If I Only Had the Time.
Recently, like many organizations, the staff of a small company was asked to begin working from home. They had never tried working from home before because there was never any reason to do so. The company was not set up for this type of work arrangement which meant, in this case, there was no remote access, the staff did not have laptops and some didn’t have computers at home. The result was that the staff didn’t know what to do since they couldn’t complete their normal tasks, yet they were still being paid.
Don’t fret! There are a number of meaningful tasks that can be completed during this time that will be beneficial, and practical, for the individuals and the organization. I have used the following quote from Albert Einstein several times over the last week, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
And your opportunity lies in completing this sentence “If I only had the time to________________.”
To what? We have all voiced this same thought while at work. Now is the time to identify some of those tasks that can fill that blank.
“If I only had the time to ___________________.”
Learn more about social media platforms, how they work and how I can leverage those platforms to gain new customers.
Produce a list of frequently asked questions from our customers or clients and post it to our website.
Develop a process for onboarding clients. Create a package of materials and information for the new client and document what is included in that package to ensure that all new clients have a consistent experience with the company. Don’t forget to include the new FAQ for clients!
Complete a thorough, and comprehensive, review of our website to determine accuracy of information, copyright information, names and contact information. Also check for the usefulness of the site – do the images all look correct? Do all of the links work? What is the website missing? What needs to be updated?
Create a new marketing campaign to attract new customers for the product line. Research the idea of expanding the sales territory, if appropriate. What would be the plan of action if we decided to do that?
Establish a strategic plan that will help the company focus on a vision with specific strategic goals and initiatives to get us there.
Document a list of frequently asked questions from the staff about process, responsibilities, clients and products or services.
Create a remote work policy – now is the best time to do this. Ask the staff, today, to start capturing lessons learned while working from home. What worked well? What did not work well? What would they need to help the transition be more seamless? What do they need to be productive? What has been the impact to our customers, production, shipping and sales?
Capture all of the frequently asked questions from our vendors. Include this in the vendor package of materials for new vendors.
Establish communication protocols for staff. For instance, do we want to develop guidelines for email footers, out-of-office messages and voicemail messages? This will promote consistency in communications from the company.
Review and update the roles and responsibilities document for the company. We may have added roles, changed titles or moved around responsibilities.
Listen to our company voicemail and update the messages appropriately.
Develop a consistent process for onboarding new staff. Include existing staff members in the onboarding process by asking for volunteers to provide an overview of their roles and responsibilities within the organization. Get the entire organization involved with the new hire process. This will help the new staff member feel more welcome and can be effective for a successful onboarding experience.
Document all of the tasks that are required when someone leaves the company. Prepare a checklist to reclaim the security badge, laptop, parking pass etc. Also include the internal tasks such as forwarding all emails to the manager, removing their name from contact lists and email directories and forwarding their phone calls to a colleague.
Create a list of all of the acronyms used internally so that everyone will have the same understanding of the acronyms and definitions. Idea: Do the same thing for the customers, clients and vendors.
Review the employee manual for any updates or revisions that may need to be incorporated into the document. After finalizing send it to the staff for review.
Update the travel policies and process for requesting travel to clients, conferences or symposiums.
Complete a competitive analysis on other companies that sell the same or similar, product or service. Create a document with the name of the company, the website URL, the name of the product, features etc. Have a column for Pros and Cons of the competitive product/service vs. our product/service.
Review the sales data to gain a better understanding of our customers, what they buy, why they buy from us, what they like, what they don’t like, what they return, where they are located, how they found us etc. Use this data analysis to hear what the voice of the customer is telling us and leverage that information to build a more effective marketing campaign for our company, products and services. By the way, is the customer feedback mechanism working (e.g. email, contact us, voicemail)?
Create a proposal library that can be used to help generate new proposals for bid situations. There are a lot of bid proposals but they may differ in similar ways (e.g. MA vs. NY vs. CT). Establish a folder for bid proposals with sub-folders that differentiate those major criteria. Then house samples of those various proposals in those sub-folders.
Revisit any existing contracts that are coming up for renewal to confirm that the terms and services associated with the contract are still valid.
Craft a succession plan for the organization – who could fill which roles if someone was to leave the organization voluntarily, or not? Or during an emergency? Does everyone have the resources that they need in order to step into those roles if/when needed? Review the roles and responsibilities document with the team.
Document business processes including how to get the product to market – development, testing and quality control, marketing, manufacturing, warehousing and shipping. Draw out the process as a visual image to help the staff understand how the company gets the product to the marketplace.
Assess any quality issues on the part of the product/service and determine how best to address those issues and improve quality for the customer.
Establish a presentation library that can be used as a source for the next presentation. As an example, I created a Master Presentation that has dozens of slides that I have created over the years. I keep the Master Presentation updated and when I have a presentation request, this is my source file to establish that new, custom, presentation for the group or organization. It saves a lot of time.
Determine if the feedback mechanism is working for staff – are they sharing their ideas, concerns and other feedback?
Review the internal process for complaints submitted by customers. Are we consistent in how complaints are handled? Is the company providing the same quality of care to all products, all customers, at all times? Is there a documented process, and timeline, for addressing complaints? Does everyone in the company know what the process is?
Establish a consistent training program for all incoming staff. For instance, all sales staff will need to be trained to use these tools, processes and resources (e.g. A, B, C). Whereas all customer service staff will need to be trained to use these tools, processes and resources (E.g. X, Y, Z).
I would be remiss if I did not mention that all organizations should have a basic project process that will provide a clear and definitive path between your new idea and the project activities required to bring that idea to fruition. Map it out. Draw it out. Identify the information that you need up front. Or check out this project process map and get a jump start!
Take a moment to remember all of the times you may have thought “If I only had the time to _________________.”
Now is the time to fill in that blank. What else did you think of while reviewing this list?
You have a lot to do. You better get going!