Listen On…
In today’s episode of Team Anywhere, I interviewed Amy Anderson, the co-founder of Wild Coffee Marketing. Amy shares her insights on building engagement and a strong company culture in a distributed team. Through her human-centric approach to leadership, Amy demonstrates the value of genuinely caring for employees and creating a supportive work environment.
Building Engagement in a Distributed Team
Amy Anderson discusses the importance of trust and fostering strong relationships in a distributed team. She highlights the need for accountability and collaboration to keep employees engaged. She shares how her company, Wild Coffee Marketing, creates rituals and practices that promote connection and engagement, such as daily end-of-day updates and weekly team meetings. Amy also emphasizes the significance of maintaining open communication and understanding the personal well-being of team members to support their engagement.
The Employee-Driven Economy
Amy Anderson addresses the current job market trends, where employees have more opportunities and choices. She explains the importance of creating a work environment that meets employees’ needs and provides purpose and growth opportunities. Amy emphasizes the need for companies to focus on nurturing a positive culture and establishing a strong employer brand to attract and retain talented individuals, particularly the younger generations like millennials and Gen Z.
Rituals and Practices for Team Engagement
Amy Anderson emphasizes the value of rituals and practices in fostering team engagement. She shares the rituals she has implemented, such as daily updates, quarterly planning meetings, and weekly team meetings, which include icebreakers to connect on a personal and professional level. Amy also highlights the importance of providing regular feedback through 90-day reviews and discussing energy levels to support team members’ overall well-being and performance. She believes in creating a culture where team members feel valued, supported, and connected.
Who is Amy Anderson?
Amy Anderson is a widely respected and creative industry leader who sees the unique opportunity to leverage creativity to transform both brands and entire organizations across multiple sectors. She has a track record of driving value for clients through brand and growth strategies, designing teams and innovative marketing strategies.
Her work at Wild Coffee is focused on transforming businesses through a diverse set of disciplines and tailor-made teams that span brand strategy, digital marketing, PR, and marketing consulting. Amy has more than 25 years of experience at brands such as Calvin Klein and The New York Times Digital. She drives strategy, creative and implementation across Wild Coffee’s diverse client roster that includes e-commerce, manufacturing, healthcare, financial services and technology clients.
- Website: https://www.wildcoffeemarketing.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28974324/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildcoffeemarketing/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wildcoffeemktg/
How to Create A High-Performance Remote Team:
Improve Remote Team Work:
How To Excel as a Remote Team Member
Improve Remote Leadership Skills:
How to Be an Effective Remote Manager
How to Build Virtual Accountability
Distributed Teams Quotes
I think that really looking at how you foster trust and your relationship with your team is the crux of where you start to look at engagement. 
People have a lot of choices. Millennials and Gen z coming into the workplace, they wanna feel connected to where they work. They want to have purpose. They wanna make a difference. 
It’s little things and the way and the interactions between your team members during the day. It’s part of your symbolism as a brand. It’s part of your process. Process is important when creating accountability so that the left hand is talking to the right hand. 
When we’re talking about engagement, culture and employee-employer dynamics, trust is a really big part of it. 
The more intangible part is the spirit that everybody is working together. And if we are not collaborating and cooperating and communicating, then we are not able to produce those results. 
People want to feel connected to where they work. They want to have purpose. They want to make a difference. All of those things contributed to our really strong focus on culture and a great place to work.
