[Downloadable material] Remote Work Guide

Suddenly, the day came. Starting now, everyone will be working remotely. Is it possible without training, organization, or a plan? It's definitely a huge challenge, but think about how we can be better for having lived through this experience.

Drastic measures that aim to protect public health such as avoiding crowds, increasing hygiene and cleanliness, cancelling unnecessary events, and working from home are the guidelines shared by all governments, international organizations, and companies upon facing the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).

Remote work is one of the greatest advantages of today's world, only possible thanks to the Internet, technological advances, and new ways of thinking about work.

If you want to learn a little bit about how we do it at Workana, download this Remote Work Guide. It might help you think through the complexity and multiple factors of this issue.

Now, if you're starting today and weren't able to adequately prepare, keep these tips in mind:

Have an initial meeting where everyone can see each other and participate, to clarify what remote work is all about.
Get everyone on board with the objectives and tasks to move forward in the coming weeks.
Follow up and facilitate daily communication between teams. Thanks to the internet, you can choose between many different messaging systems: Hangouts, Skype, Slack, WhatsApp, or another one of your choice.
You can also add very basic tools such as shared lists on Google Keep to outline tasks; or, follow-up tools for more complex projects such as Trello, Asana, Basecamp, or Monday.com, although these are not recommended as a contingency plan without previous training.
Communicate and interact: clarify schedules and channels of communication. Foster habits of notifying, updating statuses, and using the shared calendar for announcing meetings or times when you'll be out of office.
Use shared documents to facilitate teamwork. The most commonly used and free ones are Google Drive sheets, documents, and slides.
Redefine the role of leader—this will be much more of a facilitator and support role. Leaders are needed who are present, listeners, proactive, and communicative.
Motivate your teams so that they understand this situation as an opportunity to learn which may build the foundation for a new work model.
Build commitment, and then trust your team. We know it will be difficult at first and will require double effort from you, but you will be able to see the results by respectfully following up. And that will forever change your way of understanding remote work.