Yesterday, you were managing your team by swiveling around in your chair, stopping by their desk, and getting down to business in your weekly face-to-face meeting.  Today?  Not the case.  You don’t see them because you’re all scattered about working from home in your respective kitchens, dens, bedrooms, and (if you’re lucky) home offices.  So, how do you effectively manage a team in this new and unfamiliar landscape?

At Poly, we’ve been living the remote worker scenario for decades, so we asked our managers what they’ve learned over the years and they broke it down into six practices that will keep your team engaged.

#1 First and foremost, overcommunicate

We use videoconferencing for nearly every meeting, and there’s a reason why:  humans are generally visual creatures.  We take in cues from expressions and body language that help us better relate to others.  In fact, neuroscience shows that good visual interaction makes for more productive discussions.

But video isn’t the only thing.  We also use instant messaging, texts, and email to be on top of things.  You can’t always have synchronous conversations so use all the tools at your disposal.

Think about the communications in the office: you might say hello to someone as you walk by, or in line at the coffee counter, or heading to the restroom.  People like to know that the boss knows their name!  Try to find ways to acknowledge people digitally in similar ways so they know you know they exist.  You can do things like set a timer to give a few casual hellos each morning. Or, you can schedule a regular ‘water cooler’ video chat for anyone who wants to join.  Go out of your way to highlight good results and thank team members for their contributions.

My staff and I are almost always on a message thread – we use Microsoft Teams for this – where we make comments and share bits of news.  It’s a little bit wiki, a little bit coffee klatch, and a little bit “we’re all in this together.”

#2 Ask for feedback from your team

When you manage someone remotely, you see them only when YOU see them, so you may not be aware of how they are interacting with others when there’s no risk of being observed.  Skip-level interactions are more important than ever, so you don’t find out too late that someone has become a virtual bully. You will have to find ways to make this happen – which is a new management muscle for many of us.

#3 Give feedback to your team

It will feel a little artificial at times but, giving feedback and providing suggestions to your team is more important than ever — particularly when you aren’t working from home by choice. You may be tempted to ‘wait until it’s back to normal,’ but putting off tough conversations never pays off.  Remember, you tend to do well the things that you practice.

#4 Remember that everything isn’t “work” 

Working remotely, so many interactions become scheduled and you may find you skip over the, ‘how was your weekend?’ conversations.  The risk here is that your interactions become much more transactional, and a bit impersonal.  Remember, your team members are still people.  Remember to ask about the stuff you’d naturally do in person.  Working from home, you’ll find you get a view into things you might not have known.  I bumped into a former manager the other day that I hadn’t seen in years, and the first question he asked was if I was still listening to a lot of Bruce (Springsteen, of course).  How did he know that I was a fan of the Boss?  The posters in the background in my office. And, anyone who has ever had a call with me while I’m working from home knows all about my dogs.

#5 Camaraderie is critical

That means using whatever you have at your disposal. Just this holiday season, we had a virtual staff meeting and one of the team members was wearing an ugly sweater.  I looked around my office and found a Santa hat, which I put on.  Within a minute or two, everyone was decked out and we all felt that holiday spirit.  You decorate the office, why not decorate your virtual office?  This week, there was some good-natured ribbing during a meeting about the number of times a certain individual’s photo was showing in a presentation about an upcoming event. It didn’t take long for people to change the virtual background in Zoom to the same headshot.

#6 Don’t multitask

Let me repeat that one – Do not multitask.  Your people know when you aren’t really paying attention, and it erodes trust and culture in a hurry.  When you are talking to people virtually, talk to them as if they were in the room with you.

Got tips to share?  Let us know by using the hashtag #WFHtips

Further reading:

• Working from Home, but I’m Not Alone

• Staying Engaged — Even When Everyone’s Working from Home

• How to Facilitate Successful Remote Collaboration

• 5 Tips for Working from Home

When people are working from home — or any place different than the ‘norm’, it’s especially important to find ways to keep company culture alive. With the Coronavirus outbreak hitting the headlines and more and more companies advising employees to work from home to stay safe (including Poly), people are focusing on the mechanics of working remotely. Here at Poly, we’ve maintained flexible working practices for years and have learned some things along the way about remote collaboration and keeping employees engaged.  It starts with having the right equipment to connect you to people.  But equipment alone won’t do the trick without solid communication practices in place to humanize the connection with a distributed workforce.

Use collaboration tools on the fly

Video services like Zoom and collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams help our global employees stay connected. Have a quick question? Connect with them in chat. Need to problem solve? Jump on a video call. Need information on the latest COVID-19 updates? Check out the Coronavirus Channel on the All Employee Teams Group. With all that communication, you’ll rarely feel like you’re not in the same room.

Focus on inclusive practices

When you have lots of faces on a video call, it can be easy to fade into the background, especially if your square is off the screen. An easy and inclusive practice we’ve adopted is making sure we’re asking quieter folks for their opinions or ideas to keep everyone engaged and ensure all voices are heard.

Background noise can be “ruff”

We definitely continue working to keep any biases we may have in check when there may be pets, kids, or delivery people at the door. These things don’t make someone less focused or productive; they make them human and able to operate in a flexible working environment. Go easy on the speaker whose dog decides to bark at just that moment.

Be kind about others’ WFH video conference backgrounds.  Many folks didn’t have time to build out that home office before COVID-19 sent them home to work.  I’ve seen laundry, wine collections, old holiday decorations, family photos and messy kitchens in the background – just think of it as another way of getting to know your co-workers.

Well wishes from afar…

To continue building a sense of belonging, our team has a ‘HR Pets at Poly’ channel where we share our beloved pets and allow everyone else an opportunity to swoon. We also have a social channel where we wish happy birthday’s, share vacation pics, and chat in general.

Keep a sense of community: Coffee/Lunch/Water Cooler chats

When I get itchy that I don’t have enough social interaction that day, I like to set up a virtual coffee, lunch, or quick ‘water cooler’ moments with my colleagues around the globe. It’s super important to be aware of time zone differences in a global company, and yet these moments make us feel like we’re closer than ever. You might be having coffee, but your (my) teammate in the UK might be sipping on gin!

Change up your on-boarding and learning practices

We recently decided to go fully remote for our new employee orientation. This allows everyone an equal playing field, without a focus on only those in the room. We’ve had to make some changes in our facilitation practices to get more interaction out of the group, and we’ve found that creating this remote connection right away helps people to see how our flexible work happens in action. This creates a safe space for everyone to learn our tools – you never know if someone is new to these or is a seasoned expert. We continue using LinkedIn Learning as a resource for employees and love the breakout room feature in Zoom for learning sessions with large groups.

If you pick any of these top tips, or all of them together, you’ll be well on your way to having a successful flexible workplace as well. While we know the COVID-19 is pressuring many of us to accept a new way of working, many of us are already here and ready to set the example for the future of work. Using ideas like this will help keep your culture alive and enable people to be unified, collaborative, and communicating.

We’re all reading a lot about remote working in light of the coronavirus, and the steps many companies are taking to help protect their employees. I’ve been an active participant in flexible working for the past seven years and can offer both rants and raves on various aspects. Yes, it’s great to have the office dog, and yes, it’s annoying to have to keep my home office pristine for video (but I’m thankful I have a home office and am not working from my kitchen counter). Through some trial and error, though, here are some things to keep in mind.

TIP 1: TURN YOUR CAMERA ON

Use the video service that your situation allows, and really, turn your camera on. I can’t say this enough. Conference calls that are audio-only drive complacency, multitasking, and just plain not paying attention (remember this? Too true!). Video allows you see people, expressions, reactions, and personality. It keeps a key part of your brain engaged. Neuroscience has shown that video makes meetings more inclusive because mentally you parse the group as ‘your’ crowd.

TIP 2: SET THE STAGE

Small tweaks make a difference — light in front of you, not behind you. If you’re using your laptop camera, think about raising that laptop a bit – maybe on a few books, or in my case, a ream of copy paper — this prevents the camera from going for the ‘nose-hair view’. I also recommend a bright lipstick, if that’s your jam. My personal go-to is ‘Regal’ by Bobbi Brown.

There might be a few more headsets on my desk than average.

TIP 3: STAY ON MUTE WHEN YOU’RE NOT SPEAKING

Know where your mute button is, and don’t be afraid to use it. Dogs, cars, leaf blowers, vacuums, family members… There are distractions at home that can be disruptive to others on the call. But don’t forget that hitting the mute button means remembering to unmute, too.

TIP 4: PROFESSIONAL EQUIPMENT DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Most laptops were not designed with audio capability that rivals what you get with a quality headset or speakerphone. The occasional call is one thing – but if you work from home regularly, it’s another. Use a headset or a portable USB speakerphone that works with your communications software of choice, like Microsoft Teams or Zoom. That way you’ll also have prompts to remind you when you start talking on mute – and, therefore avoiding that, “Sorry, Karen, we can’t hear you… you’re on mute” part of the call.

TIP 5: REMEMBER TO MOVE

I’ve had days where I’ve checked my smartwatch early afternoon to discover I’ve only taken all of 13 steps… ouch! Set a timer to remind yourself to stand, to stretch, to check out another room in the house. It’s important to stay active and to air out the cobwebs. In fact, a hidden benefit of WFH is that you can throw in a midday workout if your schedule allows. Whether that’s a walk around the block or a quick ride on the Peloton (my choice), getting your heart and body engaged will make you more productive.

For more helpful tips on dialing-in your home office and a full roundup of products to enable remote collaboration visit poly.com/remoteworker.

As the sun sets over the canals of Amsterdam, another busy day at #ISE2020 comes to a close and the Poly team are raising a few Heinekens in celebration of another big win for the Poly Studio lineup of video bars.

Building on last year’s “Best of Enterprise Connect Award”, we’re excited to announce that the next generation Poly Studio X family took home two “Best of ISE” awards from AVTech and Installation, recognizing the most innovative products on display at the world’s largest AV industry tradeshow.

The Best Video Bar for Huddle Rooms

The Poly Studio X30 and Studio X50 are all-in-one video bars that enable the best conferencing and collaboration experience for small huddle rooms and medium-sized meeting rooms. They are radically simple to use with support for leading cloud video services including Zoom and Microsoft Teams built right in — no PC or Mac required. Voices are crisp and clear, thanks to a beam-forming microphone array and acoustic chamber design. Built-in, wireless content sharing lets users share from their devices without the need for cables or pucks.

Up and Meeting in 2 Minutes

The radically simple design also brings major benefits to IT managers, AV installers, and integrators, which led to the Best of Show recognition from Installation.  With the Poly Studio X units, setup, management, and maintenance are all streamlined. The units quickly pop out of the box, connect to the monitor and network with two cables, and your teams are ready to launch a meeting in a matter of minutes.  Sound too good to be true?  See for yourself….

Form Meets Function

Granted, when it comes to technology, functionality will always be more valuable than appearance. However, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have both brains and beauty. The Studio X Series has a sophisticated design that artfully compliments the aesthetic of any meeting room. One of my favorite details about the Studio X set up is the Poly TC8 — it’s the touch interface that drives the whole experience. Not only is it intuitive to use, it’s also so beautifully designed.

                      Poly TC8 launching a Zoom Meeting

Poly MeetingAI is Changing the Way We Meet

The way Poly sees it, technology is doing its best when it empowers authentic human connection and collaboration. What this looks like in action is devices that are smart enough to follow along with how we communicate. We see a future where Poly makes the connection, then quietly steps out of the way to become the one thing you don’t notice in the meeting.

Poly MeetingAI is the bit of magic that makes video conferencing with the Studio X bars feel so natural. If desired, the Studio X Series will group all meeting participants and naturally move between speakers, framing them as they speak. This feature allows far-end participants to feel like they’re in the same meeting room while also freeing others in the room from having to control a camera.

The audio and video quality are also outstanding. When I first experienced this for myself, I couldn’t believe my ears! Voices come through naturally, and you don’t have to be concerned about distracting background noises interrupting the call thanks to Poly NoiseBlock AI. This new noise-canceling technology uses machine learning that truly understands what belongs in a call and what doesn’t!

Now Let’s Talk Cloud Services.

Starting with Zoom, the Poly Studio X Series and the G7500 video codec natively connect and becomes fully functional in Zoom Rooms without the need for a computer in the room. This means your administrators no longer needs to worry about the computing device in the room driving the conference. You can take advantage of all the Zoom features from calendaring, content sharing, and other simple meeting functions.

Connecting to other cloud services providers can be done using the Poly Video app on the Studio X30 or Studio X50 by using the Poly Video app. From these apps, you’ll have full H.323 / SIP dialing capabilities, opening a world of standards-based video devices you can connect to. I love the fact that changing between video modes is as simple as selecting the video app from a list in the web interface. A quick reboot and the video system is ready to dial how you want with the proper interface and all!

Cheers 🍻 

A hearty cheers goes out to all of partners, customers, friends who came out to see us at #ISE2020. While the spotlight has been on our next generation video bars, Poly’s booth also featured the industry’s most comprehensive lineup of endpoints that connect to virtually every ecosystem partner on the planet. While we were at it, we thought we’d introduce a revolutionary new SaaS solution called Poly Lens that provides an interface for IT managers and administrators to quickly and effectively deploy, provision and manage Poly devices and gain actionable insights about their workspaces.

There has never been a more exciting time to be in the AV/ Collaboration sector and we’re proud to be doing our part to drive innovation in the space. Cheers!

I encourage you to learn more about the Poly Studio X Series online. You can also sign up online to be one of the first to experience these incredible systems for yourself. Be prepared to get your meeting mojo back.

It’s not often that you hear the words “mojo” and “meeting” used in the same sentence. No wonder – with today’s geographically distributed workforce, important discussions and brainstorming get the life squeezed out of them. If you’re IN the room, you struggle to get the meeting going, get everyone in the room and share content – if you don’t trip over the cords in the process. If you’re REMOTE, you can’t see who is speaking, you struggle to hear, and you feel like an afterthought to the main event. Not a lot of magic happening in all that!

Today Poly announced a new series of elegant and compact video conferencing devices plus other solution updates that change the game in four big ways.

First, as we announced from the stage at Zoomtopia in San Jose, Poly has made the Zoom Rooms experience better than ever with our radically simple Poly Studio X video bars that deliver the Zoom Rooms experience with no PC or Mac required. We’ve got decades of experience in understanding what makes meetings more human – for everyone in the room and those dialing in from other locations – and we’ve packed all of that into easy-to-install, easy-to-manage, and easy-to-use all-in-one powerhouses. Finally, the ease and simplicity of Zoom meets the enterprise-grade features that really make video work, including dual-screen-capable Zoom Rooms with the Poly Studio X50 – and no cable madness!

Second, Poly has brought the world of AV and video conferencing into the modern app economy. The Poly Studio X30 and Poly Studio X50 join the Poly G7500 in running a common platform that can be updated and enhanced through a series of regular software updates. What’s more, this Poly platform, built on Android, can run applications like a smartphone does today. In December, all three devices will run Zoom Rooms natively and support standards-based video technology. In early 2020 this reimagined video platform gets even more powerful, addressing the core challenge many businesses have of needing to switch between multiple cloud collaboration services in any given day. Poly was put together as a company to build the best devices – headsets, phones and video devices – that make your cloud service of choice better – and this is a huge step in that direction.

Third, Poly has introduced amazing new innovations that make any videoconference better. Our new Poly MeetingAI features use artificial intelligence and machine learning to address the distractions that hit your senses in a meeting. We make it easier to hear what’s being said by blocking out the annoying noises that people make while talking, including the typing, tapping, paper sliding and candy wrapper crinkling. We make it easier to see what’s going on in the room with the most advanced speaker tracking and framing with our built-in production rules. We even take care of the extra weight you seem to gain if you’re seated at the edge of the camera’s field of view. All of these features work regardless of which video conferencing service you are using, including Zoom today and more in the future.

All of that is great news – but there’s one more. What makes this amazing is that Poly is offering the new Studio X series at price points that completely reset the calculations on what it costs to outfit a room. The Studio X30, for huddle and smaller spaces, comes at an MSRP of just about $2,100, including the Poly TC8 touch controller. All you add is the Zoom cloud service and a monitor, and you have a room up and running for under $2,500.

Compare that to the tinker-toy solutions that require an external computing device, a controller, camera, speaker, microphones, monitor, multiple cables and Kensington locks, where you’d spend in excess of $3,000 and not come anywhere close to the audio and video quality that the Studio X series provides – both in and out of the room.

The Studio X30 and Studio X50, set to start shipping in December, are ideal for smaller and midsize conference rooms. The Poly G7500 shares the same platform and is available now, with the update for native Zoom Rooms coming in December. Together, these three solutions offer a complete refresh of Poly’s leading Group Series, but with more flexibility, simplicity and power.

So it’s time to get your mojo on, and go from “Can anyone hear me?” to “Hello, world! Ready for my closeup!” with Poly.

So, what kinds of distractions are happening right now in open offices like yours? I’ve talked to a bunch of open office workers and have heard some of the craziest. Like scooter rallies. That’s right, uncoordinated co-workers on wheels. Cheering and high-fiving. Right behind you. While you’re on a call.

1 in 3 workers lose 1 hour or more EVERY DAY.¹

That adds up to 200+ hours per year lost to distractions. That’s a lot of unproductive effort and wasted time that your company really can’t afford.

So, how do you help workers hear what matters and stay focused in the open office? That’s a question we asked ourselves, too. We took a look at our 40 years of experience making headsets and gave our product team a challenge: make headsets specifically designed for the open office.

Good thing we like challenges as much as some people like scooters.

What does it mean to make a headset for the open office? Let’s start with Active Noise Canceling (ANC). Too little ANC, and open office mayhem still gets through. If you want to block out the cheering or gossip, ANC is a great to have in your headset.  But, too little ANC, and open office mayhem still gets through. Too much, and you can’t hear yourself, so you end up shouting. Only our headsets are tuned specifically to find the perfect balance.

Okay, so you can hear, how about making sure the person on the other end is hearing YOU and not all the rest?  That’s where noise blocking technology can help. Nobody does it better. Our headsets have advanced microphones that block out background noise. So all people on a call hear is, well…each other.

If you’re wearing a headset to help with distraction, you don’t want to be distracted by the headset! That’s why comfort is a big deal, too. No torturous ear crushing or constant adjustments, please. Just premium, lightweight, stay-in-place materials. No wonder open office workers recently rated our headsets twice as comfortable as the competition.²

With 99% of workers distracted,¹ it’s time to bring productivity back. Get more insights on the perils of today’s open offices, and how best to respond. Download our eBook for answers.

¹ Source: “All Your Employees Are Distracted: The Realities of Today’s Open Office and What You Can Do About It,” by Future Workplace, April 2019, sponsored by Poly.
² Source: “Clinc Research Study,” 2019

#OpenOfficePerils

Distractions come in many shapes and sizes. When you’re trying to just get work done in an open office environment, the disruptions all add up to a productivity nightmare.

Squeaking ferret + chatty ferret-loving co-workers = One chaotic office.

In your business, it could be emotional support ferrets. (Did you know that a group of ferrets is called a “business,” by the way?  And if you haven’t read this piece by Patricia Marx in The New Yorker on emotional support animals, you should. It could be an emotional support llama.)  More likely it’s barking dogs, loud talkers or noisy celebrations. It doesn’t really matter if the interruptions are furry, human, or otherwise—they’re simply a problem in open offices around the world.

In a recent survey¹, open office workers reported:

• 55% are disrupted by noise multiple times a day
• 94% believe they’d be more productive in a less noisy environment
• 70% work for a company that has taken no action to remedy the problem

Keep in mind that it takes 23 minutes for an individual to resume a task after being interrupted.²  So every time you eye-roll at whatever interrupted your train of thought, there’s a third of an hour of productivity gone.  As an individual, it’s annoying.  For a company, it’s expensive.  Sitting at your desk, you can wear a headset (and we’ve got lots of suggestions for you there!), but if you want to get a small group to focus in this environment, it’s even harder.

But there’s hope: the smart huddle room. Imagine escaping into a hotbed of ideation, collaboration, and productivity. Call it a haven or a hideout, if you like. We call it Polycom Studio.

Polycom Studio is the USB video bar built for small rooms and big ideas. It makes connecting in huddle rooms easier than ever, with plug-and-play functionality that works with nearly any video platform and any budget—giving your team best-in-class audio, dynamic video, and zero distractions.

No ferrets. No noisy neighbors. Just small teams connecting without outside interference, so they can get stuff done.

And in case you need more proof on the open-office problem, here’s another alarming statistic. 99% of employees worldwide are distracted at work.³ This is the reality for more than 5,000 office workers around the world that we surveyed this year. More than a third of them are always or very often distracted. Yikes.

Most workers can’t escape the noise and interruptions around them. But yours can. Find out how in our eBook.

Sources:
¹Source: “Managing Noise: Hear, Be Heard, and Focus,” Plantronics study, 2017.
²Source: “No Task Left Behind? Examining the Nature of Fragmented Work,” by Gloria Mark, Victor M. Gonzalez, Justin Harris, University of California, Irvine.
³Source: “All Your Employees Are Distracted: The Realities of Today’s Open Office and What You Can Do About It,” by Future Workplace, April 2017, sponsored by Poly.

#OpenOfficePerils

The open-plan office started with such promise.

When we saw the cool, minimalist design and freedom of the open office, we dreamed of spontaneous collaboration, deeper connections with co-workers, and enhanced performance.

The reality? Too often the open office is a sea of distractions.

Loud talkers. Barking dogs. Mike from Marketing who won’t shut up. If you’re working in an open-plan office, these perils are just the beginning.

Despite the fact that leadership at some companies think employees only care about bean bag chairs and free food, surveyed workers* say that the ability to focus without interruptions ranks #1 on their workplace wish lists. Productivity trumps tacos. Who knew?

Those same open office workers reported that blocking out noise and distractions will:

• Increase their productivity (64%)
• Reduce errors in their work (52%)
• Allow them to focus on the task in front of them (48%)

The open office isn’t going anywhere. But technology can swoop in and save the day.

Equip your teams with huddle, collaboration, on-the-go, at-your-desk, chaos-proof solutions, and they’ll get more done. And they’ll be happier while doing it. The happiness factor is crucial when you think about the issue of constant connectivity and the threat of burnout. Happier employees are less likely to turn over or tune out.

With a few technological tweaks, open offices can push back against the chaos—helping workers stay happier and more productive, even in the middle of Taco Tuesday.

Start with your huddle room. Put boardroom quality into your smaller spaces, make it easy to use and flexible with USB connectivity, and voilà! You’ve created an oasis for collaboration. The Polycom Studio USB video bar helps you upgrade your small room for teams to share big ideas.

But that’s just the beginning.

Ready to find out more? See poly.com/perils.

#collaboration #productivity #workplace #solutions

*Source: “When the walls come down: How smart companies are rewriting the rules of the open workplace,” Oxford Economics

In April of 2018, I was in Hawaii on business[1] when Joe Burton, my soon-to-be-boss, gave me a call.  He was then CEO of Plantronics who had recently announced that they would be acquiring Polycom, where I was CMO.  “I’m thinking about the name for our new combined company,” he said, “and I figured you’d probably want to be involved in that.”

Well, YES! That’s a marketer’s dream! Having the opportunity to take two companies with strong brands and strong origin stories and turn them into one new company – you just don’t get that chance very often in a career.  So, yes, yes, I would like to be involved in that!

And so began our journey.  Two brands, each with its own storied history.  The headset that transmitted the famous “One step . . .” of the first moon landing.  The conference phone used by leaders of nations and captains of industry.  Two companies focused on making connections better with better audio, better video, better quality.  In rebranding, we wanted to honor the brand equity, history, and positive associations that Plantronics and Polycom both had, while also working to plant our new marque in a country that hadn’t yet been discovered.

We thought hard about simply taking the name from one of the two companies. We worked on this angle for a long time, reviewing brand tracker research and interviewing a host of stakeholders.  Turned out, lots of data showed us that people who knew headsets knew Plantronics, and people who knew meeting rooms knew Polycom.  Ultimately, there wasn’t a clear “winner” and we didn’t feel that either existing name was sufficiently expansive.  Both names were somewhat dated (the “-tronics” and “-com” markers of bygone eras), and, worse, LONG.  Data show that shorter names perform better in our digital world – easier to say, spell, and type.  And the brand attributes that we saw all showed that while we scored well on quality and reliability overall, we didn’t have a whole lot of emotional connection in either brand.

We thought about some sort of fusion – lots of brand literature suggests that this is a great way to nod to the past while still moving forward.  But “Polytronics” and “PlanCom” and “PolyPlan” and “PlanPoly” … you see the problem there.  We didn’t like the alternative of taking one name plus the other logo, either.  We weren’t fans of the Polycom logo, and Plantronics didn’t even have a logo, just a wordmark.

We really didn’t want to entertain the notion of a net new name – it seemed far too expensive and, frankly, risky.  But our partners at Prophet who worked with us on the new brand asked one day, “Have you thought about Poly?”

Hmmn. Poly.  From the Greek: “poly” means “many.” Four letters, two syllables. And what did our new company stand for, if not the many?  The many employees who are coming together.  The many modes of communications we enable.  The many ecosystems we cross with our smart hardware and cloud connections.  The many … the list of “manys” got very long, very fast.

Poly clearly also carries forward some of the Polycom equity and associations. But what about Plantronics?  How do we honor that part of our history together?  That’s where our new logo, the “Propeller,” comes into play.

The propeller brings together the first letters of both company names in the rich “lava” used in the Plantronics world.  It shares the use of 60-degree angles that appear dominantly in the Plantronics design language.  And it animates beautifully to create an actual propeller – honoring the first of our two origin stories, when two airline pilots came together to make flying safer – as well as our strong history in aviation headsets.

The name and the logo, of course, are just the start of our rebranding story.  We’ve also spent a lot of time to work through a new visual identity to bring in more authenticity and emotion. We want to explicitly get away from those stock-photo images of shiny happy people in offices high-fiving the deal they apparently just got, without a trace of wrinkled knee or used coffee cup.  We have also developed a new voice to give Poly a tone and a language that draws some DNA from its parents, but with more modernity, simplicity, and yes, even swagger. Joining me in upcoming blogs will be Darrin Caddes, our brilliant VP of Global Brand and Design, to talk more about these other elements of our story—stay tuned!

[1] Generally speaking, I think “Hawaii” and “on business” are words that should be used together much more often.