Creating a connected workforce remotely

Did you have a viral pandemic in your 5-year business growth forecasts? No, neither did we.

It is frightening to feel out of control, but while there are things we can’t plan for or change, there are others that we can get a grip on and do something about. One of those is how you manage your workforce through a challenging time, to make sure your business and teams stay intact, happy and engaged.

That, we can help with.

Connecting two people isn’t that hard – we’ve been using telephones to do that for over a hundred years. But keeping an entire workforce connected, especially in such trying times, is a bit more difficult.

For most of us today, work is about more than clocking in, doing a day’s work, and clocking out again. Today, we look for purpose in our jobs. We choose to work in environments that make us feel uplifted, with people that share a common goal, for businesses that give us a sense of being part of something bigger. For a lot of us, the social element of work is as important as the pay packet we receive every month.

Now we’re facing an indeterminate period of remote-working, how can we make sure that our teams stay connected – as they work on projects and as a community?

1. Collaborate. Now you’re at home, it can be easy to fall into siloes. Don’t let this happen. Pick up the phone, send a message on slack, talk things through. You don’t need to get your head down and try to complete things alone just because you’re not physically together.
2. Stay in touch with teams. Start a regular team hangout to talk about work and catch up on how everyone is. Try not to let these focus only on to-do lists – treat them as you would a usual team meeting – a chance to talk and to get things done.
3. Socialise. No, unfortunately we can’t all head to the pub on a Friday for the time being, but you can still make time to socialise with co-workers remotely. One company we know has started a lunch time quiz, another has implemented a google hangout. What could you do to get your team together (while they keep their distance).
4. Look out for each other. Ask your colleagues if they are really ok. Not everyone will adjust readily to remote working – some might love it. If people are struggling and feeling adrift, find out what can help them to reconnect.

If you need help giving some structure to your remote teams, give us a call on 01628 613 040 or email hello@openblend.com for some friendly advice, whether you already use OpenBlend or not. And if you do feel you need a platform to support your managers as they tackle remote teams, OpenBlend can be installed and implemented remotely.