Aris Apostolopoulos gives TJ some more tips for keeping your team together remotely.
As Dan Brown once wrote: “The most interesting things happened in doorways, at the borders, right along the edges.” Today, humanity is walking through a doorway like that, and the business world will eventually change for the better in the aftermath of these uncanny, sudden events. But it’s all a matter of adaptability.
Remote work in the spotlight
The very first adjustment that businesses had to make was the implementation of the remote work model. Organisations that hadn’t even thought of going remote, now seem to look at it as their one and only option.
But how can someone change their nature of doing business when they don’t even know where to start? How can an employee who’s only used to working at a physical office work from home? Sure, there are many hacks out there for successful remote working, but are they enough?
The answer is no. Businesses now more than ever need to train their inexperienced remote workers. Here’s how:
- Develop a work-from-home guide. Training is all about knowledge, but also retention. To make sure that all your employees are on the same page during this crisis, you need to create a guide they will access when they need it. It might be a PDF document, a video, or an online course. Just make sure it’s a digestible, step-by-step guide that will let them know how to work from home and stay productive.
- Provide training on missions and values. Ask anyone who might be working from home full-time. They will all admit that sometimes remote work feels like “no work.” Detaching someone from an environment where people work on a common cause can make them forget about the cause itself. So, to keep your employees motivated, you need to train them on what your company represents; its mission and its values. 61% of employees say their companies offered them zero training on company culture during their onboarding. If you happen to be among those companies, training your employees on culture before going remote sounds is the way to go.
- Train online. Face-to-face training might not be an option, but you must not let this block your training initiative. If you and your team are forced to work from home due to the circumstances, you can always provide online training. If going with an LMS suitable for employee training sounds too complicated for the moment, you can just start with a simpler solution. Host virtual training sessions with a video conference tool, create web videos your employees can watch in the comfort of their home office, or create a shared folder to have all information in one place. And when you’re ready to raise your game, experiment with a training platform.
- Train on technology. By default, working from home comes with a handful of tools that employees need to get the hang of. Communication apps, collaboration tools, video conference software, and the list goes on. For some, it might be too much.
To allow a smooth transition to remote working and make sure that your whole company workforce is on the same page, you need to agree on the tools and systems everyone should work within.
After that, you are ready to create different guides on how to use them. The easiest way to do so would be to access each tool’s knowledge base and create an FAQ document addressing the most common questions your employees might have about each tool.
And if that’s not possible, you are always free to set up organised tutorials via video call.
Conclusion
It might seem like a test, but the truth is that working from home is a wave all businesses are trying to ride at the moment. Sure, there are many ways to manage a remote team or keep your culture intact after your whole company goes remote, but you must always approach it by trial and error.
See what best fits your current needs, follow the tips above, and plan accordingly.
About the author
Aris Apostolopoulos is a content writer for Epignosis.
