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Adapting Your Business to a Hybrid Workstyle

Jitesh Jeram

January 5, 2022

Online Meetings and Video Conference Solutions

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Workspace and Conference Room Design

Change. The one word that best describes what many people went through the past 24 months. It might seem like the word ‘change’ is too small or insignificant to represent exactly what everyone faced, but it is a word that can carry a massive load on its shoulders. Where we worked changed, work situations are altered, the environment we operate in changed, people changed, habits changed, ways of socializing changed, and most importantly, the way we connect with other people changed! For example, many were going to restaurants, which was once a regular occurrence, now they tend to eat in. Now, before even responding to an invite to a social gathering, we consider crowd size and indoor or outdoor venues, social distancing space, personal safety precautions, and the safety risks increase… Figuring out how to best adapt to these changes is crucial for the survival and success of any business because the pandemic might one day be over but the effect thereof will be lasting. Here are a few thoughts on how you can adapt your business to a world that has changed.

Adapt your business

“by far the best investment you can make is in yourself”
Although Warren Buffett referred to people, his advice could be followed by those looking to build their businesses. Investing in the way you communicate with customers, suppliers, your workforce, infrastructure, your business reputation, business relations, and your own leadership, can help you and your teams be productive and proactive in any situation.
work from home, working from home, remote work, video conference at home, online meeting at home

Ensure your workforce has everything they need to successfully work from home like

● a computer and ● home video conferencing equipment and ● subsidize their connectivity costs. When you connect your teams with the right tech they will be able to increase their productivity and by investing in their infrastructure you’ll save costs over time. Upgrading your office infrastructure ensures a seamless connection between the office and those working remotely, for a seamless hybrid working experience.

Invest in your Team

Adapting to change takes time, and adoption needs training and understanding of how things work for the most optimal performance and least frustration.

Take the time to invest in your own knowledge, that of your workforce, and in infrastructure for a hybrid workstyle.

What digital courses or seminars can you attend that will enable you to be a better leader or will make your employees better at what they do?

Microsoft, Udemy, LinkedIn, and many other digital platforms have an array of courses that you can adopt into your business.

And most importantly always listen, your employees most likely have great ideas and insight on how to adapt to change.

How can you make the best of it?

Digitize everything

Gone are the days when the warehouse receives an invoice for goods received, now everything is done digitally. How can you convert your product or services to contactless operations? For example, documents that are in your in-tray can now be digitally stored in one place, like your Microsoft Onedrive account and you reduce the risk of files going missing and have contactless paperwork that the whole team can access which reduces the risk of COVID infections. Activities that we once thought were only for in-person attendance are now going virtual such as music concerts or international conferences.

Online, online, online!

To have any chance of survival, you have to be online in one way or the other. To keep your stakeholders engaged and your brand alive you need to find ways of presenting your product, service, or event in a virtual space. Going virtual is an opportunity for growth and to expand your client base – you can reach a lot more people. For example, a teacher offering live online classes now reaches people across the country and not only those that stay locally. Going virtual also allows you to set competitive prices unlike being in a physical space where rent is a major contributor to your overheads.

Communication

Communication is at the core of every relationship, whether with a customer, supplier, or team. But questions arise when people come back to the office, like should everyone in the office log in from separate computers if some people are remote in order to level the playing field? Or does that create more problems than it solves? In addition to the technological challenges, remote and hybrid teams can struggle to communicate, due to everyone having different levels of comfort communicating over screens and that’s in addition to the power, status, and language differences that already create barriers to communication in work settings.
Logitech Meetup. Logitech Tap, Zoom, zoom room solutions
Logitech Meetup with Logitech Tap for Zoom

Coordination

The challenges of working together in hybrid team environments is much greater than working together in a face-to-face environment. People who work remotely can miss out on non-verbal communication, building social relationships, and sharing common creative goals. All of these factors increase the risk of developing a faultline between remote and in-person workers. Remote workers sometimes feel left out due to the extra effort required to coordinate with their co-workers. This can result in missing out on smaller exchanges, or minor decisions made when working together in the office. Over time, as people get accustomed to who’s looped in and who’s not, they can get left out of bigger conversations and more important decisions.
Team communication

Connection

Issues with connection are not just about problems with communicating via technological means and logistical coordination. The bigger issue here is social connections which can be endangered when working remotely. It’s hard enough to advance in the workplace as a woman or minority without having to worry about finding mentors. We also know from research that personal connections are socially sustaining and important for our psychological well-being. Workers who are put into a blend of working styles may feel as if they belong to the company and are committed enough to it and others fear feeling disconnected from not only work they do but also social life in the company. The consequences can be less happy and less committed employees who are more likely to search for opportunities elsewhere.

Creativity

Two types of creativity are endangered by hybrid work. Perhaps the most obvious one is a collective creativity Eureka moments typically happen when we talk with others or work extensively on a project in person, where technology does not interfere in the process. Individual creativity can be endangered, too. While it’s known that time alone can help people come up with creative ideas and insights, when it comes to workday creativity, we’re not so sure. On the contrary, there is reason to think that at least some social interactions and spontaneous conversations with colleagues, seeing random artifacts in each other’s cubicles, and even the changes of scenery involved in going from home to work may be important for creativity.

Culture

Like creativity, this is a challenge that senior leaders are becoming more and more concerned about as the pandemic drags on and the prospects of bringing everyone back to the office look increasingly dim. When companies first move their workers to a remotely-based work system, they are surprised at how much more productive and engaged the employees are. This often leads the company to rethink other workplace conditions. However, it’s also likely that these employees were already very familiar with working together. Before the pandemic, they worked closely together and intuitively understood the company culture. As people come and go, you face the challenge of socializing new employees and integrating them into the company culture. Whether they are interns, entry-level hires, or seasoned executives, we can help. With all the change that people and businesses went through, they still needed the tech to make it work. Solutions that allowed people to communicate, coordinate, connect, be creative, and expand the company culture. At Boardroom in a Box, we have many solutions to help your business adapt to a changing world. We have various video conferencing and workspace solutions that will keep your workforce connected wherever they are. Get in touch with us today to discuss how our services can assist your business to adapt to change in an ever-changing world. Contact Us

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