Ensuring success from anywhere is becoming a critical element to every modern business. The imperative to remain agile and continue the rapid pace of digital transformation we have seen over the past 24 months is now a priority for every CEO.
Robin Fisher, senior area vice-president of Salesforce Emerging Markets
Where previously they delegated their digital strategy, today the CEO wants to take direct leadership – helping to prioritise safety, build a digital HQ, and know their customers.
As teams become more distributed, business leaders also have an opportunity to create an even better workplace — one that allows us to be more connected to each other, find more balance between work and home, and advance equality. This will ultimately lead to increased innovation and better business outcomes.
With the right technology, they can do this by building trust, redefining how their teams work together, and reassessing the support they provide employees to retain and grow talent.
Building trust through flexibility
Companies have had to fundamentally rethink everything from their operating models to their products to their events in response to Covid-19, and the reality is the pandemic isn’t going away. In this new world, safety and trust are one and the same. Leaders who do not prioritise safety are losing trust with their employees, as well as their customers and their communities.
To navigate the changes ahead, teams seek empowerment to decide how, when, and where they work. It is therefore incumbent upon business leaders to recognise that employees have unique constraints. Every member of a team has a different home environment. Some have children. Some don’t. Some have private home offices. Some take meetings in a busy kitchen. Some may have greater responsibilities outside of work.
By embracing hybrid ways of working we can open up new ways to meet their needs: flexibly, fully remotely or entirely office based. If done right, employees can be as, and even more, productive when working remotely as they are in the office, moving seamlessly between the two.
Reimagining collaboration
The pandemic has provided a once in a lifetime opportunity to not just reimagine where we work, but how we work. From in-person meetings, company-wide emails, and strategy offsites, processes and tools organizations previously relied on are increasingly being reinvented for the digital-first world.
A vital ingredient in the hybrid workspace is creating a digital HQ, a hub where everyone can collaborate easily and efficiently, wherever they are. By seamlessly bringing the right people, information and tools together, this technology is helping businesses to become more connected, more productive, and more innovative.
Collaborating in channels and enabling communication with clients, vendors, or partners in real-time, the power of a more integrated approach is helping address issues immediately and freeing teams up for deeper, more focused work. It streamlines workflows built around CRM data, giving teams a single source of truth for their business and a trusted, shared view of their customers.
Reassessing support to retain and grow talent
In a period which has been dubbed the Great Resignation, workers around the world are rethinking their relationships with employers.This is also an opportunity for businesses to reassess the support and training flexibility they provide workers.
Having the right digital infrastructure gives companies the opportunity to create a richer onboarding experience while streamlining communication, mentorship, and continuing education. Leaders shouldn’t assume that new employees have the same knowledge, have worked with the products or understand the culture that they are already familiar with.
Developing a virtual communication and resource library that includes training with leaders or subject matter experts anyone can access is just one example of how companies can help employees at all levels succeed.
As well as keeping people connected and engaged in a remote environment, collaboration platforms are creating opportunities for company leaders to make themselves available to younger employees.
With the quick setting up of channels, for example, they can have open-door policies which just might not have been possible before. They can also commit to ongoing one-to-one conversations about their future and continuing education.
Ultimately, our new digital world presents a major opportunity for companies to rethink what agile teams look like. By building tailored training programs based not on what they think workers should know but on what workers actually want, and need to know, companies can create a flexible working culture that empowers all employees to connect, learn and progress from anywhere.
By providing the right technology, leaders can also help their teams perform more effectively and boost wellbeing, motivation and productivity.