There is a lot of conversation about how large organizations can manage better when it comes to working from home.
There are also a bunch of tools for startups to navigate working remotely. However, there is not enough talk about how organizations with around 50 people can manage in the age of COVID-19. Organizations such as our’s — ArabEasy — are stuck in the middle — not small enough to manage ad hoc, and not fully established in our systems and processes to work remotely.
The following are the steps we have taken to make the most of the current situation:
Management: Every single person was concerned about business continuity, their teams, their futures, families, vendors, clients … the list goes on. Some of these senior people have 10-20 years of experience and transitioning to a startup was a risk they may have taken knowingly but nobody can factor in a pandemic. Two things were extremely important — being transparent about the firm’s financial situation and assuring them that the organization’s expenses would be managed. The second and more critical task
was to align everyone with our priorities.
Teams: Everyone is on social media, so obviously everyone shared concerns about their future and the future of ArabEasy. HoDs took it upon themselves to make sure their teams were physically and mentally in a good place. This sounds a lot easier than it was. Our colleagues at ArabEasy come not just from different parts of the country but also from across countries to be in this office. Some of them needed to go back home, others had to make sure they would not run out of food and basic needs during the lockdown. Everyone helped each other out ... it was brilliant!
HIGHLIGHT
At the core of successfully managing remotely is our philosophy of tracking performance. We have always believed in measuring outcomes, and not tracking activity.
Vendors: Our business depends on our service providers. One of the top things on my list was to ensure that our vendors got paid for all their services rendered so far. In addition, we are trying to accelerate payment cycles to make sure they are not strapped for cash in these tough times.
Clients: With all other stakeholders taken care of, we finally reached out to our clients — mentioned to them the steps we had taken on mitigating COVID-19, such as working from home, and how we had ensured business continuity.
Tracking performance: At the core of successfully managing remotely is our philosophy of tracking performance. We have always believed in measuring outcomes, and not tracking activity.
While we have biometric access for security, we have never calculated how many hours people spend on their jobs. During the lockdown, several colleagues suggested that we ask teams to be visible on Zoom/Google Hangout from start to end of the work day, while others proposed having people punch-in on Zoho or on WhatsApp. Doing any of these felt like going against our core philosophy of ownership, responsibility, and trusting our colleagues to be honest.
Motivation: Most people think it is easy to get distracted when one is at home. We think the opposite! It is not easy being at home for several weeks and feeling sane. We have encouraged people to do whatever makes it easier for them to cope with this situation. They know what they are supposed to do and we trust them to do it.
Check-ins, lots of them: This has been the single greatest tax that working from home has had on our teams, particularly the management. Pretty much all senior people are spending most of the first half of their day in meetings sharing their priorities with peers.
