. Team members were struggling to voice their opinions or provide input, and Marina realized it was not the best use of everyone’s time. That’s why she challenged its dynamics.

She proposed a new cadence: from weekly to bi-weekly. Instead of Teryle having to host the meeting every single time, Marina introduced the idea of each member taking turns planning and facilitating. To make it possible, Teryle and Marina made sure the team didn’t have to plan everything from scratch; instead, Marina created a central document with ideas for each section of the meeting.

If you want to replicate this idea, follow Marina’s approach and create a document with these sections. All the team has to do is open the doc, pick one idea, and get the ball rolling:

• Icebreaker questions
• Work update ideas
• Learning videos
• Guest speaker options
• Inspiring quotes

The impact an EA can make on an SVP of People

1. When Marina challenged the People meeting, Teryle understood Marina’s feedback. She saw that the meeting was not the best use of her time and she made sure every team member took ownership of the meeting, turning a passive team into a highly involved team.
2. Team building initiatives like the “pie-thon” take the team’s interests into account, which shows Teryle listens to what they like. The proof that it works is that they all reached out to Marina to thank her, to provide their sizes, or ask when they would receive their swag, which shows what a good leader Teryle is.
3. Since Marina is the point of contact, everyone from the People team knows exactly where to go and who to ask, which makes communications more effective, ensuring the team feels they’re the most important thing for Teryle.
4. Marina’s involvement in the recruiting process has shortened the time it takes the People team to reach out to candidates, which has a positive impact on team growth and talent acquisition.

If your team needs a morale boost or if you think they could be more engaged in company initiatives, get an executive assistant. They are the perfect partner to help boost team camaraderie.