E is for Eskwelabs Issue 78 - Across the Eskwe-verse 🕷️
Issue 78 is a sneak peak in the Eskwelabs Multiverse! 🌌
We created this newsletter to keep our alums, partners, and anyone interested in learning skills for the future of work updated and connected to our ever-growing community. If you want to read our previous issues, you can check them out here.
Ciao! This is Meg speaking! 😉
Just as Spiderman Miles Morales 🕷️ discovers there's a whole multiverse of other Spidermen connected to each other and working together, 🌌 each individual and organization in the digital landscape is also connected. 🤝 In the Eskwelabs Multiverse, or Eskwe-verse, 🌐 we see learners, educators, professionals, and organizations all working towards a common goal: upskilling to navigate the future of work. 💼
With this in mind, Eskwelabs continues to expand and improve our programs for our community to better serve their needs. 💪 In this issue, we share some insights on how the players in the Eskweverse turn this vision into reality. ✨
Some questions we’ll answer in Issue 78 of E is for Eskwelabs:
How do you promote a collaborative culture within the team? 🌟
What tools can be used to foster synergy? 🛠️
How can collaboration enhance one’s learning experience? 🎓
Happy reading! 📚
Reading time: 8 minutes
“Let’s do things differently this time. So differently” - Gwen Stacy
Collaborating is a learning experience, and Eskwelabs is a team of life-long learners. 🌱 When you bring together a community of talented and passionate individuals, you can achieve outcomes that are unimaginable and impactful. The impact can be so great that it inspires you to extend this impact to others. 💡
With [Eskwelabs], I've learned that there's a difference between collaboration and simply working on the same task. This is important because when you collaborate, you're not simply like ants gathering crumbs, or bees gathering honey. Far from it. Everyone gets to speak their mind, ask questions, and offer suggestions. You're not only getting an extra pair of hands; you're getting an entire new mind for each person you collaborate with. They offer fresh ideas and new information, with that, not only are you making your task produce better results, but you are also learning much more than you would if you had worked on it yourself.
- Vince Mamuyac, Education Innovation Cohort 2 Fellow 🎓
Being able to work with adept and highly proactive people has made my learning experience and journey in the fellowship more exhilarating. In the past, I used to work comfortably on my own, but upon entering the doors of Eskwelabs and starting to work with high-yield collaborators, I’ve found myself becoming more productive and efficient in my tasks, especially when we envision and drive to achieve the same goals as a team. Collaboration may be a generally common word for some, but to me, it’s an action that has made me feel included and valued.
- Japhet Macato, Education Innovation Cohort 2 Fellow 🌟
“I never found the right band. So I started my own. With a few old friends. Want in?” - Gwen Stacy
Collaboration is intentional. It is recognizing that to achieve an outcome, you need to maintain the parts of a well-oiled machine. It becomes particularly more effective, interesting, and exciting with a diverse community of members. 💡
To collaborate effectively, it is important to recognize each member’s strengths and aspirations in order to use their passions to empower personal growth. While collaboration inevitably invites diverse perspectives and occasional friction, we have viewed these moments as opportunities for learning and innovation. Above all, we set a goal together so we know what we are working towards.
- Angela Chen-Delantar, Co-Founder and CEO 🎯
Every Monday, the whole team gathers for an All-Hands meeting where we discuss wins from the week prior and the support needed for the week to come. 🗓️ It is also an opportunity for us to check in on each other and reflect on our personal and collective goals.
I apply three key things: connection, honesty, and alignment. For connection, it's important to know who the people you are working with are—because they are human first and always. I ask myself questions like, "What are the day to day challenges and victories of this team member in their role? What do they have going on outside work that I can be mindful of?" This creates trust and a safe working environment; psychological safety is the foundation of all high performing teams. For honesty, this is all about clarity on expectations and removing assumptions by not giving into mindreading. I treat all my collaborators as adults, meaning they have a set of expectations, assumptions, and questions and being explicit about these allows things to move faster and for there to be less surprises. For alignment, this ensures that the way of working is smooth and that we don't need to micromanage one another because the definition of done is set, as well as what success looks like.
- Francine Tan, Chief of Staff 🧑💼
“Never let anyone tell you you don’t belong there” - Rio Morales
Diverse talents and perspectives can only come together with proper and effective communication. 🗣️
As a Senior Project Manager and Data Analytics Product Lead, fostering effective collaboration among the team members is at the core of our success. We prioritize open communication channels and encourage active participation, allowing our learners, mentors, instructors, and team members to exchange ideas seamlessly.
- Glydelle Amon, Data Analytics Product Lead 📊
This is practiced at Eskwelabs by using the right communication channels, having frequent and meaningful alignment meetings, and fostering an environment of open and transparent communication. 🗨️
To foster effective collaboration among team members, I focus on clear and regular communication, setting specific goals and expectations, and promoting a supportive team environment. By establishing open channels of communication, providing feedback, and encouraging active participation, team members can collaborate more efficiently. Regular check-ins, clear guidelines, and fostering a culture of trust and respect contribute to a collaborative atmosphere where ideas can be freely exchanged and collective goals can be achieved.
- Den Briones, Data Literacy Skillscourse Product Lead 🧑🏫
"The Power Of The Multiverse In The Palm Of My Hand" - The Spot
Our commitment to delivering the best quality cohort-based bootcamps pushes us to lead by example. Collaboration in a remote setting has never been this fruitful and you can see it across all tasks and roles at Eskwelabs—kinda like a spider web! 🕸️
For example, being a Learner Success Officer requires a lot of coordination as they usually handle the admissions process and a large number of applicants. 📚
My work on admissions entails a lot of collaboration and communication with others, so I use Google tools such as Google Calendar to check when my teammates are available for a meeting. I use the famed Google Sheets to monitor tasks that need to be tracked such as interviews.
- Kerith De Ocampo, Learner Success Officer 📋
Collaboration is an important part in Eskwelabs as we see each one as an integral part of the team. The tools that helped me to coordinate with each one are Discord and Google Workspace. As we primarily work virtually, these tools have been helpful in building open communication and informing members of the organization. These also helped in keeping everyone engaged and in nourishing relationships whether within or outside our respective squads.
- Carlo Gula, Learner Success Officer 📞
Our curriculum is one of the things that make Eskwelabs stand out because it is always tailored to our clients' and learners' objectives. This requires expert collaboration from our Learning Experience (LX) Designers. 👩🏫
As an LX designer, I work with a range of people that includes people who manage me and people I need to delegate tasks to. The most effective method for me to maintain cohesion with everyone I deal with is regular updates on tasks and continuously evaluating how to focus on the essential tasks that need to be done and not be a moving goal post. While I may not be perfect in maintaining that equilibrium when the rubber hits the road and plans are not surviving first contact, falling back to reevaluate a tricky situation together with everyone involved has made effective collaboration possible.
- Junior Learning Experience Designer 🧑🎨
And because Eskwelabs is divided into different squads according to our programs, we have become resourceful and diligent in maintaining effective ways of working with each other. We embody best practices when it comes to collaboration—as evidenced by the excellence of our bootcamps and sprints! #SquadGoals 💪
I utilize various online meeting platforms (mostly Google meets and Zoom) to align with them synchronously, understand their current circumstances, and extend the help that we will be needing from each other. This makes it a more nuanced and humanizing interaction, rather than just leaving messages.
I'm currently reading Wen- Szu Lin's book "Deliver." It gives you step-by-step advice on how you can go from an effective individual contributor, to someone who's leading a team. It's in my best interest to learn how to become that intentional and compassionate leader that the book describes, as it can benefit the entire organization as a whole.
- Ian Sy, Data Analytics Bootcamp Program Lead 📚
Our Data Literacy Squad demonstrates strong collaboration through weekly alignment meetings where we clarify our direction and determine our next steps as a team. Regularly updating each other via chat also helps us track our progress, delegate tasks, and provide feedback as needed. By the end of each week, we celebrate our wins and discuss our dependencies or blockers in one-on-one sessions so we can think of ways to improve our projects.
- Louie Cartagena, Data Literacy Skillscourse Program Lead 📊
Learning each other's ways of working is a key factor in making collaboration effective in our squad. It allows us to create a safe space to voice out our needs, concerns, boundaries, values, and ideal work styles. In this way, we are able to understand and identify where one will be needing support and determine the means to achieve project success.
- Kiana Carlos, Junior Brand Designer 🎨
Being with my team gives me deeper insights and hands-on knowledge about the different aspects of running a Data Literacy Skillscourse cohort, such as engaging with the community, hosting, and creating graphics. It also allows me to develop soft skills such as communication and organization, technical skills like prompt engineering and graphic design, and a growth mindset, all of which are very useful in upskilling in a modern workplace.
The team and all the members of Eskwelabs are also very supportive, which has helped me grow both professionally and personally.
- Nichole Caabay, Education Innovation Cohort 2 Fellow 🎓
“I never found the right band. So I started my own. With a few old friends. Want in?” - Gwen Stacy
Another Eskwelabs practice that I’m particularly fond of is our End-of-Week Gratitude Jamboard. ❤️ Every Friday, the team gathers for 30 minutes to celebrate each other’s wins and thank each other for the work done. We take our time to actually read each message out loud—putting heart and soul into what we do. 🎉
The Eskwelabs community truly is an ideal place to enhance one’s learning experience while solidifying the future of work. This internal collaboration is just one small part of a huge spider web as it extends to our learners, mentors, partners, and contributors. 🕸️
As we continue to weave a wider web, we want you to join us as an Education Innovation Fellow for Cohort 3! The Education Innovation Fellowship (EIF) 💼 is designed to support educators and professionals who are interested in developing innovative solutions to improve the future of work and learning in a remote setting. This is a 3-month fellowship where you’ll learn a range of skills from Learning Experience Design (LXD) all the way to Project Management, and more. 👀
Cohort 3 applications start on July 31, 2023. To learn more about the application process, check out this guide: https://bit.ly/EIF-C3-ProgramGuide . See you soon! 👋
Just like the new Spiderman movie, this newsletter ends with anticipation for what is to come. We are working hard to enhance our programs and expand our community, so we can all be confident in the evolving digital landscape. 🎥🚀
But, unlike the new Spiderman movie, this newsletter won’t end with a cliffhanger. There are no feelings of uncertainty because you’re sure that you found the best space to grow with the Eskwelabs community. 🌟🙌
See you next time! 👋😊
💌 Learning with you,
Meg Ruiz
Junior Content Designer at Eskwelabs