The New Normal? Here's What Really Matters When Working From Home
In a bid to flatten the curve, global leaders and companies of all sizes have embraced Work From Home policies in order to protect workers, prevent the spread and maintain productivity. How effective have they been and what lasting changes will remain when we are “back to normal”?
Digital Optimization is doing old things in new ways
We’ve managed to convert our beloved meetings to a digital platform, from all hand’s updates delivered by the C-Suite to forecasting meetings from sales.
Covid19 has led to an accelerated digital optimization. If Zoom and others are new and exciting in your organization, you are playing catch up. How many of us have had to challenge social distancing guidelines in order to submit an expense with an original copy or sneak into the office to use the Chop? These are digital blind spots, gaps in business continuity which we can close with these platforms. Ask your IT business partner for guidance.
Business leaders should embrace “Digital Engagement” as the new BAU (business as usual) and empower their teams to with a license to negotiate virtually. This is the new normal.
· Treat a virtual meeting as you would a board level presentation. Arrive early, eliminate distractions (airplane mode is still useful whilst grounded).
· Test, test and test again. Your meeting checklist hasn’t changed much. Prepare your equipment, check your connection and charge your device. Bring a spare cable and look for that mute button.
· Digitize your process end to end. Online meetings keep us connected in the day to day but if your expense procedure requires hard copies you have found a blind spot/
There is always a better way to do things and this is the perfect time to get creative, experiment and improve.
Digital Transformation is doing new things in new ways
The transformation aspect is where we look for growth in the long term. This section of leaders will not only survive but thrive. As an organization, ask yourselves:
- What aspect of our service/product/solution can be virtualized? Treat this an area of priority to develop a new service/product/solution. Start from the ground up to recapture that sense of innovation.
- Get creative and keep it simple. A spartan approach to work can open new ideas to solve new problems. Your CFO will always encourage working with less tools, less travel and less expense.
- Invest in people. In the post Covid19 era we may have a totally different approach to business travel and physical meetings. Many organizations will have multiple software licenses for online collaboration but it’s your talent who make a difference to the bottom line. Invest in human capital, skills development and organizational change.
Whatever the rest of the year looks like, drive the change before the change drives you. Please share your ideas and insights in the comments. Tech tips and productivity hacks are most welcomed.
Stay safe, stay well and thank you for reading
Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer or other group