Category: Ways of Working

Tips for a Better Client-Writer Partnership

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Hiring a writer is like hiring an architect to build a house. You don’t just say to an architect, ‘Great – go build me a house.’ You discuss the style and size of the house, what things are important to you, what local building regulations are, etc.

There’s a partnership of sorts between you and the architect, with both of you bringing things to the table to produce the house you want.

a couple consults with their architect over a set of blue prints

Working with writers is also a partnership. So here are a few tips for clients working with writers and writers trying to address common client concerns – all to help ensure that partnership produces the results you want. Continue reading “Tips for a Better Client-Writer Partnership” →

Workplace Collaboration: A Challenge or Triumph?

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With a few notable exceptions, more gets done when people work together. Except for the control freaks among us (and we all know at least one), we all know that collaboration can boost productivity. If we didn’t know it, consultants tell us all the time, using phrases like ‘teams in harmony,’ ‘working on internal synergies’, etc. All that jargon-y mumbo jumbo.

So, we know it. Consultants know it. Even the control freaks know it despite being possibly uncomfortable with it. So why is collaboration often such hard work, or so difficult to get right? Well, there are a few common obstacles you’ll find in all sorts of workplaces.

graphic of a team working in collaboration Continue reading “Workplace Collaboration: A Challenge or Triumph?” →

How to Ensure Remote Working Works

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The recent flurry of articles about growing calls for a return to the office got me thinking. I’m sure some companies genuinely can’t break that habit, but I get the sense that at least some of the hype around this idea is coming from commercial landlords with space going spare and failing investments.

Not sure why it has to be an all-or-nothing sort of thing. More people are going into the office than, say, this time last year but we’re still seeing a lot of flexible working as well as a lot of people committed to keeping that flexibility. That means remote working isn’t going away – and that means you need to make extra sure it is producing the results you want or those calls to come back to the office will gain traction. And we don’t want that, do we?

So, how to ensure remote working works for you? Here are six things to keep in mind: Continue reading “How to Ensure Remote Working Works” →

The Socially Distanced Workplace

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One of the recurring themes in a lot of ‘what does the COVID-19 workplace look like’ pieces is ‘work from home, work from home, work from home.’

I work from home. I love working from home. I know lots of people who love it and lots of people who don’t like it at all. I’m also aware that lots of jobs that can’t be done entirely or even partially from home. So, let’s set aside working from home for a moment and talk about what the COVID-19 workplace looks like when it’s … well, at the workplace.

Well, it looks social distanced.

Yup, this is going to be part of the workplace workday long-term and there is no getting around it. On the assumption that we’re all operating to at least the WHO recommended standards (1 metre between people) or more (most places in the UK are working at a two-metre standard) – how do we do that?

Continue reading “The Socially Distanced Workplace” →

Remote Working: It’s Not Just Emailing from a Coffee Shop

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How hard can remote working be? Well, if you are only doing it for a few weeks, not very.

But if you are planning to make it the operational norm for your organisation – the shift from traditional ways of working to remote working can be more complicated than you think.

Mind you, this is all off the top of my head so it doesn’t actually get into the true nitty gritty. Just makes – I hope – the point – that this isn’t something that large organisations (and even most medium size operations – can simply flip a switch on and have it work straight out of the box.

Continue reading “Remote Working: It’s Not Just Emailing from a Coffee Shop” →