Last week, I discussed the challenges of remote working that emerged from our survey and webinars. Now I want to share with you the points that emerged around what worked well in lockdown.
Top of the list is that ‘people are more independent and much more inclined to check the quality of their work.’ Remote working ‘has unlocked efficiency.’
Closely connected to this, many people found that their team members are taking greater ownership of their work and are more mindful of carefully coordinating efforts within the team.
There are more regular discussions about workload. This turns potential problems of remote working – the difficulty of keeping people focused on priorities, and of balancing workloads – into advantages.
Many people have enjoyed the ease of virtual communication. The biggest gains come, perhaps surprisingly, from networking, and also from learning and development. Whilst a a lot of people complain of being ‘zoomed out’ by the end of the day, the explosion of networking groups and opportunities, including the ease and lower cost of attending conferences and learning events, has helped people extend their networks and develop their skills. Many people are finding that being able to dip in and out of a learning programme or event to suit need accelerates learning.
When planning how to manage your teams in the future, keep these points in mind to make sure you do not lose the benefits gained in the last few months.
We will discuss this further in September, and, in the meantime, I will leave you with this comment from one respondent to the question in our survey about the difficulties of remote working: ‘people miss each other.’ When COVID-19 recedes, there may be a bigger rush back to the office than is currently being anticipated.
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