Remote Working within a Sales Business
I’ve read countless posts on LinkedIn regarding working from home and the “remote revolution” over the past couple of days and have lost count of the number of pictures shared of home “rigs” and video conference screenshots!!
But in amongst the fun there has been some really positive and helpful content about how to embrace home working, from the perspective of the individual and also some great blogs and articles on how businesses can ensure they maintain a productive, collaborative work environment.
I must admit though, as a Business owner of a Sales based Agency, it’s been a troubled few days in planning our escape to isolation and wondering what effect it will have on business. With a Sales environment, culture and environment is key, the office buzz and energy helps feed productivity and guards against negativity, so naturally there has been a real worry about the impact isolation will have on this.
However thus far, and I appreciate it’s only Day 2 (said in my best mock Geordie accent) for us, I’ve been pleased as punch with the outcome, which have been derived purely from the positive attitude and maturity of our Employees.
For us so far, the key implementations for us as a Recruitment/Sales Business have been as follows:
Have a daily structure as close to when “in office” as possible
- We are having company wide Video meetings in the morning to Kick Off the day
- A 14:30 video “water cooler” for everyone to chat about their morning, work and non-work related
- An evening (well late afternoon!) wrap up with individuals to praise their daily achievements and keep them engaged
Using simple technology to capture output and achievements (all via our Movement8 Channel on MS Teams)
- We have set up our Interview Board on Trello
- Our output and achievements are on a realtime board embedded in Teams
- And we have “the Book” for noting any comedy moments we experience (think of a self deprecation fueled honesty box!) whilst in isolation
What I’ve found so far is you need to keep it light, keep it positive, but ultimately aim to create that sense of team and togetherness. A little structure helps book end the day and trust ensures the team do their bit in between.
We certainly haven’t thought of everything and the coming weeks will surely throw more tests at us as Cabin Fever peaks. But for these first few days I’ve couldn’t be prouder of the troops!
If anyone has any stories, ideas or can point us in the direction of content that can help us as a Recruitment Business in making the most out of working from home please share.
We must all pull together to #keepbusinessmoving, for the sake of everyone.