Here at Zipdev, we have 25 team members who all work remotely. Some of us from co-works and the majority from home offices. With all the craziness going on, I’d like to share with you a little “trick of the trade” that helps keep morale charging along.
Music. Who doesn’t love music, right?
At Zipdev, listening to music while working is a must. It gets us in the zone. It sets the tone for the day. Classic rock, cumbia, reggae, some fun techno, whatever floats your boat. It’s all an integral part of our day.
A couple of months ago we tried something on a Thursday and it worked so well that now Thursdays are known as, “Turn It Up Thursdaze”.
We created a Spotify playlist called “Zipdev – Turn it Up Thursdaze” and asked that each team member follow that playlist. Then we asked them to start sharing songs to it so we could hear what everyone else was listening to.
This music day has evolved into something we never expected. Every Thursday morning, we send out a message to the team in our slack thread and ask for fun suggestions on what the music theme for the day should be. Once a theme has been selected, each team member adds their taste in music to that playlist. We leave that playlist up till Wednesday night of the following week and then we wipe it clean.
Sometimes if the playlist is too good to lose, we change the name of that playlist to the theme of the day and create a new “Turn it up Thursdaze” playlist.
We try to get creative with our themes. For example, earlier this month it was International Women’s Day so the theme for that Thursday was female lead singers. Another idea was for each team member to go to their “discover weekly playlist” and add their favorite 3 songs from that week. We’ve done Romantic Playlists for Valentine’s Day and have done easy ones like Classic Rock.
The great thing is the entire team participates in this activity, you get to learn about new artists each week (some you may have never learned about), and you get to know your team members a little better by their music selections. Trust me when I tell you that prior to this activity, I’ve never heard a Spanish heavy metal love song or even knew about the global phenomenon of K-Pop.
The connections that have been built around this day have been awesome especially with a remote team. Even though we are all remote, listening to the same playlist makes us feel at times like we are all in the same room. This music activity has really helped build company culture and connectedness.
Feel free to listen in on today’s “Zipdev – Turn it up Thursdaze” playlist. The theme for the day is “happy”.
“Music is the universal language of mankind.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow