Remote working has become a defining characteristic of many jobs over the past six months. It may feel like working from home is a knee-jerk response to the Covid-19 pandemic, but remote working will continue to be the way many do business long after the pandemic has subsided. This is especially true for work in creative fields like graphic design and digital marketing.
Although it may not always feel this way, working remotely has many benefits for businesses, clients, and employees alike. Here are some of the tips, tricks, and small-scale paradigm shifts you might need to make working remotely work better for you and your team.
Look After your Team
Looking after your team is crucial. Not being able to see your team, talk to your team, or engage in traditional team building activities can make remote working seem less like a team sport and more like a handful of individual projects. This is why it is so important for managers and team members alike to reach out to and engage with the people you work with.
A great new way to do this is by sending a KOYA. The KOYA platform makes it easy to send encouraging messages to individual team members. Send heartfelt thanks through KOYA, it’s free to download and use.
Work your Own Hours
One of the great things about working from home is that it is flexible. You might not be able to schedule team calls exactly when it is most convenient for you, but most remote jobs demand a great deal of independent work. It may vary based on your company’s culture and your team’s deadlines but take the opportunity to do your independent work when it works best for you. If you are a morning person, work from 6:00am – 2:00pm instead of 9:00am -5:00pm. If your project work allows it, take some time off during the week and make up for it over the weekend. Working remotely can give you a much higher degree of control of when you work, where you work, and for how long you work. Taking advantage of these added benefits can make working remotely much more palatable.
Don’t Get Distracted
Whether your family or roommates demand your attention - or checking your notifications turns into 45 minutes of scrolling through social media, it can be very easy to get distracted when you are working from home. Find ways to stay focused on the task you are working on and try working at times when the people you live with are busy. For brands and individuals alike, remember WHY you do the things you do and stay focused on telling that story.
Keep your Long-Term Goals in Mind
Don’t just focus on why you do what you do when your work gets difficult or distracting, it can be really helpful to keep your long-term goals in mind throughout the entire process. This is especially true for those working on projects that have many small, simple, and seemingly easy tasks which are easy to put off for later. For these types of projects, remember your vision for the final product and work towards making it a reality. This is not just true for creative projects, but for those feeling the COVID-19 cabin fever sucking the momentum out of their day-to-day.
Remote Working does Work
We certainly live in unprecedented times, but mastering remote work and knowing how to manage remote working teams can benefit customers, clients, and your creative process. The ability to tell a brands story in a digital way has always been a key success factor for brands, but the ability to manage and empower remote digital teams has become a matter of survival for businesses in creative fields. Although it may seem like just another COVID protocol or quick response to the pandemic, remote working is here to stay. Adapting well to this new normal will not only help brands navigate their way through the pandemic, but could also create interesting opportunities once the pandemic subsides.
Written by:
Eric Sheppard, Social Media Manager, We-ReL8
&
Courtney Weber, Strategy Partner, We-ReL8