With so much being written regularly around the impacts imposed on us by COVID and how it has dramatically led businesses to think about remote working and its implications, how it has fast-tracked the introduction of technology to businesses that were not rushing into digitalization. The one fact that has stood the power of change is the fact that for businesses to be successful, profitable, and continue to deal with the unknown, ‘people’ are the biggest priority. Talent-related issues rank as top business concerns.
An additional fact that needs to stay on top of the list of every business and its leaders is the ‘human’ side of work.
The trending topics that have been closely monitored over the last year are ….
Given that work is remote, how does that impact productivity?
Can we continue to get the best out of our teams and how is the state of mind impacting results?
Have we equipped our people with the right tools that enable them to do the work they need to do?
Have we been inclusive enough of the changing needs of our teams and how the lines of personal and work-related priorities have been blurred?
Are we able to learn from this year of forced change … what have we learned?
Aligning people, their teams, and the needs of a business are the core to all of the above. The starting point for any business is to build the foundation. Ensuring people have the right avenues to share, ask questions, and interact in a planned way with their teammates. This requires having regular rhythms of connections, having access to key decision-makers, and having the tools that allow everyone to be kept informed of what others are working on.
Having a one-game plan that hammers down on keeping people involved, informed, and engaged is the one plan that is the ultimate priority.
Once businesses have established the right practices to keep their team connected, they need to equip their teams with the right tools that help them effectively deliver on their work. There are a vast array of technology tools to choose from, the key needs to be …
Picking the tool that best fits the needs of each audience it is addressing (employees – managers and business decision-makers)
Spending enough time to make sure that every one of these audiences understands its value and how it will make her/him more successful.
Using data to understand the impact such a change has yielded.
Communicating lessons learned back to the team regularly.
So, what role are you playing in making your team feel connected, engaged, and successful?