Upload
others
View
4
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
PwC Experience Consulting
Maintaining
Business
Continuity
While Working
Remotely
Introduction
Maintaining Business Continuity While Working Remotely | 1
A hybrid of remote and in-office work has become our new reality. As
video conferencing becomes commonplace, we have each found spots
in our homes and in the office with good lighting, and maybe even
upgraded the Wi-Fi to support the many virtual calls we each have with
colleagues and friends alike. Slowly but surely, new virtual tools have
become common language, and with practice, our frustrations and
impatience with these tools have started to subside.
This way of working has its own challenges. We have stepped into a
world of new stressors and pressures brought about by the onset of
virtual. Some of us are starting to experience video conference fatigue,
exhaustion, and anxiety, all mixed in with the further blur between work-
life and home-life. Aspects of our lives which use to be separate are now
taking place in the same physical space.
It is therefore more important than ever to equip ourselves with the right
skills to navigate and avoid these stressors.
Here are three easy ways for you to thrive in the virtual world of working
and forge ahead.
The Experience Centre is uniquely positioned to address challenges and
opportunities that arise in the virtual work environment. Here are three
things to consider as we continue in the virtual or remote world.
1. Be intentional in meeting one another - avoid teleconference
fatigue.
2. Be honest in understanding the complexity of the problem.
3. Digital Tools exist, use them wisely.
Our world is still uncertain, we must embrace our circumstance and
working with each other. At the Experience Centre, we can help you
navigate the virtual environment to maintain business continuity, tackle
your complex problems efficiently, and create resilience for your
organisation in the long-term.
Summary
Maintaining Business Continuity While Working Remotely | 2
More and more, remote working has taught us that setting meetings with clear intentions can help reduce
the number of calls required, improve decision making efficiency, and even eliminate the need for
physical meetings entirely. With the onset of video conference fatigue and the associated anxiety video
calls may have on participants and organisers, it is even more important to ensure that we clearly set the
intention for each of these meetings.
Priya Parker, in her book The Art of Gathering, talks about the importance of setting, agreeing, and
clarifying the “why” or purpose of meeting. A specific and clear purpose for each meeting will impact its
utility and people’s ability to “show up” to the meeting – this applies to any gathering, from work meeting
to birthday parties.
There are 5 types of generic office meetings:
Make video conferences more impactful by being more intentional about the meeting objectives
The Presentation puts maximum control of content in the hands of one person and has no
structure to include or engage others.
The Status Report is a series of presentations, putting the control of content into the hands of
one person at a time and with no structure to include/engage others.
The Managed Discussion puts control into the hands of one person to dictate the
engagement and inclusion of other participants.
The Brainstorm provides a structure to include/engage a few people in expressing their ideas
without constraints.
The Open Discussion has no control of content and no structure of inclusion.
Without clear intention, these meetings tend to lead to few achievements. Moreover, as being on a video
call requires more focus than an in-person chat (BBC article), the tendency to disengage during a ‘bad’
meeting increases.
1
Three ways to thrive in the virtual world
Here are some 7 tips to elevate ‘bad’ virtual meetings:
Maintaining Business Continuity While Working Remotely | 3
1. Prepare for the virtual meeting by taking into account the disengagement that tends to
occur in this setting.
2. Turn cameras on to build trust, and keep microphones muted. Cameras allow us see
non-verbal cues. However, do this only if necessary - in a virtual setting, processing non-
verbal cues like facial expresses consumes a lot of our energy, and therefore comes at
the expense of being able to relax into a conversation (BBC article).
3. Amplify all voices to increase engagement – Check-in with all participants with a roll call
at the start, and at closing.
4. Humanise experiences by keeping virtual meetings fun – Start with an icebreaker, or play
Video-Conference Bingo (see below).
5. Less presentation, more interaction – People tune out quickly. Get their input quickly and
often in a virtual setting, and call on peoples names to grab attention.
6. Tighter, Brighter, Better – Less is more… avoid cognitive overload. Try to think about how
much information you can unpack meaningfully in virtual meetings.
7. Mistakes are part of the learning process, so learn as you go.
Key takeaway one: Set clear intentions about meetings to combat disengagement, and use virtual tools
and functions carefully.
Conference call bingo
Hi, who just
joined?
Can you email that
to everyone?Is __ on the call?
Uh, __ you’re still
sharing…
Hey, guys, I have
to jump to another
call.
(Sound of
someone typing,
possibly with a
hammer)
(Loud, painful
echo/ feedback)
(Child or animal
noises)
Hi, can you hear
me?
No, it’s still
loading.
Next slide, please.Can everyone go
on mute?
I’m sorry; I was on
mute
(For overtalkers)
sorry, go aheadHello? Hello?
So (cuts out) I can
(unintelligible) by
(cuts out) ok?
Sorry I’m late
(insert lame
excuse)
I have a hard stop
at…
I’m sorry, you cut
out there.
Can we take this
offline?
I’ll have to get
back to you.
Can everyone see
my screen?
Sorry, I was
having connection
issues.
I think there’s a
lag.
Sorry, I didn’t
catch that. Can
you repeat?
Maintaining Business Continuity While Working Remotely | 4
Within PwC’s Experience Consulting, we have a
dedicated team of Facilitators, Solution Designers,
Visual and Graphic Media experts and Crew who
create opportunities for people to tackle some of
their most complex business problems, with
proprietary processes and in a dedicated space.
We help businesses build out their vision, strategy
and goals with the support of our subject matter
experts and data insights from around the globe.
These proven methodologies are a great means to
mitigate risk, reduce costs, speed up project
implementation and support organisational
innovation.
We call this practice “The Difference”. It is an
emergent process that allows the voices of your
organisation be heard from multiple perspectives,
formulating genuine buy-in and adoption.
Be honest in understanding the complexity of the problem
2But you don’t need all the tools all the time. Not all
problems are complex. Through an appropriate
conversation and “Discovery Day”, we can
uncover what is really needed and how much is
required to really solve a challenge properly the
first time.
Over the past few months, we have learned and
experienced how to adapt these skills and
methods of working to the virtual space. With the
right collaboration tools and skills, business
continuity and important decision making go ahead
in a remote setting.
Key takeaway two: The power of virtual work has
reduced our collective carbon footprint, it has
created areas of efficiency in decision making.
While virtual tools are readily available to most, it
is facilitation of these virtual meetings that
determine success or failure.
Maintaining Business Continuity While Working Remotely | 5
Scale of complexity of interaction when communicating virtually
Level of External
SupportAdvisor Full Execution
Passive
CommunicationCo-Creation
Scale of
Interaction
Large Scale
Broadcasts
Webcast / Email
Informal /
Small
Meeting
Phone / VC /
Meeting
Formal
Meeting /
Presentation
VC / Live Polling
/ PM software
Interactive
Co-Creation
Session
Visual
Collaboration
Software VC /
Breakout / doc
sharing
Strategic
Complex
Problem
Solving
Collaboration
The Difference
Sessions
Town Hall
Whole
Organisation
Broadcast
1:1 Meetings
Coaching
Meetings
Project Team
Update Meeting
Project Team
Discussion
Team / Project
Updates
Team / Project
Check-Ins
Client Context
Meeting
Status Updates
Project Scrums
Governance
Meetings
Presenting to
Clients
Presenting to
Teams
Discovery
Sessions
Idea Generation
Workshop
Validation
Workshop
Business
Requirements
Gathering
Workshop
User Research /
Testing
Focus Groups
Training Session
Design Workshop
High Complexity
Design Session
Crisis / Strategy
Sessions
Executive
Leadership
Alignment Session
Digital &
Organisational
Change Initiatives
Maintaining Business Continuity While Working Remotely | 6
At PwC we have invested heavily in our teams to upskill and be at the forefront of new technology. We
have seen the impact that Digital Transformations have had on our clients and businesses. The events of
the first half of 2020 have accelerated the adoption of Digital and remote work for both ourselves and
other businesses alike.
“The right tool for the right job”: Understand the digital collaboration ecosystem
Virtual collaboration and management tool landscape
3
Corporate File Sharing Web Video Conference
Visual Collaboration Corporate Social Network
GOOGLE CHAT
Team & Project
Management PlatformsDecision Meeting Workshop
Maintaining Business Continuity While Working Remotely | 7
There are many digital tools to use to achieve
your goals, each with its own purpose, and
can be used in combination with different
effects.
There are appropriate tools to support different
forms of communication. You wouldn’t send a
Gif via email, just as you probably shouldn’t
send confidential documentation through a
non-office-supported communication medium.
Outside the office setting, we lose the
opportunity to hop into a meeting room and
white-board ideas and discussions; but with
the onset and use of Visual Collaboration
tools, we have found that we are able to
achieve just that. Tools like Miro, Mural and
Google’s JamBoard allow people to draw, stick
post-it notes, and move ideas around on a
virtual whiteboard. These are helpful tools that
allow teams to collaborate on a problem and
generate many ideas together.
Key takeaway three: The virtual tools exist –
put faith into going virtual, and unlock your
ideas and embrace the untapped potential of
remote working.
Maintaining Business Continuity While Working Remotely | 8
Guy Parsonage
Partner, PwC Experience Consulting
Tel: +852 2289 1860
Email: [email protected]
The immediate future for all of us remains uncertain and confusing as
we all adapt to this new reality. There are some constants though; even
though all the technology, we should continue to form human
connections. Celebrate challenges and treat them as learning
opportunities. And perhaps most of all, be resourceful and learn the
correct skills to work around constraints.
Today, going virtual is no longer optional. We know that business
continuity and connectedness can thrive in the virtual space with the
right skills. We at the PwC Experience Centre and in Experience
Consulting have adapted quickly to understand and build expertise in
this area.
If you would like address how to approach risk and resilience your
organisation, how to understand your potential future customer, tackle
your organisational digital transformation, or better understand how to
most effectively upskill your employees, or if you just want to have a
better online virtual meeting experience, reach out to us… Let’s have a
conversation.
Learn the skills of virtual - Let’s do this!
Contact us
Conclusion
pwc.com
© 2020 PwC. All rights reserved. “PwC” refers to the network of member firms of
PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited (PwCIL), or, as the context requires, individual member
firms of the PwC network. Each member firm is a separate legal entity and does not act as agent of
PwCIL or any other member firm. PwCIL does not provide any services to clients. PwCIL is not
responsible or liable for the acts or omissions of any of its member firms nor can it control the exercise
of their professional judgment or bind them in any way. No member firm is responsible or liable for the
acts or omissions of any other member firm nor can it control the exercise of another member firm’s
professional judgment or bind another member firm or PwCIL in any way.