Raising Engagement & Productivity of Remote Working Culture.

Posted July 24, 2020

Recently we organised a VIP roundtable event and invited leading Operations Directors and HR experts to discuss opportunities and challenges arising from managing remote workforce with this in mind…

In October last year 44% of all companies globally did not allow remote working.

Attendees

Michal Wisniewski (Host)
Dan Sodergren (Host)
Kathy Morris
Vanessa Ashworth
Mark Inithar
Laura McGowan
Claire Quansah
Maria Stukiii

The Remote Agenda

During the roundtable we planned to discuss how companies adapted to operate in the new environment. And, the following topics:

COVID-19: How it has changed the way we work, permanently or has it?
Remote working: Is it the new normal? How will we adapt to remote work?
Essential skills: What is now necessary to manage and recruit for a remote team to be more successful.

The Discussion – COVID-19: Has it changed the way we work, permanently?

This is a big question! The growing conscientious among attendees was that yes, for some industries it probably has. And, if not changed in some way affected. COVID-19 has been a massive digital transformation funded by technology. Over the past 4 months, we have noticed more and more organisations have decided to work completely remote. We have all been on a huge learning journey, everyday is teaching us more lessons on how to work effectively at home. Consequently, it has forced change upon managers. They have had to trust their employees to work remote independently and to utilise technologies they may have never used before.

We have learnt we no longer need an office to be successful, we now know we are capable and have the resources to work from home. Providing we exercise technology to communicate. To FLOCK this new way of working is a positive change. We can spend more time with family and less money on commuting. We are now supplied with work flexibility that has created opportunities we may never have experienced before.

Remote working: Is it the new normal? How will we adapt to remote work?

Adapting to remote work has created a new dynamic with many challenges such as how do we keep our teams engaged? There is never going to be a straightforward answer but, one of the key ways is to provide constant support as managers. Find out how your team are feeling, do they need help with tasks? How are they coping mentally with remote work? One of the points stressed in the discussion was how for some people the social aspect can be greatly missed working remote. The feeling of isolation has consequences and needs to be addressed, especially for those businesses who have decided to continue working from home forever.

Essential skills:What are your tips for a successful day, working from home?

Success holds different meaning to each individual as we all endure a different set of values (Discover your core values with Your Value Survey). Success to one person could be learning a new skill and to another making a lot of money.

At FLOCK each morning we have a morning meeting and each set three personal daily tasks. At the end of the day we catch up to tell each other if we have completed our tasks or not. So, to us a successful day is completing our three tasks.

At the roundtable it was highlighted how a brief team meeting at the start of the day is good way to engage teams. To enhance a sense of success, set achievable tasks and goals for employees and yourself. Of course, prioritise the most important.

Vanessa Ashworth posted a really interesting LinkedIn post in response to the roundtable event…

We also need to build social connections.
If you have a team that is emotionally engaged,
they will work harder.
They will be more productive.
You get better results.
And so maybe our successful day should not just be about completing two “action” priorities, but also completing a couple of social connection priorities too.

…AGREED!

Thank you to everybody who participated.

FLOCK

If you want to get to know what values most to your team, why not try our new beta Your Value Survey. We help people, business owners and HR managers support individuals to create more productive teams whilst working from home.

Finally, if you do decide to take the survey you will receive 10 FREE Value Profiles for your team. So, make sure you share your results and invite 10 individuals to also complete the survey. It only takes 5 minutes!

Follow this link to get started https://yourflock.co.uk/app/pick-survey/9570b68f8cbbf6bedc2e32f26585d184

Find out more at www.yourflock.co.uk.

remote working, work