Digital communities: discover their importance in building and maintaining your business
Back in the year 540 B.C., Heraclitus discovered that nothing is permanent, except change. The skills to change, transform and adapt are not new in our society.
Remote transformation is the new normal. All companies need to make this change, there is no other solution! The teams are all already distributed – some were already, but most were still sharing the same table in some office out there.
Everything is a matter of choice. The transition can be smooth and full of opportunities for improvement or painful – for the less resilient.
For your remote transformation to be closer to the former, we have some tips on how to achieve the best results.
We will be bringing up a series of reflection points that can be used in the construction of the present and a much more desirable future, based on community engagement and well-being.
Why transform distributed teams into a motivated community?
First of all, let’s agree on something? It’s pretty simple. Managing distributed teams is not about a geographic issue – this is just a small component. It’s actually about culture, it’s a mindset. Are we on the same page? Good, now we’re ready to move on.
Exponential organizations, unicorns, startups, love brands, techs and big techs have expanded beyond their organizational boundaries. Leveraging and accessing people, assets and platforms all over the globe in order to maximize flexibility, speed, agility and learning.
And how did they do it?
With decentralized management.
But not only that but they aren’t just a bunch of scattered collaborators. And that is a point we want to bring a lot of attention to.
Worth noting! For this new arrival, it will be necessary to give up the old, promoting:
- noise-free communication
- transparency
- appreciation
- autonomy
It is time to rethink the role that your employees really have in your strategy.
Taking care of your community is a priority now. And believe me: when this is all over, it will remain as such.
Two simple factors can bring you a number of benefits.
- Involving employees
- Enabling a collaborative culture
Benefits of a motivated and engaged community for your business
- Strengthening the feeling of belonging
- More transparency: employees that are more informed and involved with company content
- More collaboration and co-creation in real time
- Facilitating new ways of working, such as networked and cross-functional teams
10 tips for building a happy community
These new times calls for more sensitive values. After all, we’re not stuck in home offices because the company’s water coolers ran dry.
In fact, we are working from home in the midst of a pandemic. Some are home alone, others have a full house, and we cannot forget those who still have to take care of their children and parents.
We live in the ‘social isolation’ that will save our world, but that, nevertheless, still impacts the way we work. It is a very different situation, one that requires a human touch.
The most important thing is not to forget that: above all, we are human.
Productivity is important, yes. Even more so during a moment of uncertainty like this, but productivity can’t do it alone. It needs it’s partner, well-being, in order to maximize your results.
To collaborate with the task of creating communities and keeping them inspired, we bring you some key points that are worth a little contemplation.
Optimism saves teams
It may seem romantic, in the midst of so many consequences caused by the pandemic, to speak of optimism. But let us explain.
Believing that it will work out is the injection of courage needed in order to do what has to be done, as well as enable employees to propose improvements.
Spoiler: there’s a lot of strong culture here. Let’s talk about it up front.
Well-being is indeed a metric
As we said before, this moment that the world is going through is not a simple remote transformation. Social isolation gives a different tone to the transition. A deep dive to help better understand your employees profiles can facilitate in finding the best way to make remote management work.
We leave a question here as a starting point: what really matters now?
Let go of what doesn’t work
There is no perfect recipe. From time to time we run into some good guidebooks, but if they don’t work for your company, that’s fine! Believe me, it’s better this way.
An experimental mindset will promote the discovery of more knowledge, and help you find the best solution for your employees. Our advice: understand your tribe’s profile before defining engagement actions.
Instead of focusing on solving the problem, focus on dispensing with what is going wrong.
Get out of your own way to get to the finish line faster.
Promote a strong and true culture
Culture is how your team and your company think/act when the room is empty, when no one is watching. It makes a lot of sense for it to gain so much relevance in these times of remote transformation.
There are no trust issues within businesses with strong culture. It is a pillar of support for the community. It activates a sense of belonging and pride.
Promoting a strong and true culture is the new “dressing for work” for your company.
It’s not always about productivity
We have already said that before we all became permanently stuck in home offices, we were already experiencing social isolation due to the pandemic. This is a great excuse to reframe productivity.
Leisure is creative. High performance has a lot to do with creativity, and we know that it takes time to exercise it. Remember to bring these moments into your team’s routine.
Promote remote decompression and brainstorming meetings. Many good things can come from them!
The linear industrial model’s days are numbered
Before the pandemic, it was never about time spent sitting in front of the computer. There is very little, if any, correlation between time spent in front of the computer and the quality of delivery.
Most of the time, it is much more about alignment, connection, and a feeling of belonging. About the pride of the team, the management, the company, the services and products it provides. It becomes the wind in their sails.
The new normal is Circular Economy
With leverage, it’s possible to make even a small action produce massive amounts of force. It is worth noting that a circular economy is not against profit. Quite the contrary: those who align with it can identify business opportunities that were hidden by the very linear industrial logic that we are used to seeing.
The point here is that it is possible to generate a positive social impact without making a large investment. Thinking of something really relevant to the world, having a purpose. Sometimes that’s all it takes.
The new paradigm calls for more sensitive values
It’s time to review – think about what’s urgent. Let go of what no longer works, without guilt. Make room for a different model than what we had.
It’s that moment to look around you. As if you were looking through a magnifying glass to find the nature of the problems that this change carries with it, as well as the fact that our old equipment can no longer accurately measure the degree of this change.
It is time to identify the opportunities that exist in other paradigms:
- Logic of abundance
- Circular economy
- Exponential organizations
- Post-digital companies
It is time to reinvent yourself. Reinvent business, processes and legacies. Participate in the reinvention of society. Build the future we want – before someone else does.
Develop your employees
In order to gain space, leadership has to allow it’s positions of decision making to be assumed by team members and other collaborators with the scope for decision making.
Those who prioritized the development of their employees are one step ahead. Horizontal leadership develops the team so that it can make decisions in an agile and conscious way.
Take a minute to look at the Logic of Abundance
The driving force behind the logic of abundance is that it is in fact abundant, for everyone. The Digital Era makes this process a lot easier. It’s a process in which the ownership mindset loses its place to access mentality.
Networking is already well aligned with an abundance of possibilities. From it, you can see the cooperation at the heart of the business.
Remember: it’s worth even more when everyone wins – your employees, society and your company too. Shared value makes a difference.
How about trying out this new logic? The results can be exponential.
Start now: engage your community!
A poorly engaged team is a clear sign of a drop in productivity and a higher turnover. This is true for both remote and non-remote managing.
Engaging your employees is a priority in remote transformation as well.
- Create channels for content dissemination
- Look for actions that strengthen the sense of belonging
- Communicate – often and clearly
- Provide connections within and among your teams
- Have your company’s values pulsate through all the processes it carries out
If you want to dive into this new humane-centric mentality, Design Thinking can help you a lot.
And if you think you will need to wait for the quarantine to end to propose such a project, you’re wrong! We reviewed all the stages of our TD approach and we are transferring everything to the remote environment.
The world is not standing still, let us build a much more desirable future together.
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