We are nearly 30 days into quarantine, and it seems that with every piece of positive news, there is a negative spike in cases only adding uncertainty and prolonging the end to this stay-at-home order. Prior to COVID-19, the Talent Navigation team had only worked from home on snow days. Due to the learning curve with working from home, a few of us quickly adjusted, while others are eager to return to a normal office routine. Amidst the adjustments, one of our goals was to maintain the strong culture we had cultivated in our office. We take pride in our culture, but we quickly discovered that there is a fine line between adding excitement and reducing productivity during our remote workday.
If your team is anything like ours, you are communicating with your colleagues constantly. Between emails, Microsoft Teams Messenger, and group text, we cover every topic imaginable. As beneficial and fun as it is to stay in the loop, the continuous conversations have become more of a distraction that we would have liked. During a pandemic as sudden and uncertain as this one, we need to stay as productive as we can.
Here are a few of the tips our team has adopted in order to stay disciplined and committed to our jobs. We hope you and your team will find this just as helpful in minimizing distractions.
Using Teams Messenger:
- Greeting the team each day. We use the Teams Video Conference to kick-off each day and discuss our goals and accomplishments from the day prior. Before our meeting starts, use the chat to say good morning and report work status updates.
- Work-related information. Use Teams Messenger for any work-related information that multiple people on our internal team can benefit from. *Utilize individual chats if you’re only speaking to one teammate.
- Celebrating victories. Did you co-worker make a placement? Secure a meeting with a new client? Use Teams to boost morale and celebrate wins, big or small.
- Status updates. If you’re stepping away for a bit, let your team know, so they know you’re unavailable to discuss a project.
Using Group Text:
- Anything non-work related. We use our group text to share funny memes, pictures of the haircuts we tried to give our family members, news related topics…the list goes on. It feels easy to lose your sense community when you’re not able to be with anyone. Although we aren’t in the office together, we all still love the updates and how everyone is handling the current situation! We make it a goal to use this form of communication outside of work hours, so we can stay productive!
No one on our team wants to change the great culture TNE has, but with drastic changes like these, we must adapt. We are so grateful to have jobs and supportive colleagues, and we want to stay productive to make the largest impact in helping others in our community find jobs. We sympathize with everyone out there who has been laid off or furloughed due to the coronavirus pandemic. We hope your team can adopt some of our best practices, and if someone you know is looking for a job in the IT, Accounting or Finance area, please contact our team! https://talentnavigation.com/contact/