Community IT Innovators Nonprofit Technology Topics

Team Building Remotely with Saba Gebru

• Community IT Innovators • Season 7 • Episode 13

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0:00 | 19:15

Building Stronger Teams: Purposeful Connection in a Remote World

How do you maintain a cohesive, supportive team when the office is now spread across dozens of different locations? In this episode, Carolyn Woodard sits down with Saba Gebru, Vice President of Support Services at Community IT, to discuss the intentional work required to foster teamwork in a remote and hybrid environment.

Saba shares how Community IT transitioned through the pandemic and emerged with a deeper understanding of why social connection isn't just extra—it’s essential for better service delivery. 

When technicians feel supported and connected to one another, our clients benefit from the collective knowledge of the entire firm, not just a single individual. We also discuss how to keep team building from feeling mandatory by aligning activities with mission-driven values, such as local volunteerism and servant leadership.

Featured Resources

  • Community IT Values: Our Story | Read More Learn more about the core values that guide our team—including balance and transparency—and how these principles help us better serve the nonprofit community.
  • Guide: Managing Remote Teams for Nonprofits | View Article For managers looking to refine their remote operations, this guide offers practical tips on the tools and cultural shifts necessary to keep a distributed workforce engaged and secure.
  • Case Study: 100% Remote Work Implementation with Microsoft Cloud | Read the Case Study Transitioning to a fully remote model requires more than just a change in mindset; it requires a robust technical foundation. This case study follows a large nonprofit as they navigated a rapid shift to 100% remote work. By leveraging Microsoft Cloud tools the organization was able to deploy hardware and support staff across the country without ever needing to meet in person, proving that with the right roadmap, technology can bridge the gap between physical distance and mission-critical collaboration.

Next Step for Your Organization

Building a strong team culture is an ongoing process, especially in the remote era. If you haven't recently checked in with your staff about what they need to feel connected, consider making it a priority in your next departmental meeting. Start the conversation by asking for feedback on what types of optional social or volunteer activities might resonate with their values.

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Thanks for listening.


Saba Gebru:

And I I was like, oh, everybody's gonna talk about AI, you know.

Carolyn Woodard:

Well, if you're something non-AI, I think people who are like, okay, enough with AI would like to hear something else too.

Carolyn Woodard:

Welcome everyone to the community IT Innovators Technology Topics podcast. I am Carolyn Woodard, your host. And do you want to introduce yourself and tell us what you do?

Saba Gebru:

Yes, thank you, Carolyn. Yes, uh, my name is Saba Gabru, and I am the Vice President of Support Services here at Community IT. And I joined Community IT a little over 18 years ago. Um, yeah, time flies, and I have uh an outstanding team. We provide uh direct support to our clients, you know, solving technical issues and making sure they have a great experience when they work with us. And my role is to provide to make sure that the team has everything they need to support our clients.

Carolyn Woodard:

And I think today we wanted to talk about teamwork, working together as a team and team building, which I know, you know, it's kind of sometimes it can have take on that kind of negative quality of like, oh, I had to go to a team building exercise and it didn't make me feel like more part of the team. So I think we have a lot to, or you have a lot to share about the ways that you have helped our teams come together, the different uh support teams that you help manage.

Carolyn Woodard:

And especially you were managing these teams when we went to remote work. Um can you talk a little bit about what you and Community IT learned from that experience?

Saba Gebru:

Yeah. Uh, you know, as you know, remote people working were working remotely and until all of a sudden remote work became crucial. Uh, that is during the COVID-19 pandemic. And you know, everyone was thinking it's just gonna be two weeks, but it ended up two years, well, I guess years. Uh and um it changed a lot of things, uh, including uh service delivery.

Saba Gebru:

So um we we were able to help our clients uh transition, some of our clients who needs that transition, transition to being able to work remotely. Um we also had a team that provides on-site support at that time, then we had to make adjustments so that team can also provide uh uh remote support to our clients.

Saba Gebru:

Um, the other thing is you know, the whole world had to learn to run meetings remotely and team activities remotely. So, and at the same time learning the tools for the first time, uh Zoom or Teams. So that was interesting. And um, there was some challenge because the remote demand was just unplanned, unexpected, and it just came by. So we, you know, as anything else, we were able to figure out uh things and help our client to um you know find the environment so that they can work remotely.

Carolyn Woodard:

I know that we had been recommending and had actually moved a lot of our clients from like on-site um servers to cloud tools, and that was to give them value of to make that investment and moving to the cloud, and then you realize a lot of values from uh being in the cloud, which actually a lot of our clients were able to work remotely more easily because they had already moved to the cloud.

Carolyn Woodard:

But I feel like one thing that happened was because we were also learning how to have Zoom meetings and how to work as a team, you know, that also helps our clients because we were going through it too. And so we could support them in implementing Zoom and Teams and other remote meeting, you know, tools. And at Community IT and on your team, uh, we prioritized spending time together. So that was a big change.

Carolyn Woodard:

Um, how did it become apparent that we needed to focus on social time and building personal relationships with each other? Even when, or especially when we were all working remotely, also?

Saba Gebru:

Yeah. For that, I would say, you know, we have, you know, always made a point to be intentional about, you know, creating an opportunity for our team to connect and have fun together. So it was it's always in our mind, and we were intentional about it. And we plan activities that everyone can join, enjoy spending time with one another. I think that that helps.

Saba Gebru:

The other thing here at Community IT is an important part of our culture is to support one another within the team or uh you know as a company as a whole. So we prioritize individual development at the same time, we also foster or create an environment when the team can collaborate. It's also about learning from each other and also building relationships between ourselves. So, you know, it's been always intentional for us. It's just we have to do more work to get used to, you know, Zoom, as you mentioned, to get used to how we do things in in Teams, but otherwise, I think we have always been uh very intentional about it.

Carolyn Woodard:

Yeah, it's definitely a company value. And I often say, like in the webinars and the podcast, that um one of the advantages of using a managed services provider is that you aren't getting just one individual who knows one thing. That person who may be your point of contact or the person on the help desk that you're interacting with has a whole team of people with their experiences around them. So they can get, they can benefit from checking in with each other about a best practice or you know, more experience that they than they might have. And then you, the client, benefit from that as well. So you can draw on all the experiences of all of the people on the team.

Carolyn Woodard:

And it is something that I've noticed is that you know, we do reach out to each other frequently with, you know, I have this question, or I'm I'm kind of you know at a loss about this thing. Can you, you know, what do you think? And getting advice from each other and getting support from each other as well.

Carolyn Woodard:

Um, and one of our company values is balance. Um, one of the manifestations of that is work-life balance. So we understand employees are whole people. We don't expect people to be working 110% of the time.

Carolyn Woodard:

Um, how do you keep company social time from feeling mandatory?

Saba Gebru:

Thank you, Carolyn, uh, for asking this question. It's a great question. Uh, you know, as you mentioned, you know, work-life balance is part of our one of our value. So it is important for us to stay through for our values and make sure our staff experience the value, whether we're working or you know, having you know together a social activity.

Saba Gebru:

So we make sure that social activities are optional and inclusive. So they're optional, then you know, so but also including everyone who wants to be part of those activities. And we encourage staff to participate. Uh, when planning activity, we make sure that time allows the staff to be part of that activity that we're creating for the team. Um, it's also important, get feedback, ask the team, always talk to the team.

Saba Gebru:

Uh, I think this allows us to keep you know our company culture positive, supportive, and social times are enjoyable without feeling like they're mandatory.

Carolyn Woodard:

Yeah, and it's hard because you have people on your team who are on call. Like they have to be answering the phones and available. So I love that you are always planning things at times that it's it people are able to join because they don't they're all on call.

Carolyn Woodard:

I already mentioned that there can be examples of staff who are you know forced to participate. There's an office party that they have to go to or they have to buy a gift for someone in the office that they hardly know.

Carolyn Woodard:

Um, so how do how to expand, I guess, on what we were just talking about, how do you communicate around spending time together as a team?

Saba Gebru:

Yeah, so this is, I think it's a thoughtful question. You know, sometimes, you know, team building activity could feel like, uh, this is something that I have to do, especially when there if there's a pressure to participate, right? So uh I think this is something that we are always mindful uh uh of here at Community IT.

Saba Gebru:

And what helps is that you know the purpose, if the purpose is communicated clearly to staff, I think that actually is that's very helpful helpful. And we often, you know, uh create the activities uh to enhance uh you know team connection. So I think that is also very helpful.

Saba Gebru:

Um, and if someone is not able to attend or doesn't want you know they don't want to be uh part of the activity, I mean that's that's perfectly fine. We respect that, and we don't really uh single out anyone who doesn't want to participate in any of these activities.

Saba Gebru:

And we understand work is not the only thing we have going on, so we want to be mindful and supportive to staff, uh, you know, uh as much as possible. As I mentioned earlier, I think we do try to hold those meetings or activities where most of our team members are able, you know, to participate.

Saba Gebru:

So, you know, we try to have a trust, uh you know, create a trust environment where someone can say, hey, you know, you have a team activity and I'm not able to attend it. So freely talk about that. Uh and we're flexible and uh we try to meet stuff where where they are.

Saba Gebru:

Um, like you know, if if the purpose is clear, if we're we have open conversation, we have giving getting feedback. The general goal is to create um a valuable opportunity for our team members to build connection and support each other.

Carolyn Woodard:

Yeah. I have heard the advice to, you know, you might have someone who can never do something on the weekends, so you should make sure that all of your activities are not always on the weekends and have some variety of when you do things together and what sorts of things you do together.

Carolyn Woodard:

Um, and I know your team does volunteer work together as a way to build those personal relationships and sense of belonging. So, how did that focus come about? Why do you do volunteering?

Saba Gebru:

Because you know, volunteering is a great way to give back to our community here in local in the DC area or anywhere else. And it also cultivates you know team building activities at the same time, you know.

Saba Gebru:

Uh, as you know, Community IT is dedicated to supporting nonprofit organizations, and our mission is to help nonprofit accomplish their mission through the effective use of technology.

Saba Gebru:

So recently, uh uh with my team, we volunteer at a nonprofit organization uh where their mission is to combat hunger and poverty through job creation and job training. Um we had a very good time, we had a great time in the kitchen, you know, packing and preparing fruits and vegetables uh for distribution, you know, for people who experience uh food insecurity. And uh we were able to spend quality time together and provide uh contribute to a non-profit organization that depends on volunteering, um people volunteering to uh meet their the needs of their community.

Saba Gebru:

So I think we yeah, the big thing is a great way to give uh back to the community, and we were able to make a difference, have our team activity, and the same time also, you know, show that servant leadership is also important in life.

Carolyn Woodard:

I saw the photos and it looked like everyone was having a good time.

Carolyn Woodard:

Do you have any rules about when you're doing a social activity, like you can't talk about work, or do you do people talk about things that are going on in the office, or do they really just connect with each other about like their life and their family and their activities?

Saba Gebru:

Yeah, we don't really have a set rule, but I think you know, um we if someone is talking about work, maybe we might say, no, no, we're coming, you know, conversation, let's just have fun.

Saba Gebru:

Um, and I think um, you know, during the volunteering, we were in groups and mixed with other volunteering, and it was it was actually nice to see to for us to be together, and also you know, um, another organization was there volunteering. It was interesting to see a nonprofit as well to see that we work with different people together, so it's so it's it's connection uh and you know, reminding each other, hey, we're here to uh work together and uh volunteer.

Carolyn Woodard:

So I have a final question about uh your experience. So, do you have any tips for any managers listening uh who might want to try and encourage or you know do a program like this for uh team building for their team or for staff who want to encourage their leadership to maybe do some social activities in team building, even if it's remotely or if it's in person, like volunteering, like you just did.

Carolyn Woodard:

What would be your uh words of advice?

Saba Gebru:

Yeah, sure. Um thing I would say is to foster strong team collaboration. It's important to have an open dialogue, ensure team building, you know, team building's activities are optional, they're not like like as you mentioned, they're mandatory all the time.

Saba Gebru:

And the most important part also is to communicate clearly what is the purpose, the the purpose of the team building activity.

Saba Gebru:

And in most cases, team building activities are to foster relationships and you know uh build the relationship and help each other and connect each other.

Saba Gebru:

Um when possible, I think uh if you create a team building activity aligned with company value or mission, sometimes people uh that resonates with people.

Saba Gebru:

And lastly, I would say, as I mentioned, you know, gather feedback, talk to the team, ask them what they like to do. And you know, and then you can make that happen when possible, obviously.

Saba Gebru:

And that creates an enjoyable and inclusive team building uh activity because you know the purpose is related, clearly, getting feedback and trying to make it like meaningful activity.

Saba Gebru:

Uh the last thing I would say for staff, if they have an idea that they would like the team activity to be part of, um to be there, uh, I would say have be honest, come and you know, share your ideas and share your ideas why they might be related to the mission of the organization, the value of the organization, or how it is it does foster um um meaningful uh belonging uh as uh the companies.

Saba Gebru:

I think that helps the leadership to see the value of the activities that staff are trying to share.

Carolyn Woodard:

I think all of that is so important when people are working remotely, or maybe working remotely part of the time, or maybe we're hired remotely, and it can be so difficult to meet other people in your own company. So I love that we have these uh opportunities for people to make stronger connections to each other.

Carolyn Woodard:

And like you sometimes have to rely on other people that you work with. So it's good if you know them. You're not calling them out of the blue for help with something. Absolutely.

Carolyn Woodard:

Well, thank you, Saba, for your time today. Uh, thank you for your leadership on that team, and I really appreciate it. Thanks again.

Saba Gebru:

Thank you, Carolyn, for having me, and thank you for uh being with us, Community IT.