We’re sharing the 5 skills your team needs to be successful while working from home

Who would have thought that in March 2020, 88% of organisations would be encouraging their employees to work from home? The flexibility and extra time without the commute is a dream come true to some of us. But, the transition from an office environment to a home office space can be rocky to most. We’re not talking about the technological transition in making sure we have the correct monitors, and a strong enough Wi-fi connection – we’re talking about the core skills your employees need to be successful while working from home.

As leaders, it’s important to prepare your team with all the skills needed to thrive in this new environment. Read on to find a list of skills and tools that we suggest will help your remote team right now:

1.Prioritisation

Your team is no longer footsteps away from you so no more popping into their cubicle to ensure they are on track with their tasks. This means your team will have to step up to prepare their priorities, and ensure that they have appropriate time management skills. Of course, you can still check in with your team virtually. We suggest trying out Asana, a work management platform that will keep your team focused and keep track of goals, projects and tasks. Your team can list their priorities, then you can review them, add comments, or rearrange priorities as needed. This is a great way to keep track of your team’s tasks and projects.

2. Organisation

A de-cluttered desk is proven to cause less distractions and even helps inspire creativity! Allow your workers to take home their desktop drawers or some extra storage for them. Encourage your team to take 5 minutes at the end of each day to clear the surface of their desks, and their desktop files. A new day is a fresh start, and there’s nothing better than walking into your home office at the start of a day with a fresh desk, and a clean desktop.

3. Excellent communication

Team communication is vital! We even recommend over-communicating. Your team won’t have the visual and verbal cues that would usually help guide conversations. Make sure that you encourage your team to communicate as clearly and concisely as possible. Here are some suggestions of tools for communication so that you don’t clog up your email inbox:

Slack is a great communication tool that allows you to sort your conversations into channels. This keeps the small bits out of your inbox, but still keeps your team connected!

There’s nothing that can beat face to face interactions! Zoom is an awesome tool for this and will certainly keep your team interconnected.

4. Staying Focused

In the office, your team might have previously been distracted by chatty co-workers or by general office noise. Now, they will be experiencing new types of distractions, such as the temptations of going to the pantry for snacks, playing with their dogs and kids, or getting some household chores done. To help your team stay focused, motivate them by reminding them of the goals they need to achieve for the day.

5. Finding balance

Your team might find the need to overcompensate for not being in the office physically. Some might work longer hours than usual or continually work through their lunch breaks. Check in with your team to remind them that while you appreciate the extra effort, it’s important to recognise the balance between work and life. Encourage them to unwind after their work day with a podcast or to go for a walk instead of their regular commute so they can reflect on their day before they get stuck into their night time routine.

Do you have any other ways to help your employees with this transition? Share it with us in the comments.

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