🔥 We are the (R)emotes #21

Welcome to (R) emote brief your monthly dose of insights, tools and stories from the heart of your (R)emote community 💌

Remote work gave us freedom. But somewhere between async Slack threads and back-to-back Zooms, we traded spontaneity for structure—and lost a little magic along the way.

This month, we're asking a different question: what if the best remote cultures aren't managed into existence, but designed through small, intentional experiments? What if reconnecting with your own curiosity, playfulness, and authentic energy could shift the way your entire team shows up?

Deb Haas thinks so. And in her upcoming webinar, The Remote Culture Playground, she's inviting you to stop firefighting long enough to rediscover what actually energizes you—and how to bring that into your work.

Inside this issue:

📌 HEADLINES PREVIEW

• 🦄 Deb Haas on designing culture through play – not productivity theater

• 🤖 A prompt a day – reframe setbacks with a sarcastic life coach (courtesy of Mostly Human)

• 🎧 Daria's replay + podcast + template – from chaos to click in 60 minutes

This edition is about stepping off the treadmill and into the playground.
Let's build cultures that feel alive.

From HR exec to creative catalyst for the future of work. After 24 years at Accenture, Deb Haas didn't pivot—she detonated the old script. Now she's the founder of The Unexamined Mind, where she helps teams and individuals rediscover play, possibility, and purpose in the age of AI.

Deb's not your average workplace strategist. She's a pattern disruptor with a purple crown (literally), an eye for remote team dynamics, and a deep love of sticky notes and systems. Her work sits at the intersection of design thinking, neurodivergence, and emotional intelligence—with a sprinkle of sass, a streak of strategy, and a solid belief that we can build workplaces that don't feel like survival games.

As a featured creator in R Generation and a founding partner in The Plus One Collective, Deb's known for building bridges across generations, disciplines, and time zones. Whether she's leading Miro-based team jams, writing satirical newsletters like 404: HR Not Found, or coaching midlife women through their first AI prompts, Deb brings humor, honesty, and a whole lot of heart to the table.

Her first community-facing offering, AI Confidential, helps women 40+ move from tech fear to creative freedom. She's also the architect of Fractional Fusion Lab, a wild co-creation experiment bringing fractional pros together to dismantle the silos of the Industrial Age and reimagine the future of work—one weird, wonderful jam session at a time.

When she's not building new rituals for remote teams or turning workplace pain points into punchlines, you can find Deb sipping a Kickstart (or Diet Pepsi), naming her ChatGPT instance Quinn, and helping others unlock their most joyful, human way of working.

🦄 The Remote Culture Playground

🗓 Thursday, October 16th
🕒 10 AM CDT | 4 PM WEST | 5 PM CEST | 9:30 PM IST

A 60-minute interactive jam where remote teams ditch the awkward icebreakers and tap into real connection. We'll explore playful rituals, mini-games, and creative activities designed to build belonging without the burnout. Expect laughter, surprising insights, and ideas you'll actually want to bring back to your team. Cameras optional. Curiosity required.

What You'll Walk Away With:

1. Reconnect with Your Authentic Energy – Identify the qualities and energies you've set aside in your professional life and understand how they could strengthen your work and team dynamics.

2. Transform Team Interactions – Learn practical, low-stakes ways to infuse more curiosity, playfulness, and genuine connection into everyday team activities like meetings, problem-solving, and celebrations.

3. Design Culture Through Small Experiments – Walk away with concrete "future experiments" you can try immediately with your team, proving that meaningful culture change happens through tiny, intentional shifts rather than major overhauls.

🎟️ Join the Session, spots are limited, so save yours now!

Provided by Mostly Human

🧠 The Prompt

Role
You are my wise, slightly sarcastic life coach who's great at reframing setbacks.

Objective
Help me turn this frustrating situation into either a learning opportunity, a creative project, or actionable next steps.

Context
I'm dealing with [describe your situation]. I'm frustrated because [why it sucks]. I need to move forward but I'm stuck between being angry and feeling defeated.

Output
Give me three options: 1) A practical next step, 2) A creative way to channel this energy, and 3) What this situation might be teaching me that I don't want to hear yet.

 ✨ Try it in ChatGPT (free version works great)

Last Month with Daria Rudnik: From Chaos to Click

In September, we had the pleasure of hosting Daria Rudnik, Team Architect and author of Clicking, for the season opener of We Are The (R)emotes.

Daria's mission? Help overwhelmed leaders stop firefighting and build teams that actually run themselves. Her C.L.I.C.K. framework (Clear purpose, Linking connections, Integrated work, Collaborative decisions, Knowledge sharing) provides a roadmap to transform any group into a self-sufficient powerhouse—in 60 minutes.

Throughout the session, Daria shared stories from her 15+ years leading teams through financial crises, wars, and COVID. One takeaway stuck with everyone: teams are not happening by themselves—they need to be designed.

She walked us through one of her favorite tools from the collaborative decisions pillar of the C.L.I.C.K. framework: The Enhanced Eisenhower Matrix. Unlike the traditional version (where everything ends up in the "urgent and important" box), Daria's matrix adds critical evaluation layers:

• Level of impact (1-5 scale) – What actually moves the needle?

• Top 3 tasks – Because when everything is urgent, nothing is urgent

• Team vs. individual work – Structure collaboration, don't hope for it

The result? Teams that prioritize with clarity, not chaos. Leaders who stop micromanaging. And work that actually matters.

Key highlights included

1. Season 2 launched with Daria Rudnik's "From Chaos to Click" webinar, drawing 50+ engaged participants and earning an NPS of +67

2. Enhanced Eisenhower Matrix template published on Miroverse, adding to our growing library of creator-designed frameworks

3. Talks About The (R)emotes podcast expanded with Episode #2 featuring Daria's session, condensed by AI hosts Quinn and Maeva into a 10-minute Spotify-ready format

4. October lineup announced with Deb Haas bringing The Remote Culture Playground – the next chapter in our exploration of high-performing remote teams

Missed the webinar? All replays are available in our community hub, where you can catch up on sessions, download templates, and connect with fellow remote professionals. Every session is designed to give you practical tools you can implement immediately—no matter when you watch.

🎧 NO TIME FOR THE REPLAY ?

No problem. Our AI hosts Maeva & Quinn condensed the session into a crisp 15-minute episode of Talks About The (R)emotes—now live on Spotify.

🃏 The Enhanced Eisenhower Matrix

This interactive activity helps teams improve task prioritization with an enhanced Eisenhower Matrix. Many struggle with “prioritis”—treating everything as urgent and important—leading to burnout and inefficiency.

> Get your copy for Miro <

🌎 Nature: online activity

⭐️ Difficulty: easy

⏰ Duration: 45 minutes

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THE R GENERATION COMMUNITY

R GENERATION brings together remote professionals from 50+ countries to explore the future of work through events, workshops, and AI-powered collaboration. Join a community where curiosity meets innovation and connections transcend borders.

Don't have a good day, have a great day 😀