How do I prepare for my virtual workplace? There is no doubt that the Coronavirus is profoundly impacting all of us. There have been over 1,620 cases in the United States as of March 13th when the President issued a state of emergency. Pushed many people far outside of their norm and forcing them to evolve the way that they live and work rapidly. The world’s largest companies are now switching entirely to working remotely without any preparation or warning, while others are shutting their doors to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. These rapid changes can leave many companies struggling to adapt and running into an abundance of barriers because they did not have time to prepare.
Our goal in this article is to help your company better prepare for the impact of the Coronavirus. We have gone into a new evolution of how we live and work. It is our goal to help you to make this transition an easy one by outlining the keys that we have seen lead to success both within your process and within your culture.
At Ease, we have spent the past 7 years in HR & Digital Transformation. Our organization works within a wide range of industries as we find solutions to build a diverse remote-first community of companies and people collaborating to build the future. Our experience has come from leading significant digital transformations with companies such as Steelcase, Configura, and The YWCA. Ease has also helped small businesses & startups with growth support at companies like Time Investment, Speakpulse, and Uncle Bucks on Third outside of the Milwaukee Bucks Fiserv Forum.
Here are our keys to preparing your workplace for the Coronavirus’s impact and how you can be the best prepared:
Understanding The Identities Of Your Team Members
Every member of your team has a unique set of characteristics that impact the way that they work. Right now, thousands of people are required to work remotely, who might not have the right support to thrive within that environment. Companies can combat this by taking the time to understand the keys traits of their employee and creating a personalized work experience. The best way that we have been able to grasp this understanding is by utilizing technology to support our decision making. You can use tools such as Predictive Index, Moonshot, or DISC assessments to gather this information. Each of them offers a different methodology, so you have to determine which one is best for your team.
Here is a summary of my Predictive Index and how I should be managed based upon it.
This information is precious and can be used to determine if I match the profile of the role that I am taking on. These results are why we were hired by One Workplace to assist them in creating the first remote solution for CET Designers around the world. You can apply this same methodology when choosing which team members to shift to remote and which ones to keep within the office. Not all employees have the ideal characteristics for working remotely. It would be best if you created a profile so that you can be confident that you are placing the right people in the right seat.
Provide The Right Project Planning Software For Remote Teams
At Ease, we provide every member of our community with access to our remote project planning software that is for building and managing remote teams. The system allows for everyone to have full visibility on the project, the ability to share files and to communicate all in one place. The Ease dashboard also searches our entire talent pool to find the best match based on skills, experience, and culture fit within a matter of seconds.
If you are not a part of the Ease community, we suggest the following tools so that your teams remain in touch.
Click here to review our in-depth feedback on those tools.
Show Them Good Employee Feedback Examples
When you are working outside of the office, it can be challenging to collect proper feedback without a process and tools in place. To create a positive work experience it would be best if you taught good employee feedback examples. You can’t just walk over to each other’s desks or catch each other in the breakroom. You can, however, set up a set process for when and where feedback is collected. The Ease dashboard collects 360 feedback at 50% and 100% of project completion. This feedback is on communication, timeliness, quality of work, and synergy with the team. This information gives us the ability to see how people are viewing each other’s performance versus their self-perception. When you are collecting this type of information, it allows you to see patterns that lead to greater success over time.
Here are some examples of useful employee feedback tools that we trust.
- Ideawake – This is an excellent solution for Enterprise companies looking to not only collect feedback but also to drive innovation. They have worked with some of the nations leading companies and continue to grow each year.
- Typeform – This is the most cost-effective solution to collecting feedback but requires much more interpretation on the backend.
- SurveyMonkey – This has all of the same above features but comes in at about $5 more a month than Typeform.
Don’t Let Social Distance Feel Distant
The Coronavirus is forcing us to practice social distance. A study by Louise Hawkley, Ph.D. at the research organization NORC of the University of Chicago, showed that social distance leaves many people feeling isolated, depressed, lonely impaired executive function, and much more. A great way to combat this is by creating online communities for your team members to join in. These groups give them a place to connect outside of their daily tasks. Creating a more engaging space for them to chat, learn from each other, and plan broad organizational experiences.
We have had a great deal of success in this by using slack channels, LinkedIn Groups, and Facebook Groups that we moderate.
The Keys To Remote Team Management
Once you have set all of the above steps, you’ll have success with remote team management and hiring for remote jobs. These next few months are going to be very hard for many organizations. The only solution to the problem is to be proactive and not reactive. It would be best if you had a plan that takes into account the identities of your team members, provide them with the right tools, and collect their feedback regularly.
We’re Here To Help
We have over half of a decade of experience helping companies of all sizes prepare for the remote first future of work. If you are interested in learning more about how we can help your company switch to remote first please contact us.
