 Okay, hi everyone. I'm Julia and today I'm talking about the recipe for enduring and meaningful workplace relationships. Who is this talk for? We might think relationships come easy and naturally but more often than not workplaces are riddled with tensions and stresses which can make work spaces uncomfortable and unproductive. Building, enduring and meaningful relationships require effort and practice like any skill and at times we can feel uncomfortable about the effort required to focus on our workplace friendships as it can take us out of our comfort zone or make us feel vulnerable because we are focusing on something which maybe we're not particularly good at. This talk is designed for anyone who wants to lead positive change in their workplace but is mainly focused on the people who are here today who feel that their organisation is not doing enough to create a positive work culture. So first up about me. I am a Drupal South Committee member and I've been working with our teams building Drupal site since 2007. A little known fact I have actually been a web developer running my own business for over 20 years and for the last sort of three years I've been working at Morphed and you can see some team photos. This was Drupal South Brisbane last year and that photo up the very top there that's the first dinner I had with the Morphed team six months into working at Morphed where I'm currently head of delivery. As you can see from the photos I also love animals so we've got Arnie there, Luna and Otis the cat. I'm also a food junkie. Must be something to do with web development agencies and food and oh sorry my notes have gone a bit weird. Yeah and yeah so it's just I guess this is a collection of all the things that I sort of do. Also I'm quite big in the volunteer space as well so I've spent about 16 years volunteering for organizations like Rotary International working with kind of the most disadvantaged people in the Melbourne community. So I have a very well-rounded busy life I like to fill in all of my gaps and spaces often to the complaints of my family. Anyway moving on I could talk for a long time about the kind of things that I love to do. Okay so what turns a workplace sour? Some of the key things that can turn a workplace sour include negativity, fear of failure, confusion, drama and gossiping and this can lead to kind of unhappy people and unproductive work environments. And as a result of that I think in a lot of workplaces we can experience high staff turnover and certainly dissatisfied customers. So the core ingredients in my recipe and what we will be covering today are active listening, making time for people, asking for help and offering to help, being positive, setting boundaries, being gracious and skiffing gossip and focusing on creating inclusive environments. And we're going to whiz through, we only got a few minutes. So active listening it's about taking the time to listen to what people are saying. This requires giving people your full attention and developing skills such as repeating back their words and confirming that you've understood what you're being told. This will ensure that the other person knows that they have been heard and that your values, that you value their thoughts and opinions. Make time for people. Let your team and clients know that you care about them and the things happening in their lives and what's important to them. Remember the things which are important and make sure that you connect back to them so that you can build empathetic connections. In a big team it can be sometimes hard to stay connected to everyone and time can pass really quickly when you're focusing on work. So make sure that you're making that time to have a chat or if you're meeting regularly make sure you're taking the time to have a social element to it like icebreakers. We've just learnt. And when you ask people questions like what have you done on the weekend or what plans you might have, remember to check back with them later on in the following week to continue on that conversation and build that rapport. So know when to ask for help and to offer to help. So everyone loves to think that they're valued and respected. Asking for help and asking opinions from those around you lets your co-workers know that you respect what they bring to the table. Likewise asking for help can build deeper bonds and trust between co-workers and develop an implied understanding that you have each other's backs. Be positive. Focus on solutions and a way forward. Saying no or it cannot be done closes a conversation. Look at ways to continue the communication. The more you talk through an issue the more likely you will uncover a remedy. My boss, Margie, has a common statement for problem solving which is called the rubber ducky method. You can check this out on Wikipedia but essentially the theory is that a programmer who needs to debug their code can actually use an object like a rubber ducky to explain, to verbally explain the problem to the duck. And as a consequence of explaining that problem, step by step will come up with a solution through that simple action. It's a really good method to use when you're programming and trying to problem solve but what is even more fun and rewarding is actually talking to your team and together coming up with a solution. Setting boundaries. Setting boundaries between work time, which is focused work and chat time socializing is important. Make sure that you make the time to deliver on your commitments and be a productive member of your team. Showing gratitude. So let's face it. thanking people and being gracious is just good manners. Moving out of the COVID phase we should still remember the things we've learned from that experience, such as being more understanding, more accepting, more flexible and more grateful. Skip the gossip. So rather than feeding gossip or creating niche groups at work, take the time to have open and fair conversations on challenges you have with someone. Take the time to find out the common ground and shared interests that you might have with that person. Building an inclusive workplace and creating spaces where people can explore the things they have in common is really important. Let's face it. Work is a big part of all of our lives and we all want to work with people we like and in an environment where we can be comfortable. So tasting notes. So a creative positive workplace culture promotes open communication, respect and teamwork. And also a happy workplace is one that a client generally love to engage with. But it takes time. It takes practice like every skill that we develop over time. So we just need to think about it and spend the time making the effort. Thank you. Any questions? It's a really tricky one. So the question is how do you move from a social conversation or a positive interaction into the workspace? And it is very much a kind of like a challenge on how to articulate that. So some of the language that I would use is that's really interesting. I would love to spend some more time talking to you about that. Maybe we can catch up because I work mainly remotely. So maybe we can catch up on an online lunch and follow on with that conversation. But we really need to get back and get this work done now. Yeah. That's the kind of approach I would take. Yeah. So I haven't had that exact experience but I had a similar experience. I think it was one of the first projects that I worked on at Morved where I came in as a contractor. So I was not exactly part of the Morved team but I was coming into that team. And the first job I had was to be a project manager on the digital transformation for I think it was four or five websites for a government agency. And we were all working remote because it was during COVID. And the project manager in the government agency was not turning his monitor on, his video camera on and he was being very silent. So he was really inaccessible. So one of the things that I did to break that down was I organized an online lunch for everyone. And I invited our team and their team together. And he came, sat in the background with his camera off but he started to talk. And interestingly enough, the subject that we connected on was food. You know, it's always the great leveler, isn't it? And in particular, he was really into into rubs and barbecues, you know? And it can be something that small that can be an absolute turning point. And today, like we're now three years down the track and he's a great mate, you know, we catch up on the phone maybe once every two or three weeks. So yeah. So I would recommend something like that where you're getting together. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's really challenging and it's something that you have to jump onto really quickly. A group of people working together once that toxic atmosphere comes in can turn really quickly and it's really hard to wind back. I find, for me, you know, like kindness leading, you know, by example and facing those issues front on rather than letting them kind of fester underneath. Like if you leave them untouched and don't address those concerns, they're only going to get worse. Whereas if you own the problem and you say, hey, I've seen what's going on, you know, how can we work together to resolve this because I really like you and I really like you and I really like you and I like working with you all together and we do awesome stuff, you know, together as a team. How can we work through whatever these issues are together? Yeah, and I think it's really important today, you know, in building sort of inclusive environments and recognizing that we're all different and actually that's what makes us all amazing people. But together, we're even more awesome. Thank you.