How to Use UpBeing With Your Dev Team

Being a developer is one of the most rewarding jobs, but it’s also demanding. 

Between high-pressure deadlines, demanding workloads, and the fast-paced nature of software projects, stress and burnout among team members are common. This can affect their mental health, productivity, and overall wellbeing, and can create a tense atmosphere within the team.

Especially in remote settings, when your dev team doesn't feel connected or trust each other, it can lead to a lack of collaboration and support. This can result in feelings of isolation, decreased job satisfaction, and a lack of motivation, which can negatively impact team cohesion and performance. 

UpBeing Communities are designed to create visibility, without vulnerability so that you and your team can stay connected and support each other through the biggest of bugs and the tightest of deadlines.

UpBeing is completely free and it only take a few minutes to set your team up. Here's how you can get started:

What are UpBeing Communities?

Any developer can tell you that bugs are inevitable: no matter how experienced or talented your team is. Mistakes are an important part of building software – creating a team culture where everyone communicates effectively, supports each other, and embraces the process of making mistakes is essential. 

UpBeing Communities are a psychologically safe space for you to feel seen by and more connected to the people on your team – no matter how busy, focused, and heads-down you are. When you join an UpBeing Community, your check-in data anonymously becomes part of your community orb: a visual representation of your community’s wellbeing. 

Think of them like a Messaging, Facebook or Reddit group; you do not need permission from administrators or your organization to create a community. 

How to use UpBeing Communities:

‍Create an UpBeing Community for your workplace using this form. We’ll let you know when your community is live – it shouldn’t take more than a day or two. You don't need to be a manager or a team leader to create a community.

Once your community is live, share it with your team through Slack, Teams, email, or however you communicate with each other!

For leaders:

1. Join the community in the UpBeing mobile app.
2. Bring UpBeing into your daily rituals. UpBeing is built to create introspection and bring mental health to the forefront of the workplace in a safe and simple way. 
   1. At the beginning of stand-ups, take a moment for everyone to check in with UpBeing.
   2. Use the community orb to reflect on how your team, as a whole, is feeling. 
   3. Ask your team what they need from one another today so that they can all show up as their best self.
3. Be an emotionally visible leader for your team. Studies show time and time again that leaders who are emotionally honest with their teams make those around them feel more psychologically secure and comfortable bringing their full selves to work. 

For employees:

1. Join the community in the UpBeing mobile app.
2. Add your closest work friend to your inner orbit. Having people you trust in your orbit helps bring you up on the hard days by reminding you that you’re not alone, and helps you celebrate together on the good days.‍
3. Add someone from your personal life to your inner orbit. We bring life into work, but we also bring work into life. Being connected with your support network is an important aspect of your wellbeing before, during, and after work.‍
4. Use UpBeing for shared emotional context, continuously. Oftentimes, we feel alone in our stress, we feel like we’re the only ones struggling to come up with a novel idea, or solve that problem – but most of the time, we’re not. UpBeing is a constant reminder that however you’re feeling: you’re not in this alone. 

UpBeing Communities are built to benefit individuals. On days when you’re feeling down, Communities help you see that you’re not alone. On days when you’re feeling up, Communities help you share your joy. 

On any given day, they help you and your team feel more connected to each other in a psychologically safe way. 

FAQs

1. What is psychological safety?

Psychological safety is “a shared belief held by members of a team that it’s OK to take risks, to express their ideas and concerns, to speak up with questions, and to admit mistakes — all without fear of negative consequences.” To learn more about psychological safety, check out this article from the Harvard Business Review. 

2. Will everyone on my team be able to see how I’m feeling? 

Nope! When you join an UpBeing community with your team, you’ll be able to see an orb that represents how your team is feeling as a whole – each individual member of your team remains completely anonymous. Only people you directly invite to your inner orbit will be able to see how you are feeling on an individual level. 

3. Can my manager see how I’m feeling? 

Nope! UpBeing Communities are designed to benefit individual and collective wellbeing, with your privacy top of mind. While your manager might choose to use UpBeing as part of stand-ups, one-on-ones, and otherwise: their access to community data is no different than anyone else’s. Remember: it’s visibility without vulnerability.

4. Do I have to pay to set up an UpBeing Community for my team? 

Nope! UpBeing Communities are free to create and free to join as part of the core UpBeing mobile app experience. If you want to go deeper in understanding your team or your organization, you can check out our Enterprise Solutions. 

5. Can I belong to more than one community? 

Absolutely! You can join and create as many UpBeing Communities as you want. Communities are built to help you understand how your wellbeing is related to people, places, and things you associate with.