At Sibme we’re doing our best to continue “business as usual” during the Coronavirus. As a global team of 40, we’ve been working remotely for seven years and have learned a lot. These three lessons learned help us stay on track as the company supports our customers.
- Don’t just throw everybody in a web conference and expect it to work. Virtual interactions are completely different from conference rooms. You need to create systems to elicit a response from people. Your team will be uncomfortable appearing on camera, and the nature of web conference tools is such that people can’t talk over one another. Early on, we didn’t have clear agendas for many of our meetings because we wanted things to be “organic.” It doesn’t work. Web conferences take planning, including pre-posting the topics to be discussed, explaining expectations for how to participate in the meeting, and providing follow-up questions to which participants will respond.
- Plan on more asynchronous interaction. All kinds of things happen when people work from home. Expecting them to be available (and the tech to work) when you schedule a meeting is a recipe for disaster. Plan to record any meeting you have and find a place to share it (we use our own software, but there are lots of options). Find mechanisms for people to discuss the recording after the fact so they can ask questions via chat. And avoid your inbox as much as possible. It’s best to have some kind of virtual platform where conversations can be housed. Chat functionality is great, because it mimics informal conversations in the office, but be sure there’s a way to capture those conversations if you plan on them turning into action.
- Your team is loyal to their teammates, not to your company. As people work from home, their priorities shift. This is especially true for people who suddenly have to worry about child care, elder care, and other unexpected responsibilities. The people in their homes will always take precedence over the people they interact with virtually, especially if they never see their coworkers while working remote. So set the expectation that people turn cameras on during meetings. And create “water cooler” moments for your team. Have them set time aside once or twice a day to take a break from work and connect with a coworker. We use a Slack app called “Donut” that randomly pairs up all of our team members. They can chat in Slack, connect in Zoom, or call one another on the phone, but it’s important that they connect. This has improved productivity dramatically on our team. As employees develop and maintain personal connections, they will prioritize one another’s success higher on their list.