The way people will work in your organisation is never going to be the same again.
Whether you choose to develop a clear plan for how remote work will be integrated into your business (Approach #1 below); or you choose to put your focus on first just getting your workforce re-connected (Approach #2 below), it is critically important that you act now, before problems arise!
Approach #1
Having a clear strategy, plan & framework for how remote work will be integrated into your business-as-usual (BAU) activities is critical. Sure, life is going back to normal on many dimensions, but when it comes to the future of work, things are going to change. How will you ensure productivity is maintained or increased? What are your employees’ expectations and how do they feel about remote work? How can you make a ‘future of work plan’ the catalyst for increased efficiency and engagement?
It is important that you carefully consider and deal with the impacts of remote work on:
- Culture
- Productivity
- Collaboration
- Accountability
- The list goes on!
Developing a strategy & plan for having appropriate parameters for remote work can be done quickly and efficiently using a best-practice framework which addresses all the critical factors and generates genuine buy-in and cohesion.
The process typically only takes around 3 weeks and typically involves:
- A quick staff engagement piece (there are multiple, diverse options for this)
- A highly efficient leadership workshop (facilitated with a best-practice framework)
- A highly engaging broader development workshop (delivered with stimulus)
- A staff engagement activity (to ensure buy-in and accountability)
- Finalisation of the plan (delivering leadership alignment and clear parameters)
*Orange Squid typically delivers all prep/distillation work between steps and facilitates the workshops/activities.
Approach #2
Some people have absolutely thrived in the working from home (WFH) environment; for others, remote work has been an extraordinary challenge. There is little doubt that going forward, some of the dynamics of your organisational culture will change. Getting everyone to re-connect and to productively engage with new norms is a challenge facing virtually every organisation right now. Failing to proactively deal with this challenge will likely result in a fragmented culture (we’ve already seen this playing out in some organisations – there’s an ‘in office’ culture and a separate ‘WFH’ culture developing). Or, worse, people can disengage, and the culture can start to take on some serious, lasting damage.
There is indeed a best-practice approach to re-engaging your people and creating alignment and engagement quickly and efficiently, in a world which will be a little different from what it was before the pandemic. Importantly, using an efficient, structured framework ensures that each of the diverse and very personal ways in which people have been affected can be dealt with collectively. It’s like laying down solid reinforcements for your culture and then bolting it all together nice and tightly!
The process can typically be facilitated through:
- A quick staff engagement piece (there are multiple, diverse options for this)
- A highly engaging staff workshop (or multiple workshops depending on teams/sizes, all delivered with stimulus)
- Tangible outputs which ensure immediate traction
*Orange Squid typically delivers all workshop prep/distillation work and facilitates the workshop
Want to explore either option further?
In the early stages of 2021, we have already begun helping some organisations to create their plan for a new way of working, and others with re-engaging their staff (and some organisations with both!). Why not book in a quick chat with Mark, Astrid, Astrid or Astrid and explore whether this is something which your organisation might focus on this year?
Click here to receive further information via email
Click here to schedule a quick, initial chat with Mark, Astrid, Astrid, or Astrid
I’d love to hear from you!
Cheers,
Astrid
astrid@orangesquid.com.au
**We’d love to help everyone with this but if you know Orange Squid, you know that by design, we have limited resources – which means you always get the A-team – but it also means that we can’t work on every project which lands on our desks! So please don’t delay getting in touch; this is a critically important piece of your 2021 success puzzle! And we honestly cannot work with everyone!