?How to convey the objectives of remote teamwork?
by Melisa Vidal, Programs Director at Xtendo Group
The pandemic posed an unprecedented challenge in labor history: telecommuting. In this context, this alternative has proven to be an important tool to guarantee the operability of companies.
The benefits are clear and visible to all, the reduction of travel time and the possibility for collaborators to focus on their tasks. In addition, the flexible hours and the freedom to work outside the company premises have become a positive factor. However, looseness should not be an excuse to encourage isolation and loss of contact with peers.
According to the document:?“Teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic and after it”, from the International Labor Organization (ILO), only a fraction of the workforce worked from home; for example, within the European Union the incidence varied from 30% or more, countries such as Denmark and Sweden 10%, as well as the Netherlands. In the United States the figure increases to 20%, in Japan 16% and in Argentina only 1.6%.
In this sense, the management of internships within companies must be adjusted to the situation, both to establish priorities and to manage objectives, volume of work, tasks and deadlines.
For this, it is essential that the entire team is managed under three fundamental pillars: performance management, communication and digitization, as recommended by the ILO. But first it is necessary that I talk to you about a fundamental point: trust.
Build trust with the team
Before carrying out the communication pillars, it is vital to convey trust, as this guarantees that the teams adapt to the pace of work that the organization expects. In this way, the objectives will be met with transparency and security at the time of carrying them out.
It is suggested that leaders carry out monthly extracurricular support activities to create integration spaces that also serve to align the company’s expectations. The idea is to achieve a balance between the personality of the collaborator and the responsibilities that he must carry out during the day.
In addition, active breaks must be taken to provide mobility to the body and oxygenation to the brain and thus the collaborator will feel comfortable in his workplace. To beat effectiveness and productivity, many people opt for the?Pomodoro methodology, which consists of dividing work into blocks of time separated by a short break, which is generally five minutes. The idea is to improve the results.
How to focus the objectives of the company?
The pillars recommended by the ILO are measures that must be adopted. The first thing is to recognize within the organization what the priorities are, develop a diagnosis of skills among collaborators, encourage collaborators to express themselves when they feel overloaded and recognize that offline time is needed to do well the tasks that are delivered.
Now, knowing these premises, it is important to develop the three pillars to have positive results with the teams being from home:
1 - Performance management
This is, without a doubt, the pillar that organizations place the most emphasis on, because it is based on team performance and compliance with the entire strategy that is designed.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) considers it relevant that teleworking is based on dialogue, cooperation and collaborators, as indicated in the aforementioned Guide. In addition, it ensures that the best method is the process called results management, where the management team and collaborators establish a common method of evaluating productivity.
The management will include the identification of objectives, tasks, supervision and discussion about the process being carried out. The goal is to make tasks flexible without the collaborator feeling pressure. In addition, it should be noted that:
2 - Digitization
This point refers to the use of technology such as cloud computing, programming tools and all those applications or online platforms that facilitate remote access and collaborative work, an example of which could be Microsoft Teams.
Digitization is going at such a fast pace that it is necessary to keep collaborators constantly learning so that they do not feel unprotected in the face of the drastic changes that are being experienced today.
To achieve the long-awaited productivity similar to that of the office, the ILO says that it is necessary to ensure access to technology and tools by the teams. It is also important, as I have mentioned, to establish a continuous dialogue between everyone to detect if there is any difficulty in the use of the platforms. In addition:
3 - Communication
If one point should be made clear, it is that teams that work remotely face more communication challenges than those that work face-to-face. When collaborators spend a lot of time apart, the degree of professional isolation intensifies, so it is vital to maintain effective communication, with clear messages so that the flow of information is continuous.
Organizations should consider the following:
The importance of health
Health is important and companies must also ensure that their teams are in good shape because the stress and worries, for many, have intensified with the arrival of the pandemic.
According to a?Kaiser Family Foundation?survey shown in the ILO document, nearly half of adults in the United States have been affected by mental health.
Many studies show that the strong period of confinement aroused anxiety, depression, stress, irritability, insomnia, anger, and emotional exhaustion. It is important that team leaders establish active listening to determine if any of the collaborators is going through a particular situation. Create one-to-one meetings to learn about concerns and thus offer closer and more empathetic ties. Some companies are betting on platforms that provide emotional well-being for organizations; for example, ifeel, a holistic solution that increases motivation and talent retention by applying psychological aspects to the business world.