4 step model for remote working (Vantieghem/VanDriessche) Google Translated into English

Google translation of excellent Peter Vantieghem article:

In recent months, remote working under the pressure of a pandemic has taken a bird's-eye view. Video technology companies like Zoom grew in a month with more than 100 million users and tech giants Microsoft and Google managed to get even more firmly in the saddle. And while we should not forget that Belgium had 1.26 million temporary unemployed in early April, we have to admit that it was an incredible feat to adapt so quickly to almost all work from home full-time. In our room.

Letting go of control, a scourging for some, an opportunity for others

It must have been a flogging for some business leaders to let go of control. Others undoubtedly saw this momentum as an opportunity to think about the future and to embed teleworking more structurally in their business processes. One thing is certain. Teleworking is no longer an employee benefit. Working remotely is the new normal. Remote working, like any system, has advantages and disadvantages. It is therefore high time for a model that can provide guidance to increase the maturity of remote working in companies.

Peter Vantieghem (left) has been an IT transformation and interim manager for over 25 years. Christophe VanDriessche (right) is the Managing Director of Amon and can look back on more than 20 years of experience in HR and Executive Search. The model of these entrepreneurs builds a bridge between the organization, its objectives, HR and IT. It offers tangible steps to make remote working a success and to gain competitive advantage.

In this model we drop a zero point: organizations that are absolutely not open to remote working. This “model for remote work” is therefore aimed at any organization that believes in working independently of place and time and wants to take steps forward.

When growing to the next level, the 4 dimensions of the model must be set up for each step. It is not an option to “just” set up a number of HR and IT processes if there are no clear business objectives and if the organization is not structurally prepared for this.

Level 1: Start remote working

On the first level, an organization takes the very first step towards remote working. Conscious or forced (for example by a pandemic such as with COVID19). The most important goal for the organization is to guarantee the continuity of its core activities through remote work.

The organization feels more comfortable in a command & control context. Remote work is not considered a competitive advantage or an essential part of the corporate culture. It is a tool to (still) get work done (reproduction of office work). There is limited freedom for employees (for example, to do concentration work at home) and teleworking is previously seen (and sold) as an employee benefit. At this level it is essential that the HR department makes contracts, formal policies and processes available to the organization. Especially because the company is still at a command & control level (what, when, where, how). In this phase, IT is usually limited to providing remote access to the corporate network through virtualization and VPN tunnels. It goes without saying that there are some additional concerns: all applications can be virtualized, what with allocation and cost of bandwidth. Of course, the importance of the security and support aspect cannot be underestimated. The classic support models suddenly no longer apply.

Level 2: Create virtual teams

At the second level, teleworking is an integral part of employee planning. An organization that wants to grow and use remote working as a lever for competitive advantage must abandon the idea that teleworking is an employee benefit. Remote working must evolve into a given, a modus operandus. Before one can make that “paradigm shift”, it is necessary to ensure that cohesion within teams is preserved through targeted (physical or virtual) informal events and that the corporate culture is sufficiently pronounced to ensure the employee's commitment to the company. .

Clear team objectives are defined (what) and there is “management by objectives” culture. The organization works target driven and accurately measures the outcome via KPIs, balanced score cards, etc. In this phase, the HR department facilitates the setting up of virtual teams and the definition and supervision of the processes around roles and accountabilities (control over who and what remains). to optimally align with the needs of this (new) way of (remote) working. With the support of the HR department, the organization is committed to increasing the productivity of employees, optimizing communication (read: avoiding unnecessary communication) and limiting the movement of commercial vehicles (time savings, lower costs, sustainable entrepreneurship). The organization, in close collaboration with HR, encourages the development of innovation, creativity and remote teamwork (releasing control over how, when and where) and sees this as an essential part of business operations to build ahead of the competition or to increase. Remote teamwork also requires questioning existing reward systems. Many companies have a bonus system; it often concerns sectors such as consultancy, where human capital is both the cost and benefit driver. The more billed time, the less idle time, the higher the bonus. The new way of working will have to provide for team objectives on which the remuneration is largely based. One for all, all for one.

In this phase and the previous one, it is a common complaint that people spend a lot of time on video meetings, WhatsApp conversations, chat sessions and emails. The artificial time-boxing of communications is a cloth for bleeding. In terms of organization, not only the targets but also the processes to achieve them must be clear. It is very easy for an IT department at team level to automate single workflows via simple and inexpensive tools such as O365. The team lead is automatically notified when certain tasks have been carried out, when there is a delay, etc. In this way, the capacity can be adjusted semi-automatically without hours of meetings.

Information should be constantly available online and shared. The challenge is slightly greater for creative sectors such as software development than in a previously “transactional” environment.

It is not recommended to launch long, difficult and expensive projects with the aim of automating workflows. KIS (S) remains the message! On the other hand, care must be taken not to fall into the pitfall of putting down a lot of tools. People-process technology, you know?

Level 3: creating virtual culture - asynchronous organization

On the third level, the organization is gradually starting to create a virtual culture.

Employees do not have to be online at the same time, nor are they expected to come to the same office. A central work location is an option, but it is rather seen as a meeting place for all stakeholders of the organization (employees, customers, suppliers, ...). Physical collaboration is rather organized ad hoc in a co-working space. This place should provide inspiration and commitment. But it can also save 50% on facility and fleet costs.

In a war for talent, this level of remote working opens many doors because the employee's place of residence still plays little role. HR focuses on creating clear values, expected behavior (code of conduct) and a strong (digital) feedback culture (which is particularly important for remote working). HR becomes a key function in the boardroom, sets up systems to stimulate empowerment and motivation (much more authority and ultimate responsibility among employees to execute and improve processes within their own work domain) and measures and improves the involvement of teams and employees by questioning and targeted actions.

Finally, it is the responsibility of the HR employee (s) to invest in external coaching to develop and improve the competences and management skills for remote working and 360 ° feedback. A strong corporate culture undoubtedly leads to a clearer employer brand and attracting and retaining the right employees.

In this context, IT will play an even more important role because certainly for transactional services such as pre-sales, planning or finance, more processes will have to be identified and automated. This phase is also the opportunity to make a number of decisions automatically in function of data. A lot of work will be SLA based and timeboxed automatically.

Level 4: Leading culture / process

This is the highest level of remote working: The virtual organization. The three previous levels of the remote work model have been implemented and the corporate culture is lived and experienced. The three levels have proven their added value for the organization. At this level there are no more overhead costs and there is zero CAPEX and fleet cost.

HR successfully implements the latest aspects and governance processes of self-managing teams. New employees and geographically different teams can be seamlessly integrated into the organization. The organization purpose and company values guide the employees. IT has also built on the previous three layers of this model. At this last level, the possibilities of AI and machine learning will come into their own here because there will be much more automatically generated information. There is no “one size fits all”. The maturity of the organization, the employees, the ability to absorb change will play a role in the formation of a final solution

Do you want to work on remote work in your organization? Do not hesitate to contact Christophe ([email protected]) or myself ([email protected]). Talking costs nothing.