Is your business changing faster than your people?

Wherever we look, businesses are undergoing unprecedented change in response to the impact of the pandemic and the turbo charging of technology adoption. But in most cases customer expectations and behaviours are moving faster than the ability of organisations to re-equip their people for the challenges ahead.

This is borne out by recent research which shows that 68% of managers have not received any training how to manage remotely and that 55% of organisations have not updated their upskilling plans to take account of changes in work routines over the past 12 months.

What can be done to help your people navigate this new reality?

Our coaching team offer readers five tips to help you get started: 

Optimise video calls. Familiarise everyone in your team with how to optimise their video call experience on the most popular platforms such as Zoom, Teams and Webex to minimise time lost on hygiene factor activities and ensure shared screen activities work effectively. 

Get strict with your time management. Whether adopting productivity hacks like the Pomodoro Technique or through precise use of your Outlook diary, managing your availability and visibility to others is key when colleagues can’t glance across the office to see whether now’s a good time to interact. 

Ensure tech self-sufficiency across your teams. ‘Go to’ colleagues often aren’t on hand for advising on how to complete routine software tasks or provide informal IT support. Ensuring mastery of tools like Excel and PowerPoint ensures everyone on your team can produce high quality work. 

Check for wellbeing. Mean it when you ask how people are at the start of the conversation and do something about it if people seem off their game. We can all help support each other’s wellbeing through simple acts of kindness throughout our working lives. 

Understand when your customers want you.  Your customers work patterns and service preferences have changed. Consider changing opening hours and contact routines to give your customers what they need.

How can organisations ensure speed of delivery, value for money and lasting impact?

Beyond simple informal tips like those outlines above, structured learning is the key to successful adoption of new working practices.

Passive activities like video-based training and online multiple-choice knowledge testing typically deliver insufficient rigour to support effective business change. Practical delivery and reinforcement over time sit at the heart of ensuring lasting impact and therefore value for money.

If your business is changing faster than your people, for an exploratory conversation to explore whether we can help, please get in touch.