This article originally appeared on the London Young Professionals Network website.

WFAnywhere: Making remote work, work

When Lockdown 3.0 was implemented in December 2020, my company – global boutique growth consultancy OneLeap – was well-practised in the rhythms of remote work. But this time, we had an additional challenge: following last-minute changes to travel rules, we would begin 2021 spread across six different countries, with two new team members onboarding in two separate time zones. 

For a close-knit, collaborative team like ours, this was far from ideal. But rather than viewing ultra-remote working as something to endure until we could reconvene in the London office, we challenged ourselves to optimise this new way of working. Here are six key things we learned:

1. Don’t try to transpose everything from the office to the home 

Working from home is not the same as working in an office, and what works IRL doesn’t necessarily work online. For example, when your team is spread across six time zones, the traditional 9am – 6pm working day is irrelevant; it’s far more effective to work in blocks that maximise team collaboration whilst still accommodating individual schedules. Don’t be afraid to re-examine office conventions and suggest tweaks that work for the virtual world.

2. Plan meetings properly

Zoom meetings are draining, so make them as lean and efficient as possible. First, be really specific about who needs to be there – only invite people who are expected to give an input. Next, make sure the meeting organiser does their homework and sends out any pre-reads in advance; we share prompts for brainstorming sessions the day before, to allow time for individual ideation. Finally, when you arrive at a meeting, give it your full attention – no checking emails on a separate tab! A well executed, high-energy half hour is far more impactful than a poorly planned hour. 

3. Structure your workload well

Working from home often means long periods of working alone – and when you don’t have colleagues around to sense-check your ideas, it can be tricky to stay on track. To combat this, break tasks down into clear, bitesize pieces with definitive end goals, and schedule check-ins with colleagues for once you hit those mini-milestones. Sometimes, a 10 minute phone call and a fresh perspective is all you need to break out of a rut.

4. Skill up on virtual tools

Invest the time in finding the right virtual tools for your team. If brainstorming and ideation is a big part of your work, try centering team meetings on Miro. This allows you to listen to each other whilst working together on the same whiteboard – an energising break from staring passively at Zoom. For bonus points, make sure everyone knows how to use the chosen tool; consider creating a team ‘driving test’ to ensure a base level of competency.

5. Maximise social interaction

Working from home can be lonely, especially if you don’t have colleagues who share your time zone. Replicate the camaraderie of the office with short but frequent social interactions. We have a daily call to make sure we have a full-team chat at least once per day, and default to picking up the phone over sending emails wherever possible. It’s also important to pencil in purely social time and encourage people to fully commit to it. A fun way to do this is by wearing hats to end-of-week drinks (it’s hard to engage in serious work chat with a boss who’s wearing a sombrero).

6. Test, iterate, repeat

Full-time remote working is still relatively new, so it’s only natural to not have everything figured out yet. To supercharge the learning process, encourage a culture of continuous improvement in your team’s virtual workplace. At OneLeap, we have a fortnightly review where we reflect on what worked and what didn’t, then agree on and commit to small improvements to try next week.

So, is this the end of the office? We don’t think so. As an innovative, creative business, we find that ‘high-impact’ moments happen almost exclusively in-person; there’s a chemistry that comes from being together that you can’t replicate through a screen. 

But with remote working here for the long term, it’s worth fully leaning in to virtual, and learning to optimise – not just cope with – this new way of working. With so much global activity now happening online, the organisations that learn to excel in the medium will stand out and reap the rewards in the long run.

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