Flexible workplace environments are here to stay. After seeing how well work-from-home arrangements worked in an emergency, many employees requested to remain at home permanently or return to work with a flexible arrangement. Where you work ultimately shouldn’t matter, only that your work gets done.
If you’re a leader in a flexible workplace, make these sustainable changes in order to see success in the long run.
Communication is Key
We can’t stress communication enough (in fact, we mention it here and here). When your team works in a combination of time zones, locations, and shifts, you can’t be afraid to communicate expectations and follow-up on progress.
Overcommunicate without Micromanaging
Overcommunicating always sounds negative until your team has been spread across the country and work locations. Choose to become an intentional communicator.
Send clear but concise emails. You don’t want the question or assignment hidden in paragraphs of text, but you may need to include more details to clarify expectations.
Don’t micro-manage. Once you’ve set clear expectations and your team understands the timeline, let them accomplish the work without oversight every step of the way. You may have one-on-one calls with teammates to check up on the status, or a weekly team call to review responsibilities, but remember that the new world of work requires more trust and ownership.
Don’t expect standard work hours. Flexible work hours will become more common in the new normal, so don’t expect the team to be online strictly from 9am-5pm. Agree and coordinate with your team on the hours they’ll be available and coordinate a few hours per week that overlap. When your team has true flexibility, they’re able to work when they’re the most creative and productive. Avoid restricting them with traditional hours.
Stay Open to Asynchronous Communication
Asynchronous communication tools allow for a continuous flow of information, so one team member can pick up where the other left off in any time zone. Collaboration remains possible with Google doc comments, recorded Zoom meetings, and chat tools.
Slack and Microsoft Teams allow you to send quick messages and get a response whenever the recipient is available. They substantially cut back on short inbox-clogging emails.
Some employees feel that these chat tools make them too accessible for immediate response. Don’t let that be the pattern on your team. The tools appear to work well when chatting in real-time, but chatting all day with coworkers can also decrease productivity. The most efficient usage is as an alternative to email.
Be Empathetic
Employees choose flexible work in order to reach their personal and career goals. As a leader, you need to be empathetic about various care-giving responsibilities or their lifestyle expectations.
We’re evolving to Work as a Lifestyle, and “balance” looks different to each person. Especially in 2020, with school and child care always changing, leaders need to be understanding if they expect to keep their employees during this challenging time.
Create Accountability
Managing the moving parts of a flexible team requires more coordination than a team touch base on Monday mornings. Products like Asana or Trello show each person’s responsibilities in a project and the due date for their deliverable to keep things moving without micromanaging each task.
If you don’t want to figure out a new platform, you can start with an easy-to-update Google spreadsheet to share for each teammate to update as necessary.
The key is keeping it updated.
Whether the team updates their portions together on a weekly meeting, individually during a one-on-one call, or a set check-in reminder each day, the document will give you an overview of what’s in progress at any point in the week.
Tracking projects in a “command center” document also shows what’s a priority for your team, and which tasks fall by the wayside continuously.
Focus on Deliverables
Without in-person offices, we’re still adjusting to evaluating productivity without your coworker typing furiously at their desk from 9am-5pm.
When you’re building an environment of trust, leaders need to focus on accomplishments, not activity. How many hours an employee worked matters less than actually finishing the work. If you notice a team member finishes tasks faster than expected, you might encourage them to take on more responsibility in other areas. But otherwise, they should not be penalized for working smarter and faster.
Celebrate Contributions
The best part of being part of a flexible workspace is the opportunity to truly celebrate accomplishments and contributions because you’re focusing on more than the hours worked at a desk.
You could start a “Friday Wins” Slack channel to celebrate the projects completed or sales made during the week. As the leader , look for ways to publicly acknowledge extra effort from team members. Creating rituals around success boosts morale and builds company culture, even when the team is completely remote.