The Balance Remote Work & Culture

In continuation of the article on remote work and its impact on culture, our focus today will be on what leadership should do to create an atmosphere that supports the efficient deployment of remote work.

Recall that culture is defined as the proper way to behave in an organization, these WAYS are communicated in policies, best practices, and how others respond to issues in the office.

Culture is not a noun but a verb and the doing happen whether we work virtually or remotely. Leadership has a strong influence on the people being led, again leadership is not residing in only the Chairman/MD but across the Group Heads and Team leads. When we set the rules, are we following through to ensure that our team members are behaving in line with the rules? The response to those actions is what determines the culture.

Continuous Review

Leadership must continue to evaluate our remote work arrangement's rules, processes, and outcomes. It cannot be one size fits all, neither can the model be so rigid that situational demands for variation are not given due consideration.

Continuous review is important to ensure that the organization is productive, staff and teams are engaged, and the culture evolves into what the leadership considers appropriate for the business.

Steps to implement a continuous review of remote working culture.

·????????Evaluate

Evaluation should be done at designated intervals. It is expected that we will review outcomes through team leads. Their regular reports of activities are a good place to start. The feedback on performance and outcomes measured against set standards provides a source of information for decision-making. Another area for evaluation is complaints from other units or from staff directly about the current process or challenges meeting expectations.

Evaluations can be formal or informal, however, the most important thing is what follows after the feedback.

Surveys and town hall meetings are also good sources of evaluation of current processes. The aim of evaluating is to determine what works, what needs to change, and what should be improved upon.

An example from my personal experience is based on individual output and productivity while working from home, we varied the number of days off to those staff. For some who struggled to justify their performance during remote work, we introduced stricter monitoring and reporting templates for them.

• Analyse

Data is only as useful as what we make of it. So, after the evaluation of our current state and feedback, we need to draw inferences to guide us in decision-making. Consider patterns from the data you have; ensure you compare them with previous periods. Let others have a view and opinion on the results of your evaluation too. The more perspectives the better.

Draw conclusions based on the feedback analysed and discuss options of various ways to address the issues. ?

• Plan

The aim is to develop at least 3 action plans to take to address the issue analysed. This is where idea generation comes in, let the team help in fashioning out the best way to address the outcome of our analysis.

Recently in my organization, we had a staff exit in a branch let’s call location B, we had to deploy the use of technology in the Head office to address the challenge of the exit at the branch. The machine is available in location B but the processing of the work to be generated from that machine is done in location A. The other solution would have been a replacement, which we all agreed is not necessary for various reasons, the major one being cost management.

• Implement

Agree on the action plan and implement it. This process becomes a regular reoccurrence as the need demands. As managers of people and resources ensure your implementation does not come with a fiat, do or get punished. I believe in moral persuasion and giving others the benefit of doubt. They may have an opinion that may influence your implementation plans.

Collaborate on Task & Relationship

Leadership must understand that in virtual work collaboration is critical and cannot be achieved merely by use of technological tools. The balance must be between the task and the relationship perspective.

??????????Strengthen teamwork & collaboration skills – Upskill your team to improve their performance and reduce conflicts.

??????????Use project management software tools – Many tools are available choose what works for the team and allows you to group tasks by project and deadline.

??????????Consider outside commitments – Ensure no one is overburdened with too many projects.

??????????Create a team agreement – Formalise your collaboration process and agree on team norms.

??????????As much as possible turn on the camera – Some discussions need to be taken through face-to-face interactions, it affords you the opportunity to read non-verbal cues.

??????????Just-in-time communications - Chat, Whatsapp helps for quick resolution rather than video conferencing and encourages team bonding.

Create new ways of communicating.

??????????To create a strong team culture, you need a system of meetings, habits, and events that keep people engaged regularly.

??????????Find new technology tools that can help create a bond for the team.

??????????It shouldn’t be all work and no play so some events should be non-work related. Have hangouts and meet-to-chat events, especially in small groups.

In conclusion, as earlier mentioned flexibility is the new culture we must imbibe. We continue to evolve as we implement until we establish the right culture. The most important point to note is the need to make leadership accessible and decision-making flexible.

The fuel hike has led to an increase in transportation and other cost for employees while management expenses for the business is growing in multiples, the solution of remote work to manage the cost needs to be well articulated and a win-win for the business and staff.

My question to you is; Will culture be impacted by the current trends or will it be the casualty in the scheme of events?

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