Omnifia Meets Nini Fritz

Omnifia Meets Nini Fritz

Ivor Colson: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome to Omnifa Meets. In each episode, you'll meet an HR people, productivity or future of work leader and learn how they're overcoming challenges and inspiring workplace success through unique insights, stories, and also opinions. I'm Iva Colson. I'm co-founder of Omni. And today I have Nini Fritz, who is the creator and founder of the Work Happiness Project, which is all about creating strong working connections remotely.

Ivor Colson: And for, for the listeners and perhaps for some context, ironically, we actually met in person, which is a bit of a, a rarity these days and we've been pen pals ever since. So really great to have you here. 

Nini Fritz: Thank you so much for having me [00:01:00] feeling honored to be a guest on your podcast. 

Ivor Colson: So do you want to kind of go ahead and give an introduction to yourself and, and what you do?

Ivor Colson: Then we can get into the ice break around, and after this we can dig a bit deeper and get your thoughts on things like how you inspire connection in the workplace. Like burnouts, we'll talk about skills the need for kind of remote work and even your view on quiet, quitting, quiet hiring and quiet firing trends.

Ivor Colson: How does that 

Nini Fritz: sound? Absolutely. Let's roll with it. . Should I just kick it off and introduce, reintroduce myself after your pretty perfect introduction. I have to say . 

Ivor Colson: Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. 

Nini Fritz: All right, so I'm Minnie and I am the founder of the Work Happiness Project, as you already correctly mentioned.

Nini Fritz: So my role is pretty much connecting people and I truly believe [00:02:00] in this, the concept of working from anywhere and feeling connected to everyone in the team. I do think that yeah, the freedom to work from your favorite place in the world doesn't have to come at the sacrifice of human connection and feeling like you're belonging to something bigger.

Nini Fritz: So I just wanted to blend the best of both worlds and find a way to make sure people actually become part of this inspiring, uplifting corporate culture. without having to commute to an office or like live in a specific city, but they can live like a lifestyle on their own terms and still like contributing to the shared mission, ambition of the company.

Nini Fritz: And yeah, my principle is a pretty holistic principle in terms of. Super charging the employees from the inside out. So hence the Work Happiness Project. So I really believe that when we are supercharged from the inside, when our batteries are full, [00:03:00] then we actually have more to give to others. And that includes like our personal life and of course our professional life as well.

Nini Fritz: When we're switched on, we're more like creative. We're more enthusiastic, higher life. Just has like a contagious ripple effect into every area of our life. So yeah, I believe in this holistic approach. All my, all my workshops are based on three core pillars. They're lift fuller, connect deeper, and be happier.

Nini Fritz: And I truly hope I can impact as many remote teams as possible to live like holistically fulfilled work and personalized, 

Ivor Colson: inspiring connection is such. Key focus of employers. It's all we're hearing about with the clients that we're speaking with and especially with the measurement of it and actually creating that in this new remote environment.

Ivor Colson: So it's really great to have your hear and get your thoughts on, on all [00:04:00] these trending topics. So let's get into the ice break around. So this is where you can have your say Nini on whether. These statements or quotes are more fact or if they're more fiction. Okay. , you can have your say here.

Ivor Colson: So the first quote, money is the best motivator for employees. 

Nini Fritz: Absolutely Fiction , I don't believe in that. And even at the numbers, I think you know, they, they, they ran a survey and it says like the biggest n is actually that money is the biggest motivator because it's actually much more about peer motivation as well as like individual reward and recognition.

Nini Fritz: So I think that plan for personal and private life, we wanna be seen, we wanna be recognized as a human being and not just a human doing. So I strongly believe in [00:05:00] rewards in terms of emotionally yeah, emotionally connected achievements or experiences like, you know, paying for a bucket list goal or like motivating them with like anything that sparks their intrinsic motivation instead of.

Ivor Colson: Easy one to start off with. Yeah. Thank you. I, I love this. Yeah. You touched on, on recognition and that's that's absolutely, absolutely huge. And we've seen tons of these recognition tools really accelerate and, and become quite popular. So now you've you might be a bit biased maybe on this one, seeing as you've founded the project on creating connections remotely, but I'm keen to put your take here. So the, the quote is, and I'm paraphrasing, but the quote is the fastest way to build connection.

Ivor Colson: Is in person and it's one from Scott getaway. So interested to, to hear your take here. 

Nini Fritz: Ooh, [00:06:00] that is a tough one. . Well let's look at it at that from that one, from that angle. I agree. I do think the strongest connections are made offline. . But I do think that in order to like really motivate employees, it's important that they actually build their work around life and not life around work.

Nini Fritz: So I do think that remote team building, I mean , I might be slightly biased, but I think like remote team building should be seen as like a way to keep up. You know, like a long distance relationship. That's always how I describe like comparison between like a healthy corporate remote culture and like a long distance relationship.

Nini Fritz: I think like remote team building is quality focused. It means like you have to nurture something, I would say artificially that you would ex. Back to come naturally in an office setting, but I think therefore you can actually invest much more in [00:07:00] quality. Making sure that the time you make for it is actually filled with like meaningful connections and like a proper guideline to like really connect your team and not just expect it.

Nini Fritz: Casually flow at the water cooler. So I think it comes with more intention. And therefore it's like a good add-on to like build the relationship to eventually have like, at least once a year, have like an offsite retreat and get everyone together in person. Yeah. So it's like a complimentary not a substitute.

Ivor Colson: It's, yeah. It's, it's not binary, is it? Yeah. When I . Had a previous role and it was, you know, a hundred percent, well, it was predominantly remote and every time like we would have the offsite, this is when I really built the connections on a more deeper level actually.

Ivor Colson: But the remote setting allows you to . All of those relationships over the rest of the year. So it's like a combination of, of group worlds. Right. [00:08:00] So the last one is remote workers are more unproductive than office workers.

Nini Fritz: I don't wanna come across so negative, but , I also don't agree to that one. Cause, I mean, it comes back to my theory of like personal fulfillment, but I, I strongly believe that. , you know, if you like, again, live a life to your own terms, you work like in environment that you feel like you're most thriving in, like you're in your element, maybe the mountains, the woods, the beach.

Nini Fritz: And I think therefore actually have more energy. And also like structuring your workday based on your own terms. I think then you're actually more productive instead of yeah, just filling in the blank and. Sitting in an office and killing your time from like eight to nine to five at least.

Nini Fritz: And yeah, it. being present, but you're not actually getting the work [00:09:00] done. And when you work remotely, I think it's more transparent in terms of actually like taking off your to-do lists and getting work done because only like the outcome that you produce on paper is the work that your team actually gets to see.

Nini Fritz: So it's not enough to just like lock in and wait for time to pass. Like you actually have to show results. And you know, like when you get it done faster, you have. Free time. So I think it comes with a whole different and much more like positive motivation, intrinsic motivation to get things done.

Ivor Colson: Yeah, sure. And actually the, the person who. Came up with the quote actually has backtracked on it. Yes. Eva Musk. So you initially initially kinda banned remote work and now he's he's all for it. Which is interesting. So. Okay. That's the end of the ice break around. Now we get into the meat of the session.

Ivor Colson: Yes. Where we find out more about you, Mimi, [00:10:00] and your bit background. So, What's your background and what has led you to where you are today? You've talked about the work happiness projects and your principles, but what actually led you to to create. 

Nini Fritz: Well that's I think that's a story for like a very own podcast episode actually.

Nini Fritz: So quickly my background is got a bachelor's in business with international management and marketing and a masses in communication. And yeah, pretty much after my masters I decided I was way too young to work for the rest of my life. So I took a bucket list year, which was like a gap year with the intention of ticking off as many things as I possibly could, and then by the end of the year, figure out what I actually wanna do, like professionally for the rest of my life.

Nini Fritz: And coincidentally, call it faith, whatever you want. I came across a TED talk from this guy called, The bucket list guy, and he gave this like [00:11:00] 12 step blueprint of how to write like a personally meaningful and holistic bucket list. And that really motivated me to like rewrote my, rewrite my list and get a lot of cool stuff done, like meeting Thema like.

Nini Fritz: Hitchhiking, Nicaragua, whatever. And eventually I moved to Australia and I reached out to this guy who gave the TED talk and asked if I asked if I could invite him for a coffee to just, you know, thank him for in inspiration to, you know, I really. Yeah, basically get me the best year of my life. And we met up and we just had such a vibe, like it was just such a professional clique in terms of mission, vision.

Nini Fritz: And then eventually I ended up being hired as the global marketing manager of the Bucket list coaching company, from this Ted Talk guy. and I also got my coaching license with them, which was based on this [00:12:00] blueprint. And yeah, so I spot my bucket list year for Bucket List live and stayed with the company actually for two years.

Nini Fritz: And then I realized I really enjoyed freedom to just work remotely, but. I also felt like quite lonely and isolated at times, just sitting in front of my laptop by myself all day. And then, yeah, well, I thought, well, why not just take the bucket list coaching license that I already have and use it in the, in the purpose of helping other remote workers and remote teams to actually.

Nini Fritz: You know, I have more of like a team culture, team connection. So I quit the marketing and then founded the the Work Happiness Project and focused on team building for remote teams because that was something I wish I had at the company. And that's, yeah, how things started. And luckily I Still rolling.

Ivor Colson: No, it's really cool that you are, you're doing that and that's a really [00:13:00] interesting background actually. So, , I think particularly, you know, when Covid happened, I think everyone suffered from loneliness. Yeah. And isolation. And it's definitely gotten better, but it's for sure still a problem, especially amongst remote teams.

Ivor Colson: So what are the most effective ways that you use to inspire, connect? In the workplace? Mm. 

Nini Fritz: I would say it's always quality over quantity. Like when it comes to meetings, when it comes to like casual hangouts, just like really make them intentional. Not just like, oh, virtual happy hour, whoever wants to show up.

Nini Fritz: It's gonna show up. Like give it a clear, like, topic. What are you gonna talk about? You know, have a bit of a guideline. and what I love and that's actually the other business I have is like I made a conversation sparking icebreaker game. So I use that a lot for team building for [00:14:00] just like no virtual coffee breaks.

Nini Fritz: Ask a few like outside the box questions to really help team members to get to know each other outside of work. Like skip the small talk. Let's not talk about the weather. I don't know. The last TV show let's like really take off our hats as like I am the marketing manager, I am the finance guy.

Nini Fritz: And like get to know the human behind. Cuz I think, you know, humanity, vulnerability, that's actually what's, what's connecting us. And then it can also be like little tools and tricks like turn on your camera or like send like a voice note instead of just a text, because basically like the more non-verbal cues we're sending out while we're communicating the more we are actually connecting.

Nini Fritz: And also when you're on a meeting, maybe like work related or like, let's say social related. But yeah, make sure that you're fully present, like don't. , [00:15:00] you know, reply to emails in the meantime or like, really just like in an offline conversation. Just give your time, your undivided attention and your full presence to the person you're talking to.

Nini Fritz: I think these are like little connection hacks to, yeah, just build connections online. 

Ivor Colson: You have to gimme some new suggestions for icebreaker questions. 

Nini Fritz: Well, they're not really related to the podcast, but of course I'm always happy to have out . 

Ivor Colson: Some, some things that we've learned with inspiring connections is the importance of holding things like regular one-to-ones with managers and employees.

Ivor Colson: This is something that's quite often overlooked we find, and yeah, fun activities like one of our clients use. Draw a sous game on Fridays and a weekly quiz. And these things really creates a bit of rapport between different employees. And something we've touched on before is, is [00:16:00] recognition.

Ivor Colson: Yeah, absolutely. Not. Like with. , you know, work achievements, but also things like birthdays and anniversaries too. I think a lot of companies don't see the importance of this. Employers 

Nini Fritz: don't, oh, that's everything. Like individual recognition, reward, make them feel seen, make them feel heard, like yeah, it's like such a motivation for them.

Nini Fritz: not a, a game that I really love to play in my team milling workshops. It's like a, never have I ever Zoom version . So people basically, like everybody turns on the camera in the beginning and if you're being like called out, it's like, never have I ever. I don't know. What can I say? Being late to zoom meeting cause I was still making my coffee or something.

Nini Fritz: And then you have to turn off your camera. , like the last person standing is like, let's say the cleanest of all . 

Ivor Colson: Yeah, that's, that's, that's really fun. I think there are loads of great ways you can be quite fun about it. Yeah. So like [00:17:00] as a segue, so when we aren't connected or, or engaged, perhaps we're more likely to be burnt up.

Ivor Colson: Yeah. And burnout has been a trending topic obviously in, in recent years. I think it's been quite like a trending buzzword. What's your take on it and how it's impacting the work environment? What are the science to look for? And you. , how do you prevent it? 

Nini Fritz: It's a good question. I went I ran some like studies before Covid and that showed even that I think every fifth person in the workplace was affected by some sort of mental health issues.

Nini Fritz: I think like 70% were. Actively disengaged. And cuz the other one is like, yeah, I'm leading up to like 50% less productivity when you're being burned out. So that just shows that, you know, it's not just bad for the employee, like on a personal level that they're not feeling well. It also like, Massively affects [00:18:00] like the profit of, of the company.

Nini Fritz: So it's not just, you know, being the good cemter to like provide some mental, mental health support in the company. It really like, serves or like harms the company when a lot of your, your staff is actually affected by that. Mm-hmm. . So, yeah, I think things like you know, scheduling regular one-on-one chats on like a personal level or offering like mental, mental health aid or like like wouldn't say benefit system, but a point system.

Nini Fritz: For professional mental health as well. That's something I've heard of a companies. It's like you have, let's say 10 credits and you can use them for either you know, like a per personal like counselor session or for like an hour of. I don't know, like a workshop based on personal development or any feel of interest that actually boosts [00:19:00] your, your mental health.

Nini Fritz: A yoga session, a meditation session, whatever, like actively integrate mental health boosters and also not a thing that I recommend companies I work with is like, put in on Slack, you know, like put in your STA status update is like, I don't know, when you, when it's not your day, like just, I don't know, send set up a specific emoji for, yeah, I'm having a bad day today.

Nini Fritz: And then people know that, you know, like when you, when you act a bit more harsh or whatever, it's like they just know how not to take it personally or you know, like normal. Being an emotional human being at the workplace without, you know, exceeding it without like, you know, you don't have to be like grumpy and like whatever, show too much of your inner world.

Nini Fritz: It's still a job you have to get done. But yeah, allow and encourage expressing yourself at the workplace to make sure it's [00:20:00] like a safe space, but you don't have to suppress where you don't have to hide so people can actually like help you feeling better. . Yeah. Yeah. Forward. 

Ivor Colson: So much of it's about like that open communication.

Ivor Colson: Like if you say something like, I'm having a bad day. Yeah. I imagine multiple others are also having bad days as well. Yeah. And you can have a chat about that and you're not alone and they're makes you feel more connected to workplace and it's perfectly normal to have to have bad days.

Ivor Colson: And everyone, everyone has them. Right. 

Ivor Colson: We've, we've gone over time here, so on that bond shell, I think it's a good time to wrap up the session today. So thank you so much, Nina, for, for joining today. Tons of really good insights across inspiring connection remotely, burnout, and and much more. Thanks for tuning in everyone and speak to you all next time.

‍

Omnifia Meets Nini Fritz

Ivor Colson: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome to Omnifa Meets. In each episode, you'll meet an HR people, productivity or future of work leader and learn how they're overcoming challenges and inspiring workplace success through unique insights, stories, and also opinions. I'm Iva Colson. I'm co-founder of Omni. And today I have Nini Fritz, who is the creator and founder of the Work Happiness Project, which is all about creating strong working connections remotely.

Ivor Colson: And for, for the listeners and perhaps for some context, ironically, we actually met in person, which is a bit of a, a rarity these days and we've been pen pals ever since. So really great to have you here. 

Nini Fritz: Thank you so much for having me [00:01:00] feeling honored to be a guest on your podcast. 

Ivor Colson: So do you want to kind of go ahead and give an introduction to yourself and, and what you do?

Ivor Colson: Then we can get into the ice break around, and after this we can dig a bit deeper and get your thoughts on things like how you inspire connection in the workplace. Like burnouts, we'll talk about skills the need for kind of remote work and even your view on quiet, quitting, quiet hiring and quiet firing trends.

Ivor Colson: How does that 

Nini Fritz: sound? Absolutely. Let's roll with it. . Should I just kick it off and introduce, reintroduce myself after your pretty perfect introduction. I have to say . 

Ivor Colson: Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. 

Nini Fritz: All right, so I'm Minnie and I am the founder of the Work Happiness Project, as you already correctly mentioned.

Nini Fritz: So my role is pretty much connecting people and I truly believe [00:02:00] in this, the concept of working from anywhere and feeling connected to everyone in the team. I do think that yeah, the freedom to work from your favorite place in the world doesn't have to come at the sacrifice of human connection and feeling like you're belonging to something bigger.

Nini Fritz: So I just wanted to blend the best of both worlds and find a way to make sure people actually become part of this inspiring, uplifting corporate culture. without having to commute to an office or like live in a specific city, but they can live like a lifestyle on their own terms and still like contributing to the shared mission, ambition of the company.

Nini Fritz: And yeah, my principle is a pretty holistic principle in terms of. Super charging the employees from the inside out. So hence the Work Happiness Project. So I really believe that when we are supercharged from the inside, when our batteries are full, [00:03:00] then we actually have more to give to others. And that includes like our personal life and of course our professional life as well.

Nini Fritz: When we're switched on, we're more like creative. We're more enthusiastic, higher life. Just has like a contagious ripple effect into every area of our life. So yeah, I believe in this holistic approach. All my, all my workshops are based on three core pillars. They're lift fuller, connect deeper, and be happier.

Nini Fritz: And I truly hope I can impact as many remote teams as possible to live like holistically fulfilled work and personalized, 

Ivor Colson: inspiring connection is such. Key focus of employers. It's all we're hearing about with the clients that we're speaking with and especially with the measurement of it and actually creating that in this new remote environment.

Ivor Colson: So it's really great to have your hear and get your thoughts on, on all [00:04:00] these trending topics. So let's get into the ice break around. So this is where you can have your say Nini on whether. These statements or quotes are more fact or if they're more fiction. Okay. , you can have your say here.

Ivor Colson: So the first quote, money is the best motivator for employees. 

Nini Fritz: Absolutely Fiction , I don't believe in that. And even at the numbers, I think you know, they, they, they ran a survey and it says like the biggest n is actually that money is the biggest motivator because it's actually much more about peer motivation as well as like individual reward and recognition.

Nini Fritz: So I think that plan for personal and private life, we wanna be seen, we wanna be recognized as a human being and not just a human doing. So I strongly believe in [00:05:00] rewards in terms of emotionally yeah, emotionally connected achievements or experiences like, you know, paying for a bucket list goal or like motivating them with like anything that sparks their intrinsic motivation instead of.

Ivor Colson: Easy one to start off with. Yeah. Thank you. I, I love this. Yeah. You touched on, on recognition and that's that's absolutely, absolutely huge. And we've seen tons of these recognition tools really accelerate and, and become quite popular. So now you've you might be a bit biased maybe on this one, seeing as you've founded the project on creating connections remotely, but I'm keen to put your take here. So the, the quote is, and I'm paraphrasing, but the quote is the fastest way to build connection.

Ivor Colson: Is in person and it's one from Scott getaway. So interested to, to hear your take here. 

Nini Fritz: Ooh, [00:06:00] that is a tough one. . Well let's look at it at that from that one, from that angle. I agree. I do think the strongest connections are made offline. . But I do think that in order to like really motivate employees, it's important that they actually build their work around life and not life around work.

Nini Fritz: So I do think that remote team building, I mean , I might be slightly biased, but I think like remote team building should be seen as like a way to keep up. You know, like a long distance relationship. That's always how I describe like comparison between like a healthy corporate remote culture and like a long distance relationship.

Nini Fritz: I think like remote team building is quality focused. It means like you have to nurture something, I would say artificially that you would ex. Back to come naturally in an office setting, but I think therefore you can actually invest much more in [00:07:00] quality. Making sure that the time you make for it is actually filled with like meaningful connections and like a proper guideline to like really connect your team and not just expect it.

Nini Fritz: Casually flow at the water cooler. So I think it comes with more intention. And therefore it's like a good add-on to like build the relationship to eventually have like, at least once a year, have like an offsite retreat and get everyone together in person. Yeah. So it's like a complimentary not a substitute.

Ivor Colson: It's, yeah. It's, it's not binary, is it? Yeah. When I . Had a previous role and it was, you know, a hundred percent, well, it was predominantly remote and every time like we would have the offsite, this is when I really built the connections on a more deeper level actually.

Ivor Colson: But the remote setting allows you to . All of those relationships over the rest of the year. So it's like a combination of, of group worlds. Right. [00:08:00] So the last one is remote workers are more unproductive than office workers.

Nini Fritz: I don't wanna come across so negative, but , I also don't agree to that one. Cause, I mean, it comes back to my theory of like personal fulfillment, but I, I strongly believe that. , you know, if you like, again, live a life to your own terms, you work like in environment that you feel like you're most thriving in, like you're in your element, maybe the mountains, the woods, the beach.

Nini Fritz: And I think therefore actually have more energy. And also like structuring your workday based on your own terms. I think then you're actually more productive instead of yeah, just filling in the blank and. Sitting in an office and killing your time from like eight to nine to five at least.

Nini Fritz: And yeah, it. being present, but you're not actually getting the work [00:09:00] done. And when you work remotely, I think it's more transparent in terms of actually like taking off your to-do lists and getting work done because only like the outcome that you produce on paper is the work that your team actually gets to see.

Nini Fritz: So it's not enough to just like lock in and wait for time to pass. Like you actually have to show results. And you know, like when you get it done faster, you have. Free time. So I think it comes with a whole different and much more like positive motivation, intrinsic motivation to get things done.

Ivor Colson: Yeah, sure. And actually the, the person who. Came up with the quote actually has backtracked on it. Yes. Eva Musk. So you initially initially kinda banned remote work and now he's he's all for it. Which is interesting. So. Okay. That's the end of the ice break around. Now we get into the meat of the session.

Ivor Colson: Yes. Where we find out more about you, Mimi, [00:10:00] and your bit background. So, What's your background and what has led you to where you are today? You've talked about the work happiness projects and your principles, but what actually led you to to create. 

Nini Fritz: Well that's I think that's a story for like a very own podcast episode actually.

Nini Fritz: So quickly my background is got a bachelor's in business with international management and marketing and a masses in communication. And yeah, pretty much after my masters I decided I was way too young to work for the rest of my life. So I took a bucket list year, which was like a gap year with the intention of ticking off as many things as I possibly could, and then by the end of the year, figure out what I actually wanna do, like professionally for the rest of my life.

Nini Fritz: And coincidentally, call it faith, whatever you want. I came across a TED talk from this guy called, The bucket list guy, and he gave this like [00:11:00] 12 step blueprint of how to write like a personally meaningful and holistic bucket list. And that really motivated me to like rewrote my, rewrite my list and get a lot of cool stuff done, like meeting Thema like.

Nini Fritz: Hitchhiking, Nicaragua, whatever. And eventually I moved to Australia and I reached out to this guy who gave the TED talk and asked if I asked if I could invite him for a coffee to just, you know, thank him for in inspiration to, you know, I really. Yeah, basically get me the best year of my life. And we met up and we just had such a vibe, like it was just such a professional clique in terms of mission, vision.

Nini Fritz: And then eventually I ended up being hired as the global marketing manager of the Bucket list coaching company, from this Ted Talk guy. and I also got my coaching license with them, which was based on this [00:12:00] blueprint. And yeah, so I spot my bucket list year for Bucket List live and stayed with the company actually for two years.

Nini Fritz: And then I realized I really enjoyed freedom to just work remotely, but. I also felt like quite lonely and isolated at times, just sitting in front of my laptop by myself all day. And then, yeah, well, I thought, well, why not just take the bucket list coaching license that I already have and use it in the, in the purpose of helping other remote workers and remote teams to actually.

Nini Fritz: You know, I have more of like a team culture, team connection. So I quit the marketing and then founded the the Work Happiness Project and focused on team building for remote teams because that was something I wish I had at the company. And that's, yeah, how things started. And luckily I Still rolling.

Ivor Colson: No, it's really cool that you are, you're doing that and that's a really [00:13:00] interesting background actually. So, , I think particularly, you know, when Covid happened, I think everyone suffered from loneliness. Yeah. And isolation. And it's definitely gotten better, but it's for sure still a problem, especially amongst remote teams.

Ivor Colson: So what are the most effective ways that you use to inspire, connect? In the workplace? Mm. 

Nini Fritz: I would say it's always quality over quantity. Like when it comes to meetings, when it comes to like casual hangouts, just like really make them intentional. Not just like, oh, virtual happy hour, whoever wants to show up.

Nini Fritz: It's gonna show up. Like give it a clear, like, topic. What are you gonna talk about? You know, have a bit of a guideline. and what I love and that's actually the other business I have is like I made a conversation sparking icebreaker game. So I use that a lot for team building for [00:14:00] just like no virtual coffee breaks.

Nini Fritz: Ask a few like outside the box questions to really help team members to get to know each other outside of work. Like skip the small talk. Let's not talk about the weather. I don't know. The last TV show let's like really take off our hats as like I am the marketing manager, I am the finance guy.

Nini Fritz: And like get to know the human behind. Cuz I think, you know, humanity, vulnerability, that's actually what's, what's connecting us. And then it can also be like little tools and tricks like turn on your camera or like send like a voice note instead of just a text, because basically like the more non-verbal cues we're sending out while we're communicating the more we are actually connecting.

Nini Fritz: And also when you're on a meeting, maybe like work related or like, let's say social related. But yeah, make sure that you're fully present, like don't. , [00:15:00] you know, reply to emails in the meantime or like, really just like in an offline conversation. Just give your time, your undivided attention and your full presence to the person you're talking to.

Nini Fritz: I think these are like little connection hacks to, yeah, just build connections online. 

Ivor Colson: You have to gimme some new suggestions for icebreaker questions. 

Nini Fritz: Well, they're not really related to the podcast, but of course I'm always happy to have out . 

Ivor Colson: Some, some things that we've learned with inspiring connections is the importance of holding things like regular one-to-ones with managers and employees.

Ivor Colson: This is something that's quite often overlooked we find, and yeah, fun activities like one of our clients use. Draw a sous game on Fridays and a weekly quiz. And these things really creates a bit of rapport between different employees. And something we've touched on before is, is [00:16:00] recognition.

Ivor Colson: Yeah, absolutely. Not. Like with. , you know, work achievements, but also things like birthdays and anniversaries too. I think a lot of companies don't see the importance of this. Employers 

Nini Fritz: don't, oh, that's everything. Like individual recognition, reward, make them feel seen, make them feel heard, like yeah, it's like such a motivation for them.

Nini Fritz: not a, a game that I really love to play in my team milling workshops. It's like a, never have I ever Zoom version . So people basically, like everybody turns on the camera in the beginning and if you're being like called out, it's like, never have I ever. I don't know. What can I say? Being late to zoom meeting cause I was still making my coffee or something.

Nini Fritz: And then you have to turn off your camera. , like the last person standing is like, let's say the cleanest of all . 

Ivor Colson: Yeah, that's, that's, that's really fun. I think there are loads of great ways you can be quite fun about it. Yeah. So like [00:17:00] as a segue, so when we aren't connected or, or engaged, perhaps we're more likely to be burnt up.

Ivor Colson: Yeah. And burnout has been a trending topic obviously in, in recent years. I think it's been quite like a trending buzzword. What's your take on it and how it's impacting the work environment? What are the science to look for? And you. , how do you prevent it? 

Nini Fritz: It's a good question. I went I ran some like studies before Covid and that showed even that I think every fifth person in the workplace was affected by some sort of mental health issues.

Nini Fritz: I think like 70% were. Actively disengaged. And cuz the other one is like, yeah, I'm leading up to like 50% less productivity when you're being burned out. So that just shows that, you know, it's not just bad for the employee, like on a personal level that they're not feeling well. It also like, Massively affects [00:18:00] like the profit of, of the company.

Nini Fritz: So it's not just, you know, being the good cemter to like provide some mental, mental health support in the company. It really like, serves or like harms the company when a lot of your, your staff is actually affected by that. Mm-hmm. . So, yeah, I think things like you know, scheduling regular one-on-one chats on like a personal level or offering like mental, mental health aid or like like wouldn't say benefit system, but a point system.

Nini Fritz: For professional mental health as well. That's something I've heard of a companies. It's like you have, let's say 10 credits and you can use them for either you know, like a per personal like counselor session or for like an hour of. I don't know, like a workshop based on personal development or any feel of interest that actually boosts [00:19:00] your, your mental health.

Nini Fritz: A yoga session, a meditation session, whatever, like actively integrate mental health boosters and also not a thing that I recommend companies I work with is like, put in on Slack, you know, like put in your STA status update is like, I don't know, when you, when it's not your day, like just, I don't know, send set up a specific emoji for, yeah, I'm having a bad day today.

Nini Fritz: And then people know that, you know, like when you, when you act a bit more harsh or whatever, it's like they just know how not to take it personally or you know, like normal. Being an emotional human being at the workplace without, you know, exceeding it without like, you know, you don't have to be like grumpy and like whatever, show too much of your inner world.

Nini Fritz: It's still a job you have to get done. But yeah, allow and encourage expressing yourself at the workplace to make sure it's [00:20:00] like a safe space, but you don't have to suppress where you don't have to hide so people can actually like help you feeling better. . Yeah. Yeah. Forward. 

Ivor Colson: So much of it's about like that open communication.

Ivor Colson: Like if you say something like, I'm having a bad day. Yeah. I imagine multiple others are also having bad days as well. Yeah. And you can have a chat about that and you're not alone and they're makes you feel more connected to workplace and it's perfectly normal to have to have bad days.

Ivor Colson: And everyone, everyone has them. Right. 

Ivor Colson: We've, we've gone over time here, so on that bond shell, I think it's a good time to wrap up the session today. So thank you so much, Nina, for, for joining today. Tons of really good insights across inspiring connection remotely, burnout, and and much more. Thanks for tuning in everyone and speak to you all next time.

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