Working from anywhere is now a reality for all of us. While we were used to traveling and meeting other people in person, our day-to-day work looks different now. Our work environment is where we are, we meet people virtually, office space is a place where we might or might not go to on a regular basis.
All this brought some challenges to our lives: onboarding of new hires is a challenge, and Team meetings can be exhausting, especially with all-day camera-off scenarios. Content spreads everywhere.
Photo by Ahmed Zayan on Unsplash
In this article I want to discuss my Top 10 which we implemented to provide a good working environment:
- Don’t assume everyone knows every working tool you use: start a learning Friday (or Monday, or Tuesday) where every Team member introduces his favorite tool he uses in his daily work. Keep it short – like a 10 Minute pitch and stay open for questions.
- Build a mentorship program in your organization: new hires can feel isolated in the beginning. Bring some mentorship programs to life where people can discuss topics and questions in short 1:1 meetings.
- Respect others time like you respect your own time: Back to back meetings are challenging for everyone. If you need something from a colleague, don’t hesitate to ask – just don’t expect an immediate answer.
- Start meetings in-time and end in-time. Don’t wait for “others to join” – if 80% of attendees show up in time, respect their time first.
- Create daily / weekly Team meetings so that people can listen to their team members and learn what they are working on, or what concerns them. Include personal stories to stay authentic. Stick to the meetings and make it an appointment which is always here.
- Keep your communication brief and simple. Make it easy for others to understand. Always keep in mind that digitalization led us to a very short attention span. My helper here is: assume everyone stops reading after 3 lines. So, what isn’t told within the first three lines is maybe never read.
- Use your camera. Talking to a dark screen with bubbles on it is a very frustrating experience. Let people know that you are listening. Use social tools like likes, clap, hearts.
- Reduce your regular meeting time. It is ok to stop meetings earlier. Everyone will be thankful for winning some time back.
- Try to define an agenda for every meeting you organize. Also, send a short summary after the meeting to all participants. People will be thankful.
- Be kind – be smart.
Bio
Martina Grom works as IT-Consultant & is co-founder and CEO of atwork information technology. atwork is located in Austria/Europe and is specialized in development of Online Solutions. Martina founded atwork in 1999, she works in IT since 1995.
Martina is recognized as an expert in Microsoft Office Online Services solutions and was worldwide one of the first 8 MVP’s awarded in 2011 for her expertise in Office 365. She writes numerous articles and blogs. Her passion is Online & Social Media, cloud computing and Office 365.
Martina consults companies on their way to the cloud. Her expertise is related to online technologies and here especially in Microsoft Online Services and Office 365. She helps companies in architecture planning toward cloud solutions.
Martina has a master’s degree in international business administration of University of Vienna, Austria. Blog: https://blog.atwork.at
Posted at https://sl.advdat.com/3qmtPP7
