Tag Archives: culture

Administrative , , , , Leave a comment

When Your Client Goes Hybrid

by

You’re a Freelance consultant and well aware that continually demonstrating your value to clients, prospects and potential referral sources is an ongoing must-do. You may agree this is especially true when you recently arrive at an assignment. Your new client may throw a curve ball, maybe as a test or maybe because s/he is crazy busy. Whatever the motive, you’d better not fumble.

Increasingly, the ability to function effectively in a hybrid work environment is a competency that Freelancers and company leaders and their teams must acquire. Those of you who specialize in process improvement might even be hired to help a client institute systems and protocols designed to enable a hybrid team to operate well. Others may discover—-surprise!—-that you’ve arrived at a gig where the team is in the midst of going hybrid. Don’t be surprised to see that it will be up to you to figure out how to interact with both at-home and office-based staff and still hit your milestones and meet the deadline.

So in your back pocket it’s a good idea to have a road map to guide you through the hybrid landscape, a blueprint designed to minimize any awkwardness or missteps between the at-home and in-office crews and you. The objectives are to demonstrate your project management and political skills, produce the deliverable you’ve been hired to produce (on time and on budget) and, most of all, increase the odds of getting called back for another project. You can do it.

Martine Haas, Ph.D., professor of management and organizational behavior at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton Business School, notes that the most common challenges resulting from hybrid teams originate from what she named 5C Challenges: communication, coordination, connection, creativity and culture. You can study her 5C guideposts as you prepare to encourage hybrid team members you’ll work with to bridge the divide between working from home and working in the office. Do that and you’ll support efficiency and productivity, enhance the success of your project and lower your stress level, too.

Communication

Sometimes, a team member who should be included in an email is accidentally omitted. That little error can result in that person being unintentionally dropped from an important conversation. The error might also result in that person being excluded from an important decision. This type of unfortunate consequence is disproportionately borne by those on the WFH shift.

Freelancers might consider developing a list of primary and secondary contacts and stakeholders and making note of who is present or absent from communications and also when decisions will be made. Politically savvy and practical Freelancers take steps to ensure that all who can contribute valuable work and perspectives will participate when you need them most.

More often than in-office teams like to admit, WFH team members are also prone to be omitted from informal discussions and minor decisions made by those who are working together in the office. The problem lies somewhere between out of sight, out of mind and the logistics of bringing WFH folks into the conversation.

Connection

In addition to technological and logistical coordination, the importance of the team’s social interactions should not be minimized. It’s vital to also encourage social connections between in-office and WFH crews, although composition of each may vary depending on the day of the week. Life and work are about building and nurturing relationships. Our networks contribute quite a bit to the success and happiness we achieve. There’s a reason that most people consider networking to meet peers or potential mentors, partners, investors, or sponsors so important.

Because a WFH schedule physically separates coworkers and has the potential to isolate and cause relationships to wither, occasional informal videoconference meetings could provide a helpful balance. Freelancers should be able to schedule an informal video meeting or two without appearing to over-reach. Nurturing relationships within your working team will make the experience better for all. Speak with your primary contact and propose an ice-breaker introduction video call designed to bring your project team together and set the stage for positive 5C experiences.

Coordination

Hybrid teams bring a greater risk of snafus than working face2face. The most common downside is the gradual onset of a rift between the in-office and WFH crews. Freelancers would be wise to apply extra effort to coordinate and follow-up with team members who work remotely. Without diligence, WFH team members could slip out of the loop.

That could result in the WFH crew not being completely on board with certain assumptions or adjustments that the in-office crew has agreed upon, for example. Freelancers working in a hybrid environment would be wise to take whatever necessary steps that bring in-office and WFH crews into agreement and on the same page. Freelancers usually depend on certain information, access, approvals, or actions to reach project milestones. Agreement and coordination are essential to success and must be enabled.

Creativity

It was probably discovered a few centuries ago that conversations spark creativity. It’s becoming apparent that teams working together in the same physical space experience a sort of collective creativity that arises organically when co-workers spontaneously begin to discuss a problem or opportunity. Scheduling a videoconference to conduct a brainstorming session is just not the same. It’s so much better to bounce ideas around with others or work intensively on solving a problem together. If it’s possible to bring WFH team members into the office once or twice during the project timeline do so. All 5C metrics will get a boost.

Culture

The phenomenon known as The Great Resignation, which was discussed in the September 7, 2021 post, has had a profound effect on working in America. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that in February 2022, U.S. businesses had nearly 12 million unfilled jobs.

That means once cohesive teams are in danger of weakening as people exit. When experienced employees leave and new ones arrive, another challenge of the WFH era is how to onboard newcomers and integrate them into the company’s culture, the expression of its brand and respect for its values. If a fluid but essentially constant percentage of a company’s workforce will remain in WFH mode, rarely or never working side-by-side with colleagues or spending time together to talk shop, how can a company’s unique “personality” be maintained or communicated? Back-channel, off-the-record. tellings are powerful. Institutional memory is a precious resource.

One fact is clear about the future of work, at least in the near term and that is, the hybrid workforce will be the norm for many organizations large and small and we’d better learn to navigate them.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Business Strategy, Survival Strategies , , , , Leave a comment

Crash-Proof Your Business

by

If there’s anything Freelancers and other business owners and leaders have learned over the past year is that positioning your company to survive adversity is high priority. Baking in stewardship policies that include risk management strategies designed to shield the company from the effects of marketplace instability (or maybe just a tough competitor) is a must-do.

Maintain the business in the way you maintain your home—painting the deck, caulking bathroom tiles, checking the foundation for cracks, putting a sealant on the driveway. When the inevitable blizzards and hurricanes arrive, you’ll weather the storms (earthquakes and tornadoes are something else again, of course).

There is no precise formula for the process. I recommend that business owners and leaders focus on the reliable benefits derived from this short list of basic resources: human capital, operational capabilities, a healthy culture and cash reserves.

Whether a solopreneur Freelancer or leader of a team of 100 or more, know that good leadership yields the best business results, in good times and bad. Those at the top of the organizational pyramid are the responsible party and have great influence on whether the venture finds success or failure. Creating a sustainable business model and obtaining sufficient start-up and working capital are how a good business is born. But there is more.

Company culture

Creating a healthy company culture is a business-sustaining strategy. Business owners and leaders should understand that when top-down and bottom- up communication is the norm, when leaders model a strong work ethic, when transparency and best practices are followed both internally and externally in customer relationships and when respect, coupled with a degree of autonomy, is given to employees at every level, a winning strategy, expressed through a healthy company culture, takes hold. Good company culture results in employees who are happy, productive and loyal to the organization.

Human capital

Providing skills-building training and coaching is an investment that also encourages employee loyalty and enables company leaders to maximize their productivity. Such policies and practices nurture company loyalty and come as close as possible to ensuring that when the going gets rough, the company will have a team dedicated to the organization and willing to work hard and smart to support a turnaround. This strategy also gives companies a reputation as a good place to work and acts as a magnet for top talent.

Strategy

The most effective business strategies are uncomplicated. Learn to distill yours down to one page. When speaking to your banker or potential investors, potential strategic partners, or high-level talent you’d like to hire, the ability to articulate a readily understandable and relatable business strategy will build confidence in you and the company you lead. Start clarifying and simplifying the strategy that guides your venture:

Vision for the future

Big picture goals (short-term, mid-range and long-term)

Key Performance Indicators and the department responsible for each

Top line revenue and market share, two metrics that indicate the quality of the business strategy.

Execution

Strategy is nothing without execution. An effective leader gets the plane into the air and flying at cruising altitude. To achieve that aim, properly trained staff, effective and intuitive workflow protocols, IT hardware and software that create operational efficiencies, quality control and an end-to-end positive customer experience are required. Errors, confusion and duplication of work undermine productivity, erode employee morale and result in weakened revenue and profit.

Defining the intended outcomes, practicing good communication, establishing efficient workflow organization, the required technology and the appropriate staffing level and expertise will likely repair obstacles to proper execution. Action plans, complete with departmental responsibility and due dates that the team consents to, ensure accountability and optimal results.

Cash

Small to mid-size companies would be wise to hold in reserve three to six months of projected operating expenses. That sum is meant to carry your company through a difficult time or allow you to take advantage of a business opportunity.

Bear in mind that every business is different. The amount of your company’s cash reserve will depend on where the company is. Start-up, new product launch, capital improvements campaign, or growth-expansion-scaling periods are not the time to build the reserve because available cash must be used to support those important initiatives. Discuss with your accountant about when it will make sense to start a capital reserve fund and how much it should hold.

It is also possible to use financing to build your company’s cash reserve and now may be the time to act. The SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan on March 30 was extended until May 31, 2021. The PPP Loan can be forgiven and essentially become a grant, but not every loan recipient is able to fulfill the qualifiers. Worse case scenario, the PPP must be repaid within two years at a 1% interest rate.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: The Indy 500