Remote Working

Many of us possibly had not even considered working remotely until we were forced to do it during the Covid Pandemic. And now we have got used to it…it’s sometimes a real pain when we HAVE to go in to the Office!

The change in our work practices, such as REMOTE WORKING, sometimes influences our Company Culture and it is a good opportunity to re-visit the Company Values, Strategies etc and to ensure that our teams and employees are well aligned to them.

Some organisations used the post-pandemic return to work to; REBOUND, RESET or REBOOT, and whilst many of the working practices have since returned to normal – one of the pandemic-inflicted practices remains – Working from Home is here to stay …so …how do we manage Remote Workers and Teams?

• Do we need to re-think our business / customer service strategy?
• Do we need to rebound, reset…or to reboot?
• Do we need to worry about headcount…right-sizing?.. the impact on the casualties and the affect on the workforce…how do we prepare for it professionally?
• Do we need to consider our culture – do we need to change it to equip our employees for the “new normal”?…and is this a good time to do it?
• Are we considering our employees’ well-being and mental health when they work from home and we don’t see them as often?
• How do we maintain a TEAM CULTURE when we have a hybrid working environment?
• Do we need to re-visit our Vision, Mission, Values Statement…– how familiar are our employees with them? … do these need upgrading?…do the personal objectives of our employees align to our corporate goals?  is now the correct time to re-group and re-energise the workforce towards the “new normal”?
• How do we build confidence, excellent wellbeing and high-performance teams as our staff return to work in a hybrid environment?
• How do we build TRUST between the Remote Home Worker and “The Management”??
• Do we need to consider how we lead and manage remote workers and how we build remote teams?
• How do we evaluate our health and wellbeing procedures for our remote, office and hybrid workers?
• And if any of the answers to the above questions are “yes!”…“Where do we start on ALL of this?!”

As we have seen throughout the pandemic, clear and concise leadership is vital to deliver performance related goals and personal wellbeing and safety and it is for this reason that we have 3 initial modules specifically addressed to all “people managers” in order for them and their teams to thrive during these changing times.

1. Remote Leadership Principles
2. Emotionally Intelligent Leadership Styles and Cultures (optional E.I. Profiling Reports for Leaders)
3. Remote Team Working Principles through a Shared (new) Vision and maximised Trust.

Here’s how leaders can begin navigating to the “new normal”

McKinsey & Company is the ‘trusted advisor and counsellor to many of the world’s most influential businesses and institutions‘ … and they have also devised an excellent framework around how we can pivot our people, teams and organisations and lead them – they are called “The 5 R’s Route to the NEW Normal”. Our facilitators will walk you through this simple but massively effective process.

From a Strategic perspective, we utilise McKinsey’s 5 R’s which we use as a platform as we commence our journey, walking through and exploring these 5 stages of the mileposts as we plan and equip our staff for the NEW Normal which might include REMOTE WORKING.

1. Resolve – For some organisations,  a toxic combination of inaction and paralysis remains, stymying choices that must be made: lockdown or not; isolation or quarantine; shut down the Organisation now or wait for an order from above. That is why we have called this first stage Resolve: the need to determine the scale, pace, and depth of action required at the state and business levels. As one CEO told us: “I know what to do. I just need to decide whether those who need to act share my resolve to do so.”
2. Resilience – All organisations are comprised of “people and processes” and this stage ensures that both Processes/Organisations AND people are all resilient and solid so that we can “Build Back Better”. Resilience and Stress Awareness lead to stronger, healthier ‘people and processes’. Ensuring that our organisations greatest assets – our staff – are feeling confident, safe, appreciated, engaged and involved (even if they are working remotely), healthy in their wellbeing and motivation.
3. Return – Returning organisations to operational health after a severe shutdown is extremely challenging, as the Country slowly returns to work we will analyse and assess the logistics of ‘being back at work’ with an open mind ready to embrace the NEW Normal.
4. Re-Imagination – In order to engage all members in a Strategic Planning Process we utilise the Disney Creative Strategy and Appreciative Inquiry ‘Dreaming’ Stage which opens up honest and transparent discussions about what the “New Normal” would look like. This process releases innovative concepts and ideas and neuroscience triggers through Positive Psychology. Many organisations are using the Re-imagine process to lead Cultural Change within their organisation. This process analyses and ‘measures’ the “AS IS” stage of what we are like now and creates a strategic roadmap with mileposts as to what the “WILL BE” Culture will look like.
5. Reform – A ‘Black Swan Event’ is the expression given to a global event which has an unprecedented global effect – of which, the Covid Pandemic has been the greatest impactive event of our lifetime to date. As a consequence of these events, some organisations and businesses will fail permanently and some will Reform and come back stronger. For example, In the event of a burst riverbank which floods a neighbourhood, the post-disaster reform plan will be to identify how to prevent or mitigate the event happening again. We will explore sustainable Reform processes and principles to ensure that should any future pandemic waves take effect again, the organisation will be equipped to deal with any disrupting influences.