3 POSITIVE WORK ENVIRONMENTS
As we see more and more communities progressing from staying at home to a workplace, creating a positive environment for everyone is important for the owner, employee, and client’s productivity and safety.
Today we will be focusing on three work categories, Remote, Transition, Onsite, and how you can develop a positive environment that promotes mental, physical, and emotional health and well-being.
WELCOME TO OUR RISE ABOVE LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE FOR BUSINESS OWNERS
Working remotely has been a big change to many. Trying to figure out when to work, where to work, and how to create boundaries between work and personal life are the top obstacles you have to overcome.
But what about all the things at the office that you took for granted and now are grappling with how to make “work” happen. Things like office equipment, career development, training opportunities, and working with colleagues? Working remotely, especially when working from home most of the time, means figuring out these issues and others.
Here are a few tips for leading a better and more positive remote-working life.
WORKING REMOTELY
The best way to get started with working remotely is by drafting your company’s policy regarding remote work. Make sure to consult and collaborate with internal stakeholders, such as management, team leads, HR, and legal. You will need to assess what is needed to ensure that employees are well equipped to work from home and the processes that must be put into place to efficiently manage the workforce.
- Maintain Regular Hours – Set a schedule, and stick to it. Have clear guidelines for when to work and when to call it a day. This helps many remote workers maintain a work-life balance.
- Keep a Dedicated Office Space – Having a dedicated office and a dedicated work computer is ideal. It’s more secure for the employer, and you.
- Draw up a remote work policy – The very first step in transitioning to working from home is to draw up a clear work policy for your employees to understand. A remote work policy essentially defines how employees will work remotely. It should cover topics such as working hours, software tools, and how productivity will be measured.
TRANSITION
The transition from working remotely during the pandemic to going back to the workplace, whether full or part-time, will be an important step in creating a workspace that is safe for your employees.
- Set clear goals and expectations – Be detailed when setting new guidelines about what you expect employees to achieve and how jobs should be carried out. It is important to provide clear instructions when it comes to processes, parameters of tasks, deadlines, and how productivity is measured.
- Create communication guidelines – Communication channels are essential for helping your employees during the transition phase. Make sure you have clear communication guidelines set in place and a designated team for monitoring it. Consider how your team prefers to communicate, when, and which channels they are comfortable with and the frequency of group and one-on-one meetings.
- Set guidelines for expected availability and response times – For the transition to go well, being available and responding in time can be the difference between a successful transition and a failed one.
ONSITE
Being onsite now is different than anyone ever expected their workplace to be. Anxiety can create tension which can cause delays and lower productivity. Giving your employees a sense of safety will help the environment improve drastically. Keeping a positive outlook while instilling new work parameters will put your employees and your clients at ease.
- Help employees get started – It may have only been a few weeks or a couple of months since your whole team has been together onsite for work. But a lot has happened. Providing guidance on how to get back into the flow of things is essential for your team.
- Keep communicating – It can be easy to forget that things aren’t the same and that your employees may have questions and concerns, more so than before the pandemic. Keep communications open and provide a way for employees and clients to reach out to you with their concerns.
- Motivate employees and give recognition – The last few months have been emotionally draining. As much as you would love to step back and take a break from the burden of leading, your team, employees, clients, and customers need the positive reinforcement that together things will get better. Set regular times during the week to recognize the efforts of your team. Encourage them to do the same for your clients and customers.
THIS TIME NEXT YEAR
Sometimes the answer is apparent, but other times you might need some inspiration from other people who are in the same boat. A supportive community that can share the lessons they are learning as they go with you.
We are all facing this crisis together. Some have managed better than others, but no doubt, many have proved themselves to be a vital part of reopening America.
Now more than ever, it is important for companies to find ways to optimize their business, be adaptable, and maintain open communication. Doing so can strengthen your business now and prepare you for any challenges that lie ahead.
One of the best things you can do is to join in with a group of like-minded business owners like our TAB Roundtables. You won’t be alone in your struggles or decisions. You may have the answers someone else needs and you may find some new ideas that you’ve never thought of.
We are a community that is invested in our members’ success.
“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose. “
—Lyndon B. Johnson
We can’t control everything, but we’re able—even accountable—to take control of what we can. Our Rise Above Program can help you where you are on the way to where you want to be.
Join us next week where we discuss the value of community and how investing in one can help your business move forward.
