Trust Building Ecosystems for Remote Teams

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In today’s episode we interview Tanyette Colon, Head of Partner Ecosystems at Overpass. Tanyette’s company is on a mission to remove any obstacles to working remotely. They provide the platform to hire the best sales experts, engage and maintain amazing customer relationships, and effectively manage remote teams from anywhere in the world. Today’s topic is focused on how to create an ecosystem that fosters the sense of trust especially among Gen Z team members as they Team Anywhere.

Tanyette’s Excitement from a Business and Social Standpoint

After the COVID pandemic Tanyette saw a unique portal for leaders and team members to take advantage of. The business and social opportunity arose to jump in and rewrite the narrative of where business could go. The circumstances around the pandemic tended to emphasize automation and dehumanize business interactions. This phenomenon has given organizations the opportunity to now collectively come together and become collaborative through partner ecosystems, partnerships with like-minded individuals.

What is an Ecosystem?

According to Tanyette, the best definition of an ecosystem is found in nature which has all of the components that work together in alignment. The same is true for managing businesses and teams. If a leader can create or find like-minded partners who have the same interests and goals, that would be the best example of an ecosystem since there is a law of reciprocity.

To further explain, Tanyette discussed that an ecosystem is about getting to know someone deeply, building trust, and readily giving them help as needed. Therefore, establishing an ecosystem is a powerful tool that individuals or organizations can utilize to their advantage.

Trust Building Ecosystems in Remote Teams

Listed below are Tanyette’s tips for trust building activities for remote teams when members don’t often see each other face-to-face.

Getting to Know People More Deeply – Tanyette emphasized the importance of spending more time with people to get to know them better. It is not enough to meet them once. Have at least 3 meetings with them.
Asking the RIght Questions – Trust building goes back to traditional things people used to ask of one another: who are you, what lights you up, what excites you, what do you do, and how do you serve your customers. It is all about digging beyond the surface.
Bringing In More Energy – Part of building trust in ecosystems is all about providing value to your customers or team members. Energy is exchangeable and its intensity can also be felt. Making more effort to build trust will translate into much more favorable results. It needs to be a consistent effort since it does not happen overnight and it is an earned factor.

Tanyette’s Thoughts About GenZs on Building Trust

Younger GenZs are entering the workforce and they are involved in the daily decision making activities inside an organization. Tanyette is actually very impressed with the younger generation because of their qualities of allowing space and time for other team members. GenZs are super articulate and know how to manage technology.

Tanyette believes that now is the time to leverage the talents of GenZs. She encourages leaders to meet them where they are and sit down with them and to talk openly about their goals, dreams, and challenges. This will create an atmosphere of increased engagement and productivity.

Who is Tanyette Colon?

Tanyette Colon is the Head of Partner Ecosystems with Overpass, a Brooklyn based start-up that gives high-growth companies one consistent source to find and onboard sales & support talent.

Tanyette is also the founder of InFUUSE (launching in February 2023), an omnichannel communication platform that humanizes the customer journey along with a new client’s first hello. InFUUSE is on a mission to help empower 2 million businesses to fill a much-needed revenue gap by utilizing our proprietary SaaS communication platform. The goal is to create mini circular economies to amplify community growth.