Tag: soletrader

Laptop with flowers

12 ways to increase profit margins (and thrive in business)

Posted on | by Jade Donno

Your profit margin is how much money you actually get to walk away with after a transaction is complete (revenue – costs = profit). It makes sense then, that businesses who want to grow, focus on increasing this margin. The bigger the margin you have, the more you will thrive and be able to power through challenges like the economic climate that we find ourselves in today.

So how do you do it? How do you increase your profit and master your margins?

  1. Identify what is not working – before you can fix something, you need to know what’s broken. Take an objective look at your business and your processes and identify the gaps.
  2. Streamline your processes – the faster you can provide a service, the faster you can generate revenue and increase your profit margin. Where can you speed up your processes to trim costs without impacting quality? I.e using cloud accounting software.
  3. Discover any areas where there is waste – where does your business spend money? Are you losing money through inefficiency or waste? Can you reduce your expenses?
  4. Market those higher-end services – what services sell best and deliver the highest profit? Prioritise these in your marketing and focus your efforts on pushing these more.
  5. Aim for incremental growth – try not to get ahead of yourself. Set yourself small goals and you’ll find that you’ll make consistent, and more importantly, sustainable progress.
  6. Focus on building your team – a happy, motivated, and productive team, one that supports your growth goals, can make a world of difference to your profit margin.
  7. Be innovative in your strategy – if the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s how to strategically innovate our service. What are you not offering your target audience that they really need? What can you replace in the service that you’re offering now?
  8. Cross-promote to increase your credibility – if you get a good response from running webinars or writing content, think about ways you can cross-promote with someone influential in certain topics. Not only does this increase your credibility, but it capitalises on the other person’s time, money, and resources too.
  9. Identify other pillars for revenue – is there a service that brings in the majority of your revenue? If there is, try to see what other areas you can focus on to build another revenue-generating pillar. You don’t want your strategy to be dependent on a single pillar (what if that pillar fell down?). Your aim should be to strengthen another area or two and this will increase your margin too.
  10. Create a loyalty programme with your clients – your clients know, like, and trust you, and they are your best advocates. They are your free sales team, so help them spend more with you and tell others about your services. How can you create a loyalty programme to reward them?
  11. Raise your fees – if you haven’t had a rate increase recently, you have an easy way of increasing your profit! Just make sure to approach this right, conveying your increase in value rather than your profit margin.
  12. Outsource certain tasks – a great way of increasing your profit margin is to outsource some lower-value tasks to freelancers or contracted workers. You can use them only when demand is high or part-time.
Alarm clock

How to be productive when you feel restless or run down

Posted on | by Jade Donno

The changes and stresses caused by the pandemic are taking their toll on all of us. It’s been almost a year now of being stuck indoors, working from home, juggling priorities, and potentially having to home school the children at the same time. I don’t know about you, but is it any wonder that we feel tired and run down?

This ‘new normal’ has a lot of us feeling run down, but at the same time, restless. It’s a horrible combination and it’s affecting our productivity. To help you get back some control and normalcy in your life, here is a quick guide.

Identify if your body needs a reset

Yes, sometimes, we can all procrastinate; we can all feel a bit fed up and tired every now and then. This is normal. What isn’t normal, is if you’re feeling this way every day. If you’re feeling any or all of the following as soon as you wake up and throughout the day, every day of the week, these are signs that your body is run down and in need of a reset:

  • Your energy is low
  • You’re not eating very well or healthily
  • You’re having digestion issues
  • You’ve got cravings (typically for high-sugar snacks)
  • You’re moody, anxious or irritable (more than normal for you)
  • You’re not happy with your weight
  • You feel like you need to make a change

How to reset your body so that you can be productive again

Make time for self-care – this should be your absolute priority when you feel run down, exhausted or restless. It may be really difficult to prioritise yourself when you feel so overwhelmed, but be tough with yourself and do it anyway. Without properly managing your physical and mental health, you simply can’t perform at your best. Get more sleep, exercise more, eat healthier, and dedicate some time to activities that ground you (e.g. meditation, journaling, meal planning etc).

Shift your mindset – productivity should be any ‘task’ that requires your time, energy, and attention. This includes any ‘chores’ that need to be done in the house and even exercise. Schedule these into your day and you’ll find that you’ll feel much better and more accomplished when you come to the end of them.

Prioritise and time-manage – first, start a time diary to figure out where your time is actually being spent. Do this for a week and it will help you be more mindful about how you spend your time. Once you have done this, you can establish an ideal schedule for yourself. Maybe you work best early in the morning, so start early and finish early. Once you have a schedule, prioritise your tasks. What are the tasks that are urgent AND important? What tasks will give you the most bang for your buck? Do these first.

Focus and take regular breaks – sitting down and focusing for long periods of time are not good for us. After all, our concentration is limited! To stay productive, try to use focus periods. Try the Pomodoro Technique where you work for 25-minute blocks followed by a 5-minute break. This will help you maximise your focus time and will force you to take repeated breaks. This technique is a good one for when you feel run down or tired as 20-25 minute blocks are easier to tackle than thinking you have the whole day to get through!

Avoid distractions and things that deplete your energy – distractions kill our productivity. It’s true – every distraction (no matter how small), causes us to spend the next 20 minutes trying to get back into the task we were doing in the first place. Turn off your phone notifications while you work and create an office space at home that is away from family members so that you can focus. It’s also a good idea to identify what drains your energy. Maybe it’s scrolling on social media or listening to friends rant about their situation or all the negativity that’s on the news. Whatever it is, avoid it so that you can use what little energy you do have on what matters.

Engage with people and get help if you need it – even if your team is working virtually right now, engage with them. Tell them that you’re struggling and converse with them. Conversations can boost mood and productivity so try to socialise even if you don’t feel like it. Sometimes, just sharing your worries or hearing that others feel the same is enough for you to feel better, but if it’s not, consider seeking further help. Whether it’s a business coach or a therapist, they can help you develop a plan and take back control again.

Don’t be too hard on yourself

We have all gone through or are going through this, as we speak. It’s a difficult time and a truly unique time, so don’t be too hard on yourself. If you’re feeling restless and run down and worried about work and your productivity, the first thing you need to do is take care of yourself and talk to someone. This is the most important thing to do. The rest comes later. Only when you feel better can you start to work better, so prioritise you.

VAT reverse charge

What is the VAT reverse charge?

Posted on | by Jade Donno

From the 1st March, the VAT reverse charge scheme now applies to construction. If you work in the construction industry and are VAT registered, this applies to you, your suppliers and your customers.

If you are not VAT registered or do not work in the construction sector you can ignore this blog but feel free to share with someone that you know who is. 

This new scheme has been brought in to reduce VAT fraud in the construction sector. For businesses which fall under this scheme, it will mean significant changes for how you charge and recover VAT.

Click here for the published guidance that has been released by HMRC so far.  

Build UK have also prepared a guide which includes a checklist to assist with the changes. Click here to view the checklist. 

It is also useful to look at and understand the published guidance on the CIS scheme itself which can be found at www.gov.uk/government/publications/construction-industry-scheme-cis-340

But let’s start with WHO this scheme DOESN’T apply to: 

  • When you are not VAT registered as a business
  • You are not in the construction industry
  • If you are VAT registered and supplying:
  1. A non-VAT registered customer
  2. The ‘end users’, i.e. a VAT registered customer who is not intending to make further on-going supplies of construction
  3. Intermediary suppliers who are connected, e.g. a landlord and his tenant or 2 companies in the same group.

Now let’s look at WHO this scheme DOES apply to – and ALL the conditions need to be met: 

  • Where the customer and supplier are both registered for CIS
  • The customer and supplier are not connected
  • The customer is intending to make an ongoing supply of construction services to another party
  • Standard or reduced rate VAT applies to the services or product being supplied
  • The supplier AND customer are both VAT registered.

It’s probably easier to consider different scenarios and what would happen under both the old and new schemes:

Scenario 1:  

Simon the plumber, who is VAT registered, supplies the materials and labour to plumb a new house for Mr Developer (also VAT registered). Mr Developer (also VAT registered) then sells the house to Mrs End User.

Under the old scheme:

Simon would have invoiced Mr Developer £10,000 + VAT, i.e. £12,000

Simon would have accounted for the £2000 of VAT he owes HMRC on his system

Mr Developer would have paid Simon £12,000.

Mr Developer would have accounted for the £2000 of VAT he can possibly reclaim against VAT he owes HMRC.

Under the new scheme:

Simon invoices Mr Contractor £10,000, and marks his invoice as “the CIS reverse charge applies and the applicable rate is 20%”.

Mr Contractor now pays Simon £10,000. But then accounts for £2000 of VAT (i.e. the VAT on Simon’s invoice) that he owes HMRC on his accounting system.

Scenario 2: 

Simon the plumber, who is VAT registered, supplies the materials and labour to plumb a bathroom for Mrs End User.

As Mrs End User is the End User, and a customer who is not VAT registered, Simon under both the new and old scheme, invoices her for £10,000 + VAT, i.e. £12,000.

Simon accounts for the £2000 of VAT he now owes HMRC.

Scenario 3: 

Simon the plumber, who is VAT registered, supplies the materials and labour to plumb a house for Mr Builder. Mr Builder is NOT VAT registered.

As Mr Builder, is a customer who is not VAT registered, Simon under both the new and old scheme, invoices him for £10,000 + VAT, i.e. £12,000.

Simon accounts for the £2000 of VAT he now owes HMRC.

What you need to do now: 

If you are VAT registered, inform all your VAT registered subcontractors that from 1st March 2021:

  • you will no longer accept invoices with VAT paid on it
  • Their invoices which contain products or services which VAT needs to be paid on are clearly marked as ‘the CIS reverse charge applies’ and the VAT rate which needs to be applied to the items.

If you are regularly buying materials which have VAT added, you may like to consider moving to do a monthly VAT return. This will allow you to quickly reclaim any VAT which is owed to you. With the introduction of the reverse charge scheme in construction, most VAT registered construction businesses who do a large proportion of their work as a contractor rather than direct to the end user, would be better off by doing a monthly VAT return

DO YOU USE XERO? 

The guys and girls at Xero have been working hard to deal with this for you and here is a link to how to set up VAT Reverse charge on your Xero software

Click here for instructions on how to set up your Xero 

See video below for more instructions on how to set up your Xero

Alarm clock and eye mask

How to combat Zoom Fatigue!

Posted on | by Jade Donno

Out of all the ‘new things’ that the Coronavirus pandemic has brought about (social distancing, lockdowns, and global remote working to name but a few), Zoom Fatigue has to be among one of the most frustrating effects. If you’re finding video calls exhausting and you’re barely managing to finish your day, you may be experiencing Zoom Fatigue. Here is what it is and how to overcome it.

What is Zoom Fatigue?

In short: ‘exhaustion caused by constant video calls.’ Although it’s not really an official diagnosis, psychologists have said that Zoom Fatigue is a real condition and that it is becoming increasingly prevalent in the era of remote working.

Why does it happen?

So what is it about video calls (whether on Zoom, Google or Skype etc) that makes us so tired?

Like most conditions, it comes down to a combination of factors:

  • Video calls require more mental processing than face-to-face interactions.
  • They force us to focus more intently on conversations in order to absorb information.
  • Our brains have to work harder to process many of the non-verbal cues that we rely on in-person (body language, tone etc).
  • Millisecond delays in audio can negatively affect our interpersonal perceptions.
  • Staring at a screen and trying to hold direct eye-contact for minutes at a time without any visual or mental break is tiring.
  • Seeing our own reflection makes us hyper-aware of our appearance and body language.
  • Many people use this time to multitask or they get distracted by other tabs on their screen.
  • Many of us are under additional stresses due to the pandemic (e.g. financial, health and/or family pressures) so we are already operating on our energy reserves.

How can I overcome it?

While you may be working from home and are having to participate in a lot of video calls (and there’s no avoiding this), there are a few things that you can do so that they aren’t as taxing. Here are a few things that you can try:

  1. Stop multitasking – trying to do something else at the same time as a video call (like checking your email) will only increase your fatigue, so avoid multitasking!
  2. Take breaks – you need screen-free time during the day so make sure to take breaks between meetings. If you can get outside, even better.
  3. Reduce on-screen stimuli – hide ‘self-view’ so that you’re not distracted by yourself on camera. Also close all other tabs, social media sites and your inbox.
  4. Make meetings shorter – if you really have to have a meeting, it doesn’t always have to be a long one. Try scheduling shorter time slots and make 30 minutes the default.
  5. Switch to phone calls or email – be honest with the person and say that you need a break from video calls, so would they mind a phone call instead. You might find they need the break too.
  6. Make virtual social events opt-in – while you may be organising virtual social events to bring your virtual team closer, always make them opt-in so that people who want to join can, but they are not obligated to.
  7. Set your own boundaries – start saying no to video calls that aren’t valuable. If someone wants a video call with you, give them other options to choose from.
  8. Schedule in ‘no meeting’ time blocks – your calendar can easily become overwhelmed with video calls, so block out some screen-free time to prevent this.
  9. Use technology to your advantage – we have so many ways to communicate, can you use What’s App or Loom to send a recorded/audio message instead of having a meeting?
  10. Practice mindfulness – breathing exercises, yoga or meditation can help you re-energise a little. Take a break throughout the day to find what works for you.

Don’t overexert yourself

Video calls can be really draining so don’t let them take over your day. Start by setting your own boundaries, prioritising yourself and how you wish to communicate, and schedule in screen-free time to recharge.

Everyone is trying to work at their best from home during such a difficult time, so if this means postponing a few video calls for your health, then do it!

money

10 ways to improve your business cash flow

Posted on | by Jade Donno

For a business to grow sustainably (and to successfully make it through the financial bumps in the road), cash flow needs to be a priority. And not just when times are tough and cash is tight. Making sure that you’re maintaining an optimal level of cash on hand at all times; this is essential to success.

So how do you do this? To improve your cash flow in the immediate but also for the long-term, here are 10 essentials.

Know your break-even figure

You need to know what number you need to reach each month to cover all of your outgoings. Once you know this, you can make better spending decisions and keep your cash flow at its optimal level.

Create a budget and stick to it 

While profit is important, you also need to focus on spending. Create a budget to ensure that you’re making more on each sale than you’re spending – this can help you be more mindful about where your money is going and it can help you make impactful changes.

Build a cash reserve

Set aside any excess money you make every month into a business savings account. Financial experts recommend keeping 3-6 months’ operating expenses in a cash reserve, but you can decide how much you want to keep available.

Automate your bookkeeping 

Using software such as Xero and QuickBooks can help you improve your cash flow. You can send out invoices immediately, get your clients to pay via Direct Debit, reconcile payments easily, and generate reports with a click of a button.

Offer discounts for early payments

If you have certain clients who pay late and miss payments, offer them a 2-5% discount if they pay early. Not only does this incentivise them to pay, but it also ensures that you don’t suffer from dips in your cash flow too. Win-win.

Negotiate extended payment deadlines with vendors 

It’s good to set up extended payment deadlines in the event that you can’t pay what you owe vendors right away. For example, you could negotiate a 60-day turnaround for all payments or include a clause in the agreement that allows later payments a certain number of times in the year. While it may not be needed, it is good to be prepared in case you ever need to use this option.

Consider financing (when it makes sense)

Your focus should be building up a cash reserve for emergency situations like the Coronavirus crisis. This means that, in a situation where you have unexpected expenses or you need a large sum, you should consider short- or long-term financing options instead.

Consider leasing supplies, equipment, and real estate instead of buying

While leasing may end up being more expensive than buying in the long run, choosing to lease supplies, equipment, and real estate for a certain amount of time will help you to maintain a steady cash stream for day-to-day operations.

Seek advice from an accountant 

The best way to improve your cash flow is to seek expert advice. Whether it’s getting an accountant to advise you on spending and saving or hiring them to completely manage your financial matters, they will help you make the right financial decisions. After all, you have to spend money to make money!

Improve your inventory

What is your inventory turnover? Surprisingly, there could be a lot of cash tied up in your inventory so check your inventory regularly. Are you buying too much? If so, sell it at a discount and start buying less of it. This is something that your accountant can help you figure out.

While it’s obviously very important to improve your cash flow right now (thanks Coronavirus), it is also essential for your business to have a healthy cash flow all year round. Keeping a robust cash flow takes vigilance, but it will help protect your business during turbulent times, not to mention, it will also help you sleep soundly.

arrow to title

How do I land the right clients for my business?

Posted on | by Jade Donno

While sometimes it’s necessary to take on clients at a lower price than we want – especially when we are building a portfolio – it is not a strategy that will help us grow our business in the long term. What will help us grow the business that we want and in the direction that we want, is to win the right types of clients at the right price. Clients who value our service and will pay what it is worth.

Are you struggling to land clients at the right price? Chances are, it might be something that you are doing (or not doing), so here is how to rectify that.

Dos

If you’re not currently doing the following during your sales process, start implementing these now.

  • Do – make it easy for the prospect to book a call

This is such a simple thing to do, yet it has a massive negative impact on your ability to win more clients if you don’t. Make it easy for your prospects to book a call with you and they will.

  • Do – understand the emotional drivers of the prospect at the start of the fact-find

95% of our purchase decision-making takes place subconsciously, so by identifying what the emotional drivers are for your prospect, the better you can empathise with them and position your firm as their solution.

  • Do – set up a follow-up meeting

You don’t want to leave your prospect wondering if they’ll hear from you. Email them letting them know what they need to do and when they need to respond by if they want to proceed, or the next action if not.

  • Do – sign them up and onboard them (or put them back into the sales funnel)

Many accountants don’t put unconverted leads back in their sales funnel and that is a big mistake. We need to nurture leads into customers over time, and these are contacts who are interested and see the value of your service! You need to stay in front of these warm leads until they are ready to buy.

Don’ts

If you’re currently doing the following during your sales process, stop it!

  • Don’t – skip the pre-qualification meeting

The aim of the pre-qualification meeting is to fully vet the opportunity and make sure that it ticks all of your boxes. Don’t be tempted to skip it! Get the prospect to fill out a questionnaire and charge for an initial meeting. This will help you to determine fit and to evaluate whether there is a real opportunity.

  • Don’t – do the new business meeting if the prospect hasn’t sent you the information you need

You can’t show the prospect that you fully understand their needs and challenges if they haven’t sent you the information you need, so don’t go ahead with the meeting. You need this information to convert them, so don’t waste everyone’s time if you don’t have it.

  • Don’t – take too long to get a quote to the client

If you take too long to get a quote to the client, you run the risk of losing them altogether. Don’t do this. Avoid frustrating the prospect by providing them with a quote swiftly after you have buttered them up.

  • Don’t – use the proposal document as options to the client

The client wants to move forward at this stage, so don’t confuse them or set them back in the process. They should have already met with you and discussed all potential solutions, so the proposal document is where you’re pitching the final idea.

Get paid what you are worth

Growing a practice sustainably isn’t just about winning more clients. It’s about winning good clients; the types of clients that you love to work with and who see the value from your service and are more than willing to pay you for it. To start landing clients at the right price, make sure that you start doing the Dos and avoiding the Don’ts above.

goals + Habits = success

Goals + habits = SUCCESS

Posted on | by Jade Donno

Two sports teams both have the goal to win the game at hand, but only one can. This shows that just having a goal doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to achieve it. To win or achieve your goal, you need to have the right positive habits day in and day out. In the case of the sports team, it’s the one that trains regularly, eats healthy every day, and has the right mindset to keep going when times are tough.

To help you understand why many of us don’t achieve the goals that we set out to, this article explains why daily habits are the key to getting us to where we want to be.

Goals are great for short term accountability…

Have you hit a weight loss goal but then gained that weight back on not long after? Have you resolved to quit something or to start something only to revert back after a few weeks? Have you ever trained to run a marathon but then never run much after that?

If you can relate to one of the questions above, it’s probably due to one of these 5 reasons:

  1. Goals are temporary – they are great for an initial push but people tend to revert to habits.
  2. Goals can negatively affect motivation – if you don’t reach them within a specific timeframe, they can make you feel bad.
  3. Goals limit you – not many people surpass their goal as they are satisfied once they’ve hit it.
  4. Goals demand discipline – discipline can be hard to maintain over a long period, so when people lose it, they tend to give up all together.
  5. Goals can be unrealistic – if the initial goal is unrealistic, this can lead to a loss of motivation and negatively affect performance.

While goals are great for short term accountability and for that initial push to improve performance, on their own, they don’t help you to sustain this performance.

…habits are what help us sustain performance in the long term

Just like the long-term success of a sports team, it’s having the right habits that is key; having the right habits to support their goals.

When it comes to business, if you want to grow sustainably, you need the right mindset and the right habits to sustain your performance over time. So how do you do this?

  1. You need to set your goals – when setting both personal and professional goals, don’t forget to use SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound).
  2. You need to shift your mindset – know your ‘why’ for setting this goal/s and think of this goal as a marathon and not a sprint. You won’t achieve it overnight so be okay with doing a little each day.
  3. You need to develop the right daily habits – split your one big goal into short term goals (e.g. monthly and weekly goals) and focus on hitting these. Plan these activities into your schedule and link them with existing habits already as this will make it much easier for you to get them done.

Start achieving what you set out to

If you set yourself goals AND put in place the necessary habits you will need to achieve them (just focusing on getting a little done each day), soon these will build and you’ll see your business moving forward.

Remember the sports team. You might win one game or hit your goal once, but the key to long-term success is having the right mindset and daily habits.

Spinning top and planet

How to pivot your business so that you stay in business

Posted on | by Jade Donno

As we keep plunging deeper into a global recession, it can be tempting to panic and dither with decisions, but that’s not going to help. In fact, it’s the businesses which move quickly that will survive and thrive during this time.

So how can you be one of those businesses? One that actually grows during a recession?

In short, you have to adapt (and make quick decisions!). Here is how to pivot your business to make sure you stay in business.

A 7-step guide to pivot your business

Get into the right mindset for decision-making

You won’t make good decisions for the future of your business if you are in a scared, stressed or anxious state. Take time out, prioritise self-care and deep thinking time, and you’ll make far more creative decisions for it.

Think about what you can change for the good

You may need to adapt your business to survive, so think about what you can change to become relevant. Can you change your product or service? Can you change your intended marketplace for your product or service? Can you change how you deliver your product or service?

Do your research

The answers are out there, so do your research. Ask and listen to your clients – what are they telling you they need? From your own experience, what is your business or friends and family wanting or needing to buy and why? How are habits and hobbies changing as people stay home more? What is social media telling you that people are doing or thinking about?

Conduct a STEEPLED analysis to look ahead

Try to think about what this ‘new normal’ will look like. Use the STEEPLED analysis and think about what each factor will mean for you and your business (e.g. follow each example with a ‘so what’ for your business):

S – Social – e.g. more people are staying/working at home.

T – Technology – e.g. more older generations are adopting technology to stay in touch.

E – Environment – e.g. people can see it recovering.

E – Ethics – e.g. can’t be seen to be profiteering.

P – Political – e.g. will this change Brexit, Tory government etc?

L – Legal and regulatory – e.g. how will rules, protocols change?

E – Economic – e.g. what happens with a recession?

D – Demographic – e.g. higher than the average death rate.

Evaluate your potential options

Once you have done your research about the current market and you’re in the right mindset to adapt your business, you now need to evaluate your options. For each option, think about:

  • How connected is it to your ‘why’ or ‘purpose?’
  • How easy is it to implement?
  • What will change or stay the same?
  • If you chose to move forward with this, what would you and your business have to do?

Conduct a risk analysis

Once you have chosen what option you are pursuing, conduct a risk analysis:

  • Consider some ‘what if’ scenarios – e.g. what if schools close again and people have to work and provide childcare?
  • Review your risks – e.g. operational, reputational, project delivery, political, environmental, financial etc.
  • Rank these risks – are they high, medium or low risk?
  • Review their impact – what would be the impact on the business if this risk happened?
  • Outline your red lines – which risks can you accept or avoid? Which risks need to be managed?

Put together your business plan

Last but not least, if you’re going to pivot your business towards success, you need to have a plan. So what is your “to-be?” What are your new goals and achievements? Once you have these, you need to outline:

  • How you will measure your progress.
  • How much investment you will need.
  • Who you will need to support you with this.
  • Who in your current circle of people is critical or now not needed.
  • Your first steps to making this happen.

Don’t wait any longer, act now.

You need to decide now, what you want to happen with your business. The longer you leave it to make a decision with what to do with your business, the more chance you won’t have a business going forward.

As we said previously, it’s the businesses who make good and quick decisions who will survive and even grow during the recession. Be one of those.

laptop with title on

How to prepare your virtual teams for the long haul

Posted on | by Jade Donno

The pandemic may have forced hundreds of businesses to convert from co-located teams to 100% virtual teams in a matter of days, but that was just temporary, right? That’s what many of us thought. For a while there, it was just about getting through the next couple of weeks and then months, but now, another lockdown is here and it’s time to face reality. It looks like working as a virtual team is for the foreseeable future, and again, we are without a playbook for when things will return to normal.

So how do we do it? How do we accept the new reality and start preparing our virtual teams for the long haul?

Step 1: Identify the most critical team problems

At first many people were working remotely for the first time, and in a time of crisis. Most businesses focussed on “making do” until they could return to normal, but to prepare for the long haul, you need to review any issues you have and identify necessary changes.

What poses immediate, serious threats to team survival? Are the team’s objectives still relevant or at odds with reality? Is your team culture and cohesion as strong as it should be? Are team members struggling due to a lack of psychological safety?

Step 2: Address these issues

To ensure that your team members are working as productively as they do in the office and in line with the current reality, you need to immediately address the issues that you identify in step 1.

For example, if the biggest issue is that your team’s objectives or work are no longer relevant to the current reality, re-prioritise their work to something that matches the new overall goal of the business. If it’s cohesion that’s a problem, try mixing personal chat threads with business ones and run a quarterly non-work-related workshop where everyone can bond on a deeper level.

Step 3: Focus on long-term care

Step 3 is the most important step in preparing your virtual team for the long haul, as without it, issues will just arise again as people start to struggle. As we said previously, people are trying to work through this crisis so you need to focus on their long term care. You need to be thinking about how you can keep them healthy and avoid these relapses.

A few ways that you can switch on your long-term care mode is to:

  • Always give clear and concise goals and work briefs.
  • Help team members know their role within the team and how this relates to the overall business goal.
  • Foster psychological safety.
  • Hold regular one-on-ones with team members to make sure they are healthy and to prevent burning them out.
  • Communicate as much as possible and make sure that each individual knows what is expected of them.

Think ongoing attention and preventative care

To prepare your virtual teams for the long haul, you need to regularly check-in on the health of your team members. If you do this, then you can identify any issues or symptoms of a struggle early; both of which will help you to give them the attention and care that they need to prevent these from escalating into bigger issues down the line.

It really is that simple: identify issues, address these issues, and make a routine to provide the support needed to prevent these issues from arising again.

How to recharge your batteries

How to recharge your batteries

Posted on | by Jade Donno

Whether a post-lunch slump or screen fatigue, we have all experienced an energy drop during our working day.  For a quick recharge, try some of these tips to increase your energy levels without that caffeine fix!

Tip 1 – Keep Hydrated

Dehydration is the most common cause of fatigue and when working on an all-engrossing piece of work, we can often forget to keep our fluid levels topped up.  When experiencing fatigue, drink a small glass of water and take a glass (or refillable bottle) back to your work area to keep you topped up for the rest of the day.

Tip 2 – Make a playlist

Whilst many have a playlist to help them with exercise, we don’t do the same for working.  Create a playlist that you find energising for those times you need a boast and consider a playlist as background to help maintain energy levels whilst you work.

Tip 3 – A breath of fresh air

Whether a short walk or more rigorous exercise, even 10 minutes outside and away from your desk will help restore energy levels.  If possible, being outside in a green space is even more beneficial.

Tip 4 – Change your focus

If you are finding a task draining then temporarily swap to a task that gives you energy.  Alternatively, rethink how you are tackling the task, is there another way that you would find less draining?

Tip 5 – Try a brainteaser

Sudoku, brainteasers, quick quizzes, crosswords, dingbats; the options are endless.  If you are someone who enjoys a puzzle then taking a short break to indulge in this hobby is likely to recharge your batteries and enable you to return to that task with renewed vigour.

Tip 6 – Talk to someone

Having a call or video call with someone who has a positive outlook can help boost your own energy levels as well as ensuring you keep in touch with those that matter.

Tip 7 – Give yourself a reward

If you have a task that does not allow you to try any of the above techniques (due to tight timelines) then give yourself a reward for completing it.  From taking the rest of the day to do a task you enjoy or even taking some time for yourself to that cupboard treat you have been resisting all week, a reward can renew energy through the added motivation it gives.

Additional Tip – Being mindful of your energy levels and the energy needed for particular tasks

Understanding your own body clock and those times of the day where your energy is at its highest and when it drops and tackling tasks that suit those energy levels will help reduce mild fatigue that is often experienced.