How have you kept up the team spirit during lockdown? Here’s our story in numbers!
How has your company kept going during lockdown? How has work been? How have your team handled doing business online every day week after week? Have you kept that human interaction going?
Here at Purple Lime we’re very used to working remotely – the big change was doing it every day for everyone.
Here’s how we’ve done it.
Working with clients
During lockdown we have secured Covid related loans for 4 of our clients and guided others with their loan applications.
We’ve held 57 Zoom calls with clients, and we are very happy and grateful to have taken on 17 new clients during this time.
Our accreditation with Xero has gone from Silver Partners to Gold Champion Partners.
Now those are figures to be proud of.
The dynamics of our virtual team
During this time, we’ve had 2 new members join the team – and we’ve had to get to know them virtually. We’ve also had 1 member of the team who has decided to retire. There is no doubt this ‘pause’ has made some people consider major life changes.
To keep in touch as a team socially, we’ve had 9 virtual quizzes, which have been great fun. These have been a relaxed way to keep in touch as a team, and interact with the people we normally see day to day, which of course hasn’t been possible during lockdown.
We’ve also had 31 team Zoom calls. These were work related which kept us up to date with what was happening in the company and discussing updates from the government. We also could not put a number on the calls we’ve done between individual members around client work which didn’t require the whole team. We estimate around 100 such calls.
They helped to ensure that everyone knew where they were in terms of project timelines. Also, if anyone had any issues about work, they could be sorted out.
Talking regularly helped to encourage everyone to keep on task and to have the opportunities to creatively bounce off each other’s ideas, as we would have normally done face to face in the office. However, in the office these things happen in a more organic way – online you have to make them happen. It requires more proactivity.
Interviews
During lockdown we’ve also interviewed 9 people for one position within Purple Lime.
Preparation is key for online interviewing, and possibly more so than face to face interviewing. Treat the interview the same as a face to face interview. Here are a few tips we’ve learnt along the way:
- Get dressed as you would normally for business, not in your more comfortable home attire.
- Pay attention to what is behind you.
- Ensure you have peace and quiet, and don’t get interruptions (this includes having mobile phones on silent mode).
- Take longer than you might normally to put the interviewee at ease.
- Notice how well the interviewee listens, and how they respond to your questions. Do they answer in the way that you would want if you were in the same room? Do their answers give you confidence?
- If the person you are interviewing is going to be working from home for the near future, check that their work- space looks appropriate. Ask them to show or tell you about their working space.
- Try to remember to look directly at the camera, so the person at the other end thinks you are looking at them.
- Always allow extra time and make sure you have phone numbers in case the tech fails.
We realise that we are incredibly lucky to have been able to work throughout lockdown and achieve success in the business. Many SMEs have been hit hard and the nature of their business has been such that their income has either dried up or been hit significantly. We are happy to offer advice and support to any business owner who feels that a more dynamic approach to business finance is key to the new ‘future’ of their business.