10 Practical Ideas for Entrepreneurs to Follow in Working From Home

The basic rule of an organization where an important part of the activity is carried out from home - "I care about you! We care about us!"

In the context of the growing interest in work from home, caused by Coronavirus, companies will find reliable solutions, even if this contradicts the organizational cultures based on the command from the center, with many stages of decision and fear of error.

Working at a distance means autonomy and self-assumed interaction, in an organizational environment that involves innovation, dedication, care for the team and all colleagues. These are, in fact, the attributes of agile companies or departments.

10 practical ideas for entrepreneurs to follow in working from home:

I care about you!

It is important to make video calls daily, being contacted by all colleagues so that they do not feel separated from the rest of the group. This way we can avoid the fact that in a few days some of them lose their work rhythm and motivation.

In the special conditions in which we live, with all the negative media pressure and the greater or lesser fear we feel, it is all the more important to have a few key questions, present in each dialogue: How do you feel today? Are you ok? Dear ones, how are you? What can or can we help you with? "

Thus, we prove that we are a team, that we care about each other.

Interaction builds trust

Every day, it would be recommended to hold 2 or even 3 video calls, in a large group or smaller teams. Video calls and/or telephone conversations are recommended not to be at scheduled times, but random, except for the first hours.

When we are all in the office we have unplanned interactions - no one thinks of planning a short dialogue with a colleague at the next table. Otherwise, instead of being relaxed, we wait for the "dialogue" hour, which would put extra pressure on any of us.

Together we move things forward!

Some ideas for dialogue: - "I suggest you see us discuss the progress of the work …", "Did you hear the latest news from the authorities? …… How is the matter we talked about 3 hours ago", "I contacted you to tell you that …. (the leader) … came up with the idea ….. What do you think?", "How can I help you finish the work on time?" , "Do you have any idea which of our colleagues can help us with any idea, so that we can go further with the work?", "Do you take a look at what I worked on?".

I communicate, so I exist

As a leader, you can divide the members of the company into mini-teams of 2, 3, or 4 colleagues, communicating in turn, with each of them, randomly: "I called you to advise us on", "What impediments have What happened yesterday? "

Rhythm is the key to success

Rhythm or constant. We organize a daily video call with a maximum duration of about 10 minutes, in teams of a maximum of 4 colleagues, and we approach topics such as: "What news do we have about the situation of our team?" What progress have we made since yesterday? "," What impediments do we have? "," What ideas do we have for solving the impediments? "," What do we intend to do as a team, until we see each other again tomorrow? ".

In these daily video calls, there can be planning and analysis discussions - on Monday at the first hour we see each other to determine what we do in the week that starts, on Friday afternoon we do a retrospective of the week. These dialogues can take place with coffee or lunch in front, why not?

Also in this context, but with an interaction that can last substantially longer, we see each other to plan the activity in blocks of a maximum of 1 to 4 weeks - "Who, how much and when does he assume himself?". At the end of each block, we will see each other for the retrospective - "What did we learn in this block? What do we repeat and what do we avoid next time".

Too much planning is not recommended, working on minimum requirements to move things forward - "seeing and doing".

It is important that at least once a month, we be transparent with the running of the business, organizing a video conference with the participation of all colleagues in the company. In addition to the financial situation, projects with a major impact on most of the colleagues can also be approached.

The smile is the King!

It's just as important to keep up the good work habits: "Did you see that joke that circulated on Facebook yesterday? What joke? Who else knows it? Let me tell you," "You liked that picture with. … on Instagram? Yeah! I didn't see her! Please send it to me too "," Who's telling me too? ".

There are several team games on the Internet, some of which can be used online. On the other hand, how about we start playing Monopoly at a distance? For example, to make 1 or 2 rounds on the game board, for each video call. Or any other game.

Useful applications for video conferencing can be, among others, FreeConferenceCall, Skype. And let's not forget that in video conferences/telephone conversations, "Smile is King!".

However, offline interaction cannot be permanently replaced. Once we get out of the pandemic crisis, we must give ourselves the "gift" of meeting. It is essential in the formation and development of the team. In other words, team building is only good.

"The distance is like the wind, extinguishes the small fires and intensifies the big ones", Thomas Mann in "Budenbrock House"

Leaders can organize, at low cost, distance learning sessions, followed by other teamwork sessions on various topics. Online platforms, as well as groups on social networks, facilitate this way of learning, e-learning now showing the great value it can bring.

"Intelligence is the ability to adapt," said Stephen Hawking

Organizational agility requires flexible organizational models, with a quick response to the market. This does not imply a new pattern of structures, systems, processes, and tools, but a work philosophy, through which autonomous and self-organized teams make quick decisions and implement them, guided by support and guidance functions.

What will happen if, in a new crisis, command and control are done from a single-center, with many intermediate floors, when extreme and urgent situations require local and rapid action?

The role of business leaders is to provide strategy and keep it alive, to support autonomous teams, and to help them grow in a culturally friendly environment that allows for growth and growth.

Such an approach allows the easy and fast transition from the way of working and from the classic interaction, with a long decision chain, to the organization, work, and distance learning, where the autonomy of self-organized teams becomes the strong point in the volatile, uncertain environment. complex and ambiguous, like the business days marked by Coronavirus.

"The social brain feels at ease when we talk to someone face to face, in real-time" Daniel Goleman

The wonderful practice of face-to-face discussions can continue, especially since we all have smartphones, with video-call function, a beloved application or rather used by almost all generations. On the subway, 2 months ago, I saw a person with major speech impairments talking on the phone - a wonderful invention!

We care about ourselves!

We now have more time for reflection, learning, analysis, business settlements, and resettlement.

"You just have to be more discriminating with the help you render toward other people."

Working from home, simultaneously with a good part of colleagues, is different from collaborating sometimes, online, with some of them. Remote business management requires at least as much discipline as office work.

One can speak of self-discipline, self-assumption, and dedication, that is, exactly the attributes of the agile way of working. Approaching a managerial work style through video calls can be a crazy idea, only if we think that there is no longer control of the environment, the dialogue partner/partners being always "on their territory".

With this "black swan" management breaks away from the classic mode of expression. It is hard to imagine that after important episodes of managing the business and working from home, we will return completely to the old "offline" practices as if nothing had happened. In addition, some advantages of working from home can be stated … as well as some disadvantages otherwise.

Surely, one way or another, we will have many lessons to learn from the experience of working from home and from running a business with this imprint.

We can learn by nodding from the top threshold, in the most brutal variants, reaching the paralysis of the business or we can learn with people who have experience and ideas in this regard, although sometimes the proverb "If you do not want to invest" is counter-intuitive. in an expert, wait to see how much it will cost you a non-professional ".