Hybrid workplace strategy: Building remote collaboration

Medline program overcomes isolation and builds prime vendor team skills.

In early 2022, after two years of pandemic workplace upset that made remote and hybrid work the norm, Microsoft’s WorkLab released insightful findings. Its 2022 Work Trend Index Annual Report stated that 43% of leaders consider relationship-building to be the greatest challenge in hybrid and remote work—”one worth prioritizing.”

Recognizing that building social capital is crucial for organizational success, WorkLab reported, employees who have thriving relationships with their immediate team members report better well-being, higher productivity and less likeliness to change employers in the year ahead than those with poor relationships.¹

SYM_Impact of Thriving vs Poor Relationships-2

Those findings, plus employee feedback from an annual engagement survey, inspired Medline, a leading manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies, to create an innovative new program dedicated to—building connection. Called Team Connect, the three-month program ran from October to December, 2022. It alleviated isolation and built relationships and skills among Medline’s sales administration leaders and 350 prime vendor analysts (PVAs).

Working on a “virtual island”

PVAs are the liaison between Medline sales reps and prime vendor customers. They ensure customers have what they need and are dedicated to continually improving customer partnerships. Before the pandemic, Medline PVAs were dispersed around the country, often embedded onsite in customer workplaces. As hybrid and fully remote roles necessarily grew—so did their sense of isolation.

“Our employee survey showed us that people were finding it hard to decompress and break away from work,” says Robert Brandt, Senior Director of Sales Administration. “Speaking with our PVAs for deeper insights revealed feelings of disconnection. People said they felt like they were on an island.”

A majority of the prime vendor analysts were navigating remote working for the first time.

Says Brandt, “We found that the ability to connect and engage with each other didn’t come naturally. Add to that, we’re working in an industry where burnout had become a huge challenge—healthcare. We knew we needed to facilitate conversation and connection between people to build and sustain relationships and well-being.”

“We uncovered an overall feeling of disconnection. Our people felt like they were on an island.”

Robert Brandt

Medline Senior Director of Sales Administration

Team Connect: Building connection through remote collaboration

Team Connect, Medline’s swift response to alleviating isolation, had a simple goal and strategy. “We wanted to create conversations among team members, give them opportunities to get to know one another beyond work, to overcome disconnection,” Brandt explains.

The program’s easy to facilitate, cost effective and inviting simplicity was key to its success:

Each week, two randomly selected team members were paired for a mandatory half-hour call on Friday.
Leaders announced team member pairings every Monday so PVAs could anticipate the upcoming call. If a scheduling conflict arose, the pair rescheduled to ensure the connection was made that week.
Weekly emails from facilitators offered tips for successful calls, helping PVAs with ideas and coaching for personal sharing, problem solving and creativity.
PVAs living in the same geographic region were encouraged to gather in person periodically for coffee, drinks or dinner.

Building momentum: PVA relationships deepen and grow

The program caught on quickly. Encouraged initially to talk about things outside of work, PVAs used conversations to network socially. As they learned more about each other’s roles, shared knowledge about tools and challenges, and widened their contacts, calls soon became a chance to bounce ideas off each other and professionally problem solve. A vastly connected PVA community was soon thriving.

“Getting to meet people on the Acute Care side gave us a chance to share the similarities and differences in our roles,” says Brenda Trevillion, Post-Acute Care. “We learned our colleagues were using Excel and data science capabilities that were out of this world. And I now have colleagues who can help with things like complex reporting, creating metrics dashboards and so much more.”

“The ability to connect with no pressure to meet a deadline or get a report out was really valuable,” says Jamie Barker, Northeast team. “I met a PVA who had been a teacher like me and it was nice to talk about transitioning from a field outside healthcare to Medline.”

A post-program survey delivered overwhelmingly positive feedback about the experience:

79% of team members found the program worthwhile
25% rated it a 5 out of 5
67% said the process helped reduce the isolated “being on an island” feeling
61% said they felt more equipped to do their jobs
Many, without formal coaching, had learned new skills including relationship building (77%), networking (68%), problem solving (32%), and time management (23%)

PVAs and managers are leveraging their new communication and collaboration skills with prime vendor customers and other Medline teams, too.

“Team Connect advanced the role and skills of the PVA in so many ways ,” says Joshua Bohanan, Northeast team. “We’re no longer (figuratively) tossing reports over the wall hoping someone on the other side sees them and reads them. Now we’re engaging, having meaningful conversations about what we see in these reports, actions that need to be taken and more.

“Team Connect helped people acquire core business skills that benefit everyone who wants to grow and advance,” Brandt says. “That’s a success.”

Key takeaway

The pandemic dramatically changed workplace realities and strategies. Many people lacked the skills to overcome the isolation accompanying hybrid and remote collaboration demands. Medline’s innovative Team Connect program built relationships through regular connection—and improved the skills and well-being of its 350 member prime vendor analyst team.

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