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Business models have always been changing. From the age of artisan skills such as the blacksmith through to the industrial revolution then electrification of industry, those that have adapted new technologies thrive. Today is no different. You can embrace the digital world or manage your business’ decline.

Darwin did not say survival of the fastest and strongest, he said survival and the growth of a species is based on its ability to adapt to changing surroundings. You may need to alter your business model during the next few weeks.

When your competitors are implementing their digital strategy, digital transformation is no longer a nice to have. Digital transformation is about creating and implementing a bold vision.

In the longer term. creating your digital transformation is about asking and answering questions like these:

  • What are the opportunities available?
  • Do we understand how our market and our customers are changing?
  • What investments do we need to make to seize our opportunities?

What About Today?

While you are creating your bold vision what can be done today? How can you transform your business today, especially in light of the spreading COVID-19 virus.

Digital transformation is about creating and implementing a bold vision.

How can you keep your business running while also keeping your team safe?

One way to do this is to create an environment where remote work is not only possible but also very effective. Studies tell us that remote workers are more productive than those who work in your office: what isn’t to like? Another benefit is this can also become a major part of your business continuity plan.

How Do I Quickly Roll Out Remote Work?

Successfully implementing remote work is about more than technology. Technology is an enabler but for remote work to be truly successful for productivity, employee engagement and employee retention you need more.

There is a set of things to consider and plan for:

  1. Culture
  2. Processes
  3. Teamwork
  4. Tools

Culture

To be successful one component that needs focus is your culture. Does your culture set your people up to be successful or is it going to set them up for failure?

This can be as basic as whether your culture is about time in the seat (or face time) or is it about results? If your culture is about seat time you will probably be unhappy with the results of rolling out remote work for most people.

In the short term you cannot change your culture but if you are aware of the impact you will be better able to manage your people.

Processes

Do you have a documented set of processes that everyone follows? If not, you may discover that rolling out remote work is initially successful but that success drops off as new people come on board.

Today, to get remote work up and running you need to decide what must be done on site and what you can do remotely. You will find that more can be done remotely than you think. If you want help understanding how to move work off site call us.

In the long term, even when everything is documented, not all processes can be done off site. Once you have determined what can be done remotely it’s important to consider people. Some people will thrive on remote work while others will not succeed. You may find that you need to rearrange who is doing what in order to create an environment for success.

Teamwork

Another consideration is how you will support and enable collaboration among your people. Today they can take a printed document and walk over to a colleague to discuss it. How will that be achieved in a remote work environment?

How will someone ask for help? How will they know who to ask for help?

One of the most important aspects of teamwork becomes even more important when in a remote working environment. Because we don’t have that daily, guaranteed face to face interaction communication becomes something that needs special focus and planning to ensure your communication remains effective.

Keeping everyone working as a team requires extra focus on communication. In this emergency environment we can give you communication tools (don’t rely on email!) quickly but training and communication standards will need your focus while people are learning how to be good team members.

As soon as you have people working, plan to have daily huddles with your team. This gives you the opportunity to connect with everyone, check on what they accomplished yesterday, what their plans for today are and provide feedback.

Tools

To make it all happen you will need tools for everyone working remotely. Some, like computers and telephones are obvious but others are less obvious.

Trying to give everyone access to printers will be the more challenging and less valuable pieces of remote work. We suggest focusing on ensuring everyone has at least two monitors over providing printers.

You will need to review what you currently have compared to what you will need to support effective remote work. What can you make work in the short term and what will not work?

How do you share files today? Will that work in a remote work arrangement or will you need something else?

What software do your people need to do their work? How would it work in a remote work environment? Will it work?

If you would like a free 1-hour virtual assessment to see how you can respond to the situation today. Use the convenient contact form or call us at +1.604.678.5222.

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