#9 — Changing the future of work in organizations | Rhea Ong Yiu, Catalyst at LIVEsciences

Startup Culture

In this episode, I talked to Rhea Ong Yiu, a Catalyst at LIVEsciences AG based in Switzerland, which was created and inspired by the work of Frédéric Laloux in his book "Reinventing Organizations". They believe in changing the future of work in organizations and contribute to having management based on worker autonomy and peer relationships.

Rhea shares some new ways of working LIVEsciences is implementing and the impact they want to make on the world of work. We also talk about:
1. Rituals and practices to encourage employees in remote setups

Rhea mentions the importance of leadership unleashing the potential of employees, and the value of working differently and more autonomously. As they are a remote company, some rituals are created to keep the connection with each other. One ritual is the weekly meeting, where they meet to talk about their achievements, successes, and failures. They also have bi-weekly reviews of KPIs and goals, and another monthly gathering to talk about how the company is moving forward.
2. The power of being part of a person’s private setting

Establishing trust relationships and giving space and time for connecting with the team members is a priority for LIVEsciences. In Rhea’s perspective, “people underestimate is the power of video calls”. For her, some people feel a barrier of meeting online, and working on a screen, but there is another way of seeing it: you're being exposed to the private setting of that person in front of the screen, which creates an opportunity to get to know each other. From looking at the background to pets showing up in the conversation and other interactions within the team.
3. Self-management and the entrepreneurial mindset inside the company

LIVEsciences takes a lot of focus on accountability and for employees to be able to steer their own direction. What they called: leading with your purpose in mind. Self-management is about knowing what are accountabilities for each person, what are areas of having some decision-making power; and how to make the company a healthy organization. People show up wholeheartedly in order to serve others.

Show Notes
00:00 Episode begins
00:20 About the Remote-Culture podcast
00:30 About Rhea Ong Yiu and LIVEsciences
01:15 What does company culture mean for Rhea
01:45 Being a Catalyst at LIVEsciences and some services
06:23 Self-management and the evolutionary purpose at LIVEsciences
09:05 Rhea's purpose and how she found it
10:50 Creating remote cultures and setups
16:29 LIVEsciences rituals while working remotely with the team
20:30 Tension meetings at LIVEsciences
24:40 Piece of advice for founders working remotely
26:02 End of the episode
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