ClinkIT Solutions has operated under a remote work model from day one. We offer the following advice to help the transition from a traditional office environment to a work from home setting during these unprecedented times.
- Establish a remote leadership team
Evaluate current line-up of managers and key persons within your organization to create a team of experts who have previous experience or obvious capabilities to handle remote teams. This will help smooth the transition of the shift of entire divisions or multiple departments to working from home by providing them support along the way. - Set up a clear communication plan
Whether it is a daily chat update, bi-weekly phone meetings among team members, or a monthly video conference call and online training class – these are important elements to make the shift to remote work less jarring. Enabling open communication, encouraging feedback and discussion, as well as keeping everyone in the loop can lead to faster and better acclimation to a virtual work setting. - Adopt remote security measures
In a fully remote work setting, ensuring privacy, security, and data protection can be a challenging, if not impossible, endeavor. Traditional firewalls and intrusion prevention systems as well as conventional VPNs might not be enough to monitor and safeguard all employees once they are no longer under your corporate security perimeter.
A foolproof and cost-effective approach to consider is setting up a Zero Trust network to enable seamless adoption of cloud-based services across a variety of devices and platforms. With a growing mobile workforce, it is crucial for business continuity and success that all company resources are fully authenticated, fully authorized, and fully encrypted. - Drive cultural change
During times of uncertainty or crisis, the last thing employees want to deal with is change. Since leaders don’t have a choice but to meet this reality head-on, it is vital for companies – especially those with a strong ‘in-office culture’ – to apply an all-hands approach and to understand the role they play in promoting a top-down change which can ultimately lead to strengthening the trust and support of their workforce.
Leading and managing remote teams means being open about what is and is not working, what can be embraced or cannot be implemented, and what is and is not expected from everyone. When employees see that there is genuine concern not just for their productivity but also for their wellbeing, and that the leadership acknowledges all the challenges that come with a remote transition, it is very likely to get everyone on board in contributing to the success of a work from home policy. - Promote agile iteration
Whatever it is that your organization does, you should do it in short, fast increments to mitigate the challenges of remote work and varying time zones. The iterative mindset can take a little getting used to but it can be the key to accomplishing short-term tasks while waiting for feedback and insight from necessary stakeholders.
Your organization must go through much iteration not only to ensure that you’re making relevant improvements to your products, services, or business offerings while in a virtual work setting but also to be able to move toward creating a sustainable business that can thrive and survive until the coronavirus outbreak is brought under control.
We can help you embrace the “Work from home is in our DNA” mindset. If you want to know how you can implement a successful Business As Usual approach for your company with or without the COVID-19 pandemic, schedule for a FREE consultation today.
