A better working remote team.
I help leaders of small, remote companies create healthier digital work environments for more productive teams.
Who is this for?
Are things not getting done when they should?
Are tasks taking longer or projects falling behind without a clear reason why?
Is the quality of your team's work declining?
Are you seeing more errors and missteps that end up creating additional work?
Are team members burning out or leaving?
Having trouble retaining staff, even your most dedicated team members?
If so, then you're in the right place.
The support you need to improve your team's productivity.
Digital technology enables your work, but digital stress makes it harder.
The communication and productivity tools that remote teams rely on can also create digital stress - emotional, mental, and physical strain from using digital technology.
When people feel:
Overloaded trying to keep up with the volume / pace of work and interruptions
Exhausted by feeling the need to be constantly connected and available
Overwhelmed by having to learn and switch between multiple, complex systems
Those are signs of digital stress, which research has shown has a negative impact on mental health and job performance.
If you’re having productivity issues with your team - who are already in the right roles, are well-trained, and have the resources they need - there’s a good chance that digital stress is to blame. And without a deliberate strategy to prevent and reduce it, digital stress will continue to get in the way of your team’s productivity.
Deliberate Work Design helps leaders of remote companies improve team productivity by minimizing digital stress.
Don't let digital stress hold your team back.
There are 3 ways that digital stress blocks productivity.
1) Information Overload
Dealing with too many things coming from too many places and trying to stay on top of it all.
- A constant stream of information from multiple channels (email, instant messaging, phone, system notifications, etc.) leads to more work, with unnecessary urgency and frequent interruptions.
- Team members end up working harder, faster, and longer as they try to process, prioritize, and follow-up on all of the information received.
- Tasks take longer, the frequency of errors grows, and the risk of burnout increases.
2) Constant Connectivity
The ability to work anywhere leading to exhaustion trying to be available everywhere.
Feeling the need to frequently check for and rapidly respond to incoming information leads to distraction and multi-tasking.
Having the means and ability to do a task fuels a sense of obligation to go ahead and do it, even outside of working hours.
Boundaries between work and home become blurred, as team members struggle to truly disconnect from work.
3) System Shortcomings
Overly complex, unhelpful, or unreliable systems causing frustration and lost or wasted time.
Remote teams must rely on multiple information and productivity systems to do their work.
When they are difficult to use, don’t meet the needs of the team, or don’t work as expected these systems can become a frustrating distraction and eat up precious time.
Leaders may be tempted to treat a system shortcoming by changing to a new tool, but tech transitions create their own digital stress and often the system alone is not the problem.
Digital stress is not just a tech problem or personal issue.
Individual solutions and shiny new tools alone won't fix it.
When leaders become aware that something in the digital work environment is impacting performance, they usually try to fix it in one of two ways:
- Individual solutions (e.g. if you're feeling stressed by email, don't check it outside of work hours)
- Shiny new tools (e.g. our team isn't using this system well, maybe we should try a new one)
But those are both reactive approaches that:
- First allow an issue to develop and become so bad that something has to be done.
- Don't address the leadership or cultural factors that contribute to digital stress.
- May end up causing more digital stress by putting your team through unnecessary tech implementations or leaving individuals to struggle on their own.
Unblocking your team's productivity from digital stress requires a deliberate strategy for aligning your leadership, culture, and technology to create a healthier digital work environment.
De-stress your digital work environment.
Take charge of your digital work environment.
Many leaders take a passive or reactive approach.
Acquiring some tools that essentially do what you need them to, giving the team access, and assuming they’ll figure it out. Waiting until a problem develops and gets so bad that they have to do something. Taking surface level actions that don’t address the core problem or end up making it worse.
I'll help you develop a deliberate strategy to prevent and reduce the digital stress that's blocking your remote team's productivity.
Empower your team.
In a remote setting, the nature of work is complex and unpredictable. And as a leader, you have less direct knowledge of and control over what your team is doing and experiencing.
This means that your team members have to be more responsible, self-directed, and capable of problem-solving. Which can be difficult when digital stress is impacting their mental health and job performance.
We'll empower your team to better handle these challenges and counteract digital stress.
Rewire your culture.
Humans are wired for social connection and collaboration. That's why individual solutions fail to eliminate digital stress. Because it's hard to go against the group.
So fighting digital stress has to be a group effort.
We'll engage your team every step of the way, so that minimizing digital stress as a way of supporting productivity becomes a key part of your culture.
Adapt digital tools to your team and business.
The needs of your team and business should drive the tools in your tech stack and how you use them.
Not the other way around.
We'll adapt existing, and if needed, new tools to align with your strategy for a healthier digital work environment.
The Process
Three steps to transform your digital work environment for a more productive team.
Step 1
Digital Stress Test
Comprehensive review of your digital work environment, what’s working well, and any digital stressors getting in the way.
The result is a custom strategy & roadmap to improve your team’s productivity by minimizing digital stress.
Step 2
System Reset
Transformation starts with a reset of the way you and your team engage with your digital work environment, developing a shared mindset, and a process for change.
Through training and workshops, we’ll begin rewiring your culture and testing small, but impactful changes.
Step 3
Upgrade Sprints
Through a series of 2-4 week sprints (recommended in the roadmap), we’ll work together to identify and implement practical solutions to specific issues in your digital work environment blocking your team’s productivity.
Sprints may be spread out over up to a year.
Remote company leader having team productivity issues?
Book your free 30-min support session below ⬇️
If you read (or skimmed) above, you know that I think digital stress often holds teams back. But that’s not always the case. Either way, let’s talk about it.
