We’ve always prided our service on locality – our service is personal, our staff are well versed in local business markets, and now more than ever, our business is based on knowing our community better than anyone.
However, for our managers at One Step, when travel between branches is impossible and the teams are working remotely, and with only a skeleton team in our HQ in Taunton, how do you keep the teams working coherently, how do you motivate them, and how do you motivate yourself?
James Tuckett has a few ideas that he put in place to make his, and our, new working environment is as productive and supportive as possible.
“COVID-19 has played havoc with my ability to engage with, motivate, teach and support my staff. Once we went remote a few weeks ago, I realised I had to change how I personally operated when I can’t be present, and lead, in an office environment.
There are thousands of market leaders who have spoken about how best to operate a business in this trying time – rather than put a Best Practice listicle up, I thought I’d share what I have done for me, and my team!
- Weekly Work Quiz – Legions of people across the company are using Kahoot, Zoom, Skype and more to encourage teams to chat and enjoy a bit of time together away from the grind – I decided to do ours Midweek, rather than at the End, as a bit of Hump Day positivity!
- Sales isn’t Sales anymore – business is not “as usual” so I’m spending time with each consultant, every week, with some 1-on-1 time to talk about how and why we’re supporting our clients and how best to prepare clients for the future.
- Dress for the occasion – as anyone who knows me, I enjoy and am proud of dressing as smart as possible for work. I make sure, for my own sense of work worth and to keep encouraged, that my converted home/work space is, during work hours, for work and work only – keeps my mind clear and gives me focus!
- Health – although it sounds ridiculous to say, I did a DSE assessment at home! I realised that both my mental and physical health will be a whole sight better with a basic desk assessment, and included (and encourage) regular small breaks away from the screen, daily walks, and to not bring “work” into my private space with my family.
I know many market leaders have done, and encourage, putting some of the above into play and encouraging your staff to do so too!”
