Love it or hate it, remote work looks here to stay. What strategies are maintaining high levels of client service and team collaboration?
A report from Stanford last July showed workers perceived their productivity was 7% higher at home than at the office.
The same report showed managers thought workers’ productivity was 3.5% lower.
But love it or hate it, remote work looks like it’s here to stay.
Rates of remote work had almost doubled in the fifteen years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.
They rapidly accelerated during the pandemic, with many businesses forced to limit in-person work and temporarily close their offices.
With 80% of telecommuters experiencing less work-related stress, and making significant savings, the benefits may outweigh the negatives.
So how do we best leverage the new work environment, considering it’s a significantly virtual one, to ensure we can maintain high client service and satisfaction standards, and team collaboration?
We recently posed the above question; read on to see what you had to say about it.
Kurt Newman
Managing Director: Sales Consultants
Working remotely has always been around; for example, business-to-business salespeople. However, recent years have seen a rapid acceleration of this trend, impacting every profession.
Operating globally, we understand the challenges. Commitment and determination have been a primary focus to maintain and strengthen relationships with associates and clients.
The approach is built on a foundation of direct and indirect communication methods including:
- Spontaneous phone calls.
- Personal emails with a subject line – keeping in touch.
- Monthly sales articles based on topics often requested by clients (these are later posted on LinkedIn).
- Sending a hard copy article or a link on a subject of personal interest to the associate or client – for example, red wine.
- Catch up coffee meetings or a light lunch to discuss new developments.
- Actively listening, and empathising with personal problems.
Through genuine caring, having people’s best interests at heart, trust and loyalty become an integral part of relationships.
Also on The Big Smoke
Cheryl Tyas
CEO and Founder: Qwirk – Rare People
We believe top-performing employees don’t need to be chained to an office desk to do their best work. People value freedom, so to retain quality staff we focus on results, not hours.
You cannot get the best out of someone if you cannot build rapport. Outsourced/remote teams are not to be treated like transactional robots, but people, with aspirations and dreams, skills and downfalls like the rest of us, and they must be managed as such.
Daily/weekly Zoom/Google Meet meetings are essential. Not all of these should be purely work-focused but instead, team-building focused or tailored to the goals of the employee.
Slack acts like a virtual office, meaning we can chat back and forth the whole day long, share live updates and information, and inform multiple people of things at once.
For our overseas staff to stay in close contact with clients using a local phone number we use a virtual calling system, Just Call.
A team who don’t know each other cannot bond, so instead of meeting in a drab office, we meet on an annual team holiday where everyone can be their authentic selves.
Also on The Big Smoke
John Cooksey
CEO: BDC Performance
BDC Partners is a unique mix of standalone businesses, albeit under a common business structure. We also work closely with external partners, called The Collective, who support us to deliver services for our clients.
Some strategies that we have found to be effective include:
- Regular communication via weekly or fortnightly meetings (in person where possible).
- Use of collaboration tools including Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Asana to facilitate seamless communication and collaboration among team members regardless of their physical locations.
- Setting of joint business and individual goals to ensure all stakeholders understand their roles and responsibilities.
- Emphasis on flexibility to encourage a culture of flexibility and supporting employees ultimately contributing to higher levels of productivity and satisfaction.
- Investment in remote technology to ensure employees have the tools they need to perform their jobs effectively from anywhere.
- Regular feedback and recognition, which provides appreciation for the contributions of team members, reinforces a positive work culture even in a remote setting.
Also on The Big Smoke
Christina Foxwell
Global CEO and Founder: Ignite Purpose
As the landscape of remote work continues to evolve, Ignite Purpose has strategically adapted to maintain exceptional client service and enhance team collaboration. Embracing the shift from a traditional office to a remote environment initially presented challenges in daily operations and team dynamics. However, we have successfully transitioned by focusing on aligning our team’s activities with our core principles: Priorities, Purpose, and Project Performance.
The key to our approach is a clear role definition and the setting of explicit expectations, which ensure all team members understand their responsibilities and how they contribute to client success. We leverage Google Suite extensively to facilitate project discussions, regular updates, and problem-solving, maximising our team’s collaborative potential.
Accountability stands as a cornerstone of our strategy, reinforcing the commitment of our team members to deliver on their promises. We maintain a continuous feedback loop, which is vital for realignment and adapting to the dynamic needs of our clients and projects.
Our metaphorical “hive” – an environment of buzzing activity and cooperative effort – encapsulates how we engage and achieve together. We have found that the key to thriving in a remote setting is not just in the tools we use, like Google and WhatsApp, but in the passion and partnership that every team member brings to the table. At Ignite Purpose, we believe that together is indeed better, and our remote work strategies are a testament to this philosophy, driving both client satisfaction and team growth.
Also on The Big Smoke
Kiran Kewalramani
Managing Director and Founder: Cyber Ethos and Cyber Solutions Research
A significantly large percentage of our team works remotely. From the point of view of our team’s safety and care, here are some strategies we use in Cyber Ethos:
- Being aware of one’s own mental health.
- Seeing the early danger signs.
- Regular check-ins with each other.
- A culture of:
- open, authentic, and honest communication;
- responsibility and accountability;
- acknowledging and apologising if you’ve hurt someone;
- safe and loving space; and
- encouraging self-care.
- An employee assistance programme.
- Encouraging breaks in order to avoid getting burned out.
We also organise regular virtual catchups to ensure we get some face-to-face time with each other and talk about personal and family life. This provides an opportunity to connect with our teams as peers without any hierarchical structures.
As a leader, I practice a lesson from Simon Sinek’s book: “Take care of your team members, so they can take care of your customers and your business.”
The post Expert opinion: Remote work strategies to maintain client satisfaction and team collaboration appeared first on The Big Smoke.