Remote Working Transition – Adapting Fast To The New Normal

Unlike Covid19, there is really nothing ‘novel’ about remote working. The agile workforce has been growing steadily alongside globalisation, technology and progressive organisational development for some time now, and there have been indicators that those organisations who didn’t have these processes in place already would either need to catch up or risk falling behind competitors.

Under the current circumstances it’s now apparent that the urgency to adjust to remote working is acute, and the ability for organisations to adapt to such sharp and sweeping changes is going to be crucial for success (and in many cases survival) in the coming weeks and possibly months. Before the global coronavirus pandemic I’d heard several skeptical organisational leaders ask the same key questions surrounding implementing a successful remote work plan that would allow continued effective operations and strategic governance and practice, however now that it has become a necessity to adapt to this transition, and fast, we address below some of the most common concerns and misconceptions:

1.      How can I trust that my employees are doing what they are supposed to if I can’t see them?

The question of trust is a big one. There are three parts to this response, and the first I will borrow from the one and only Nick Atkin, Chief Executive at Yorkshire Housing when this question was posed to him, who said: “If you can’t trust your employees then why the bloody hell did you hire them in the first place?!” Nick hits the nail on the head here, and if there is any doubt that anyone in your team is not operating from a place of trust or feels trusted this brings into play the underlying issues of effective communication, support and a positive workplace culture. In order to adapt to any uncertainty successfully there must be embedded a culture of trust, there must be openness and freedom to communicate any underlying issues, and employees must feel supported.

It’s true that workaday life at the office is going to be somewhat removed from the new home working environment, and if your team is used to being visually supervised there may be initial uncertainty when the stabilisers are first removed from their bikes. However, with clear expectations, regular support and focusing on outcomes rather than micromanaging the process, there is a much higher potential for success. By providing guided support, clear agreed outcomes, expectation and trust, individual team members can not only find it easier to get into their personal groove quicker, but freedom to operate and manage their workload in their own way can be a huge motivator to achieve and succeed.

Another thing to consider is that if an employee is predisposed to ‘slacking off’ in the workplace, it is often difficult to observe when under the cushion of the whole team, whereas individual outcomes are often easier to spot when observed from a remote workforce perspective. You’re basically sorting the wheat from the chaff if you like. However, at a time of such unprecedented uncertainty, it should be noted that there could be other underlying reasons for lack of achievable outcomes, and the importance of open communication and support cannot be underestimated.  

2.      How can my team stay connected and supported if everyone is working remotely?

This pandemic is placing us all in a unique situation that none of us were really fully prepared for. Each person will be processing, dealing with and managing their own set of circumstances in their own way, and some individuals will have more pressure and difficulty adjusting than others, due to both external and personal pressures. It’s absolutely imperative at this time to keep communications open and morale strong within the team, and to be on the lookout for anyone who may be feeling overwhelmed.

Thankfully, due to technology, we have more ways to be remotely connected than ever, and conferencing apps such as MS Teams, Zoom, Google Hangouts, Google Meet, Goto Meeting and Skype for Business are all really popular ways organisations are adjusting to the ‘new normal’, with regular video conference calls, team catch ups and (at least just as importantly) social and remote team building activities and hangouts. And when face to face is just not possible, checking in on individual team members regularly by phone is imperative to ensure support is cemented and any issues are regularly mopped up and dealt with, especially as things are so rapidly changing day by day on individual, local and global scales.

3.      How do I get my Senior Execs on board to such structurally and fundamentally drastic changes?

Back in January of this year, the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting posed this question to hundreds of Chief Executives, and although the concept of remote working as a foundation for improving the state of the world was widely supported, the entrenched lean towards pragmatism and managed transition was the main focus.

Now that things have changed so dramatically in such a short space of time, commitment to immediate organisational transition is essential, and clarity and decisiveness from the most senior levels vital. This is no longer a matter of strategic capital gain, and as we have seen very recently on the political stage, hanging back and weighing up the pros and cons of whether to implement key changes is no longer an executive decision. “Given the complex and rapidly changing situation with COVID-19, overly deliberating the trade-offs and near-term costs could literally cost lives. Once a decision has been made, commit fully. Invest in the long-term with best-in-class technology that is reliable, scalable and flexible. Get the foundations in place first” (World Economic Forum). In essence, there simply is no other alternative right now.

4.      How do we build a culture based on trust within our remote working teams in such a short space of time, in such uncertainty?

Greenacre Managing Director Dan Short has been speaking to many organisational leaders over the past few weeks who are getting this right, and has create a video compiling the 7 common key factors that set the groundwork for creating a positive work culture centred around trust, support and collective success, which are highlighted below:

-         Set clear expectations and provide clarity

-         Foster excellent teamwork

-         Understand the skills within your team

-         Bring positive energy and celebrate successes

-         Provide a safe space for employees to come together and open up

-         Communicate openly and create an environment for open feedback

-         Distribute power and responsibility, allowing others to step up

By keeping communications open, honest and regular, and by instilling a sense of trust, support, clear expectations and agreed outcomes, there is no reason why your freshly remote organisation cannot adjust quickly to the new set of circumstances. In fact, you may be pleasantly surprised at how effective a remote team can be when given the tools, support and freedom to produce desired outcomes in a new way, as part of a team built on trust, and you could very well find that once we come out the other side of this global transition you will emerge a stronger, closer, more resilient and adaptable organisation that can adjust better than ever before to whatever the future may hold.