Every business is going through constant changes, especially since the COVID-19 changed how the world operates. Everything went from brick and mortar and physical offices to working digitally. Every big corporation has a department dedicated to change, which helps the employees and workers understand and accept the change.
Change does not come easily to every individual, and given that everyone has a certain way of working for years now had to work entirely on a digital platform had a lot of employees confused and dropping out.
In this article, we have outlined 7 change management principles that will help your digital task force to work as efficiently as it can.
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Make a Strategic Plan
Change management requires a plan in place with a key vision and mission to follow. What firms are doing today is getting a digital marketing agency on board to help them with the strategic transition plan.
In this strategic plan, you should focus on what change you want to occur and how you want to go about it. You need to spell out every task, timeline, deadline, etc. After making this plan, you need to communicate it to your team.
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Communication is The Key
Once you have a plan in place and you have communicated it to your digital workforce, expect a lot of feedback. This can be positive or negative feedback. So you need to have a manager whose communication skills are on point and can address the concerns of each employee with utmost empathy and clarity.
Commuicating with customers is essential when dealing with a digital workforce. Their expectations are high and you must be able to efficiently respond to their queries on any channel they prefer. A hosted contact center is a robust solution to meet your customers needs.
One thing you need to keep in mind is that you need to be constantly available for the digital workforce and tell them that if they encounter any problem during the change or new ways of working, you will be there to guide them.
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Have a Change Management Team Ready
The next step is to provide your digital task force with some training. For this, you need to have a few teams ready; for example, you need to have a business support change team ready; this team would be responsible for being the information center for all the employees and will have the ability to recognize which employee would work well for which department. You can also create peer advocacy groups, where the teams could bond and socialize as well.
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Communicate With Your Customers
While communicating with employees is important, it is also that you communicate with your customers as well. Your employees should know when and how to communicate the vision and mission of your company with your customers.
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Use a Collaborative Communication Software
If you are not already using collaborative communication software like Slack, Trello, etc., you are probably not making the best out of this remote working position. Always keep in mind that using the software, you will need to work on a particular infrastructure, work with your technical staff to make that happen.
Depending on the kind of business you are in, several collaborative communication tools can help you facilitate according. So if you are into the real estate business, all you have to do is google the best software for real estate, and you will get a huge list. Talk to the IT department and see what works best for your company.
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Talk to Your Remote Workforce for Feedback
When implementing any sort of change, resistance is bound to come from a few of your employees, and you need to have a listening ear when your employees are not happy. Change never comes easy, it takes time, but if managed properly by the leader, you can achieve change effectively.
So, for example, if you have employees how, despite telling them about changes, they are continuing to work with old school methods, most of the managers will give them a warning or some tough time which in turn will lower down their morale.
On the other hand, what I suggest is that as a manager, you sit and talk with that employee to figure out what the problem is. It’s most likely that your employee can’t quite understand the new software or the new element in your remote task force. If you just sit down with them and help them figure out the problem, the employee will get on track and will be able to work efficiently and effectively.
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Have Weekly Meetings
While working remotely, the team leader must make sure that our weekly meetings being held where you can catch up on the progress of particular tasks and make a connection with your team and make sure they are doing okay during this entire change.
In these meetings, you don’t only have to talk about work; you should also ask how your team is doing? If anyone has lost someone due to covid-19, or if anyone is doing okay? Remote working conditions can wear some people out, so you must make sure all your employees are doing well mentally and physically.
Also, make sure the meeting is informal at a certain level, so the employees can relax and shop talk as well. You have to try your best that working in a physical office and remote office is almost the same, where you get to have coffee breaks and chat with your colleagues as well. We all miss that, right?
Apply These Principles To Your Remote Taskforce and Ensure Productivity
Working remotely is not an easy task. Not for everyone. A lot of us need the environment, the ambiance to work upon our working morale and focus on our work. The feeling that you are at work while working remotely is the biggest challenge of all. However, the tips we mentioned above will help you.
All you have to do is have a change management team ready, Make a strategic plan and then communicate it to your employees as well as your customers; use collaborative communication tools, have a weekly meeting, and talk to your employee for constant feedback.
Apply these principles, and you are ready to work on your remote task force as efficiently as you can.
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