Every day now, we hear about businesses moving toward remote workforce or shutting down shops.
Many are reinventing their business strategy and accepting the fact that it is possible to make many things virtual.
A very good friend of mine switched from “in-person” personal training to video sessions; another is buying back inventory from stores and selling it online.
Most switched to remote work, and that requires different managing and leadership skills.
Here are four action items to manage productivity and effective communication flow:
1. Use Real-Time collaboration apps.
2. Commit to your regular schedule
To establish a sense of structure, use your video conferencing platform for virtual office hours for the team to pop in and out of
a live conversation with you, resembling an in-house open door policy.
Make sure you honor regular One-on-Ones and Team Meetings with remote workers!
3. Show your face
You need to lead by example, so make sure that you have your camera turned ON!
4. Don’t forget scheduled time off
Ask the team to schedule lunchtime off in the calendar and make sure everyone honors is, we all need some breathing time. Another option is to create a “Care” and “Fun” channels to be able to share positive and helpful messages. Playing an online game with your team members is an excellent option for bonding as well as creating a virtual movie or book club type of collaboration.
Today’s world is changing very fast; technology does not support everything, yet, but we, as business leaders with a little bit of creativity and discipline, can definitely keep both productivity and morale high.