by virtualworks | Dec 2, 2024 | business growth, Case Study, daily lfe, life work balance, Mastery, Outsourcing, Productivity, remote meetings, Remote Office Management, ROWE, Time Management, working from home, working remotely
As the modern workplace continues to evolve, non-profit organizations increasingly recognize the Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) as a powerful strategy for fostering flexibility, innovation, and employee satisfaction. While transitioning to ROWE offers numerous benefits, it also presents unique challenges that must be navigated with care. In this blog post, we will explore potential hurdles non-profits may face when implementing ROWE and discuss strategies to overcome them, empowering your organization to thrive in the face of change.
Adapting to a New Management Style
The shift to ROWE requires a significant change in mindset and practices for managers and employees alike. To ease the adaptation process:
- Offer Comprehensive Training: Equip your staff with the skills and knowledge needed to excel in a ROWE environment through workshops and training sessions. Focus on essential areas such as goal-setting, time management, and effective communication.
- Clearly Define Expectations: Establish and communicate performance expectations, work guidelines, and company policies to ensure everyone understands their roles and responsibilities within the new work model.
- Cultivate a Trust-Based Culture: Encourage transparency and open communication between team members and management to build trust and collaboration.
Addressing Communication and Collaboration Hurdles
With employees working different hours or across various time zones, communication and collaboration challenges may arise. To tackle these issues:
- Leverage Technology: Utilize collaboration platforms and communication tools that facilitate real-time connection and keep everyone in the loop, regardless of location or schedule.
- Implement Standardized Communication Protocols: Establish guidelines for communication, such as expected response times, preferred channels, and expectations for virtual meetings, to ensure efficient interaction among team members.
- Promote Regular Check-ins and Team Building: Schedule routine team meetings, one-on-one check-ins, and virtual social events to maintain a sense of camaraderie and address any challenges promptly.
Mitigating Risks Associated with Reduced Supervision
With ROWE’s focus on autonomy and trust, it’s crucial to identify and mitigate potential risks related to reduced supervision:
- Monitor Performance Regularly: Assess individual and team performance on a regular basis, providing constructive feedback, and ensuring that goals are being met.
- Encourage Accountability and Ownership: Motivate employees to take responsibility for their work, honor deadlines, and communicate any challenges or concerns they may encounter.
- Provide a Robust Support System: Offer resources, mentorship programs, and training opportunities to help employees grow and excel in their roles.
A Journey of Growth and Resilience
While implementing ROWE may present challenges for non-profits, it’s essential to view these obstacles as opportunities for growth and resilience. By understanding and addressing the issues head-on, organizations can create a thriving work culture that fosters innovation and success. Embrace the journey towards ROWE, and your non-profit will be well-positioned to navigate the ever-evolving world of work.
A Case Study: Non-Profit Success in a ROWE Environment
To illustrate the power of ROWE for non-profits, let’s consider the example of XYZ Organization, a non-profit focused on environmental conservation. By embracing ROWE, XYZ Organization experienced increased productivity, reduced turnover rates, and higher employee satisfaction levels.
XYZ Organization’s success can be attributed to their comprehensive training programs, effective communication protocols, and strong support systems. By implementing these strategies, they overcame challenges associated with ROWE and transformed their work culture, ultimately enhancing their impact and achieving their mission more effectively.
As the work landscape continues to evolve, embracing ROWE offers non-profits an opportunity to adapt and thrive. By addressing the challenges associated with this innovative management style and implementing strategies to overcome them, your organization can build a resilient and successful future.
by virtualworks | May 20, 2024 | Business, business growth, Customer relationships, Leadership, Mastery, Outsourcing, Productivity, Remote Office Management, Team Work, Virtual Assistant, working from home
I have a friend who worked as a Barista at a well-known coffee shop. She tells the stories of guests who would return their latte because “it just isn’t right”. After making thousands of lattes she understood that what is ‘right’ to the recipe isn’t always ‘right’ to the customer. She learned to ask probing questions such as “is it too sweet? Too milky? Too much coffee?” By requiring the guest to be more specific, she was able to fix the problem quickly. In short, she learned to speak the language of guests’ expectations.
Hiring a remote support professional can be a little like that, except you’re the guest whose latte isn’t quite ‘right’.
When you hire someone to do a job you have a number of expectations about how the job ought to be done. It can take time to learn how to talk about the tasks you need accomplished. It can be difficult to accurately define the quality, feel or essence of a job that needs doing. You might think it is simple, yet you understand all the reasons you do it THIS way, and perhaps even all the reasons you DON’T do it another way. Your ‘right’ isn’t the same as everyone else’s. Often this skill is learned through trial and error.
To start learning this skill you just have to begin. One options might be to choose a small one-off task that can be outsourced with limited risk to your organization. It could be a mailer that needs to be written, or a spreadsheet that needs cleaning up. Just a couple of hours’ worth of work. Find a resource who can do the project for you and see how it goes. If they do a good job, you have a great product and good return on your investment. If they don’t meet your expectations, ask yourself how you could have communicated better.
Then try it again.
In this way you learn to speak the language of your expectations and your business in such a way so your resource can grasp what you need and want and meet those expectations the first time!
Check out our Nine Guidelines to Outsourcing to help you find your remote support groove.
by virtualworks | Apr 14, 2024 | Accomplishments, daily lfe, Mastery, Productivity, Time Management
Who doesn’t have a ‘bad’ day?
We all do sometimes, and these days it seems like there are a lot of them. A recent bad day was experienced by a friend of mine, let’s call her “R”. Picture this:
After a restless night’s sleep, “R” wakes up with an incredible headache and stumbles along getting ready for the workday ahead. With no hot water left for a shower, a broken hairbrush and tangled necklace (and not one, but two, dropped cups of coffee), she managed to still get herself ready for the day. She realizes what she thought was 8 am, was actually 9 am and she was already running late for work. The rest of the day became a blur of things just not going right. It is safe to say “R” was having a ‘bad’ day.
There are some common causes for a bad day: The list below is not exhaustive of the causes of a bad day, but they are common to many.
- Lack of Sleep (like our friend above): not getting the right amount of sleep can be a contributor to stress and poor health.
- The Presentation of Negative Information: we are bombarded by the news, social media and negative people providing negative information that can be overwhelming.
- On-going issues that last a while: there may be past negative experiences that still have a current impact that needs to be dealt with.
- Upsetting events just happen: things just happen and they will have an effect on your day.
Relativity of Problems:
It’s important to recognize that people come from different places and their lives are based on different events they experience. As a result, we all have different levels of what people consider a problem that causes a bad day and it is important to not discount the struggles of others even if we don’t understand their struggles as a problem.
Tips to get through it: So, let’s try to get through that bad day with the following ideas:
- Take a moment to just breathe. Stop the bad day in its tracks.
- Do some things to make you feel better like taking a relaxing bath, have some tea, go for a walk or meditate.
- Understand the cause of the bad day and determine if these are things within your control. If they are, make the change that is needed and if this is not in your control do your best to let it go.
- Journal those things that are causing your bad day as a way to express your emotions or speak with someone to ask for help.
If you’re interested in trying a few other methods to get through a bad day, check out tinybuddha.com’s article on how to turn around a bad day in 10 minutes.
by virtualworks | May 22, 2023 | Business, business growth, Leadership, Mastery, Productivity, Time Management, Uncategorized, working from home, working remotely
Outsourcing of services is becoming more and more mainstream and with the abundance of former corporate workers who have vast knowledge and experience and now run their own businesses, you will likely be able to find someone to help you for a reasonable amount of money. Just as business owners can operate from just about anywhere, resources can provide services from anywhere. But whatever your needs are, always remember: “buyer beware”!!
Here’s a few things to consider when outsourcing:
- The lowest priced outsourced solution may not be the best; good people cost money and beware that even these days, you still get what you pay for.
- If you’re just starting out, outsource from the very beginning with a Virtual Assistant and a bookkeeper and grow your team from there. As your business grows, you can take on a web designer, a ghost writer, a graphic designer, an executive assistant, a project manager, etc.
- Don’t outsource a task just because you don’t want to do it. There will be tasks that only you can do because they’re important to operations and strategic plan.
- Always strike a fair deal with your resources and treat them with respect. You’re relying on them to handle important tasks for you and your business so don’t take advantage of them.
- Bartering. This is a great way to get things done for no cost in exchange for services. Make sure that you and the resource are clear about the terms and that the services you each provide are both what you want. Beware that this mode of payment isn’t for everyone.
On the personal side of your life, you might think about outsourcing to further free up your time:
- A personal assistant to help keep you and your family organized;
- Housekeeper/house cleaning service;
- Property maintenance;
- Grocery service, errand service
When I first started my remote support agency, I thought I would lay-off my housekeeper, thinking that since I would be working from home, I could manage the house myself. A very wise business coach I met during my early networking days advised me against it. The reason? “You’re going to be at work during the day.” She was correct, of course, and my housekeeper is still with me to this day. What are your priorities? What would make your life easier and be less stressful for you? Give it some thought!
by virtualworks | Feb 26, 2023 | Leadership, Mastery, Productivity, Time Management, Uncategorized, working from home, working remotely
Over the past several years the physical landscape of the traditional office space has changed to evolve and promote productivity of its workers. Ergonomics assessments, increasing natural lighting and working with flexible schedules are examples of changes that have helped in this regard, but what if your employees are finding they are more productive outside of the office environment?
While some companies have successfully integrated the ability for workers to work from home where feasible and as shown in this Globe and Mail article,(dated 2017) some managers and leaders find it challenging to manage workers that are not located on the company’s site. Many times, there is a trust issue between management and employees or hired virtual workers that need to be dealt with to allow a successful off-site arrangement to work. These issues are as relevant today as they were when remote working was becoming more commonplace.
A common question that we hear is “How will I know if the work is being done right, or being done at all?”
The simple answer: Outcomes and Results.
The proof is in the pudding as they say. This may be accomplished by setting goals for the day, week, and month for the off-site worker to meet and if actual time worked is a concern, the worker can submit a weekly time sheet either manually, or using time tracking software online.
For the most part, when an off-site worker is trusted they may feel more invested in a company that understands the importance of working off-site and may want to have their best work shine through in those results and outcomes. So if you’re on the fence about off-site work, here are just a few benefits to this way of working:
- Your very valuable time. The day of a manager or leader can be packed,with all employees in the office valuable time is taken by “doing the rounds” to check and see what everyone is up to, but is there a value in this?
- Workers that have opted for off-site work tend to be more productive, as there may be things within the office environment they find distracting or may just work at a different pace and timeline than what has been established as the norm.
- Workers that have opted for off-site work and have been given the opportunity to do so may have greater respect for those they are working for, as they may feel they are being understood.
- Many off-site workers tend to find a better balance of their social commitments and work with less absenteeism.
- Communications with your off-site worker are as simple as picking up the phone, sending an instant message, sending an email, or starting a Skype conversation.
Remember though that remote working isn’t for everyone! Some people are their most productive working on their own in peace and quiet (like yours truly). Other people need a place to go every day and work well with interruptions and face-to-face interactions. Either way, in today’s information society it still comes down to outcomes and results however, working remotely allows for much more autonomy for the responsible human to provide the results on the due date without management knowing when the work was actually done.
As the modern workplace continues to evolve, non-profit organizations increasingly recognize the Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) as a powerful strategy for fostering flexibility, innovation, and employee satisfaction. While transitioning to ROWE offers numerous benefits, it also presents unique challenges that must be navigated with care. In this blog post, we will explore potential hurdles non-profits may face when implementing ROWE and discuss strategies to overcome them, empowering your organization to thrive in the face of change.
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