Transitioning from In Office to Remote Workspaces

Sitting on my couch my phone pings with the familiar sound of Slack. Looking down I see an announcement that due to COVID-19 and potential exposure our office is closed for the foreseeable future and all operations will be moved online. Instantly all of us were transported from our familiar office into the new setting of the digital workspace. No longer would we have the ability to simply walk over to our coworker’s desk, check in and manage our teams as we used to. Now we were in a new environment, one where we all are physically apart and our daily operations would have to change, and change quickly.

Transitioning from in person to entirely remote on a dime comes with its challenges, but through working through these challenges we’ve become a stronger team and company. Here I’ll go through the practices we have embraced to continue to be a productive and supportive organization.

1. Check in With Your People

As we were first learning how to adjust to our new normal we met to discuss our next steps and how we would move forward and meet our goals together. As a company we continue to have these weekly meetings to maintain our community, evenly though we are now physically apart. This also serves as a good method to keep everyone up to date on the company as a whole, gauge how employees are doing and receive feedback.

2. Understand and Embrace Flexibility

From kids being home and demanding attention to different needs being addressed as we all are in new spaces, being flexible with timing meetings and adjusting on the fly is more important than ever. Emphasizing adaptability and patience within your teams can help things move along smoothly.

3. Use your Tools

Using tools such as Slack, Zoom, Google Hangouts etc. enable your teams to connect with each other and maintain productivity and communication better within your. Setting up meetings to create accountability between individuals allows people to maintain their productivity.

4. Communicate

Above all, when not working in an office finding ways to interact productively and maintain morale among employees. Even through physical distancing teammates can still effectively communicate and meet the goals of an organization. Through supporting one another everyone can make remote work work for you.