Let’s talk about values. These are the core beliefs that identify company X in its mission statement. Is it for show? Or do you hire, promote, assess your employees based on how they uphold these values?

Enron had some great values on paper: Respect. Integrity. Communication. Excellence. I think we can all agree they did not promote or encourage these values throughout their entire corporation.

Shared values are what makes a company unique. I might speak from a privileged position; it is easier to follow and uphold these when you are 40 instead of 40,000, but you have to start somewhere.

At ShuttleCloud, our values bring us together and decide who will be a part of our future. It is our corporate identity, and I’m proud that we learn and teach is one of our values. 

In this ShuttleCloud Bytes video, we test the team on our four Values. Studies show that people need to see and repeat things at least seven times before they sink in – When your team is under the spotlight would they be able to remember their company values?

Today we spent an incredible afternoon with Guille from our engineering team teaching us about Scuba diving.

We host bi-weekly meetings where we sit and learn from one another. Past topics include:

#practicewhatyoupreach

Slack has just undergone a rebrand of one of their cooler features. Slack Connect is the new craze; you’ll probably see it in your Slack dashboard if you’re an admin. 

I. Context:

• Slack Connect is an all-encompassing term to describe ways you can communicate with another Workspace/organization.
  • Slack had these features before; however, they’ve given them a brand new coat of paint.

There are two main ways to connect with external organizations:

1. Adding them as single-channel guest 

• Great if the member might be a student, contractor or does not have a paid Slack plan.
  • Only workspace admins or owners can invite or manage guest accounts
• Requires the guest to log in to the host Workspace
• Only the host organization has access to the communication and files when the guest account expires

2. Setting up a Shared Channel

• Requires both organizations to be on a paid plan
  • Requires the admin on both organizations to approve the channel
    • I’ve had an easier time with the first approach (Adding each member as a guest). It allows large organizations to avoid lengthy internal procedures and get collaborating with their team in literally seconds.
• People from other companies can collaborate in the chat right away from their Slack Workspace, where they spend most of their time. 
• Each company keeps a record of the communication and files after the channel is disconnected.

II: Let’s build rapport

No matter which of the two options mentioned above you select, Slack will provide one key over email. Rapport is easy to build via a messaging platform. 

• Jokes, Superbowl commentary, and the general “how was your weekend” convo is way more natural over a chat platform than others. At least for me.

If you have a key partner or lead, connecting via Slack will allow you to message counterparts outside of the group workspace directly. Just like a text message, so take advantage, comment on their profile picture, complain about your boss (or maybe not) or say Hello! and ask about their weekend. 

III: Keep the conversation going

A shared channel allows you to move deals and partnerships forward. Save time on the following:

• Organizing your next meeting
• Going over details in mutual documentation in real-time
• Asking that easy question, you don’t want to send an email about

Slack has created a one-spot repository with a search feature, documentation sharing, and both teams’ ability to involve key people in the conversation. All in all a better way to communicate.

Email Providers in Poland

One of the noticeable trends in my research as an email geek is that European ISPs and email providers such as Orange, Sky, TIM (Italia), KPN, #1und1 possess a firm foothold on the email usage of their respective countries:

• France: https://blog.shuttlecloud.com/email-providers-in-france/
• Netherlands: https://blog.shuttlecloud.com/email-providers-in-the-netherlands/
• Germany: https://blog.shuttlecloud.com/email-providers-in-germany/
• Italy: https://blog.shuttlecloud.com/email-providers-in-italy/

By nature, my curiosity took me immediately to Poland, where I have many friends and spent one Christmas holiday. Lots of Zurek, Bigos, Zubrowka, and of course, Pierogies. 

The trend mentioned above continues in the eastern bloc, according to Research Gemius/PBI (the standard of internet audience measurement in Poland); aside from Gmail, all the other leading email services are Polish ( wp.pl, onet.pl, interia.pl, o2.pl ), and they account for 17+ million users in a market of an estimated 27 million users.

In Latin America, where I was born and raised, except for a couple of countries, the foothold is held by Microsoft brands (Outlook, Hotmail), Gmail, and Yahoo. More to come.