We have been hosting a Senior Digital Leader Roundtable every Thursday, co-hosted by Laurence Parkes of Rufus Leonard. We wanted to share some insights that have been shared and developed in the meetings, and get an idea of what companies have been doing in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak:
Work From Home Motivation
- Need a combination of routine (e.g. separate room for work) and surprise to keep things fresh.
- Need a good IM (e.g. whatsapp, slack) for the watercooler conversations
- Need to check in with individuals one-to-one
- Entertaining, personal activities like “Through the Keyhole”
- Join a meeting 10 mins before the time to have impromptu chats
- Permission to change the initially set levels of comms – otherwise the cacophony of chat is draining.
- Permission to turn off comms channels to get deep work done (or have a break).
Rebuilding pipeline
- Segment you current clients and prospects and focus on the ones that are least impacted by the crisis
- Frame your solutions around quick wins and short-term fixes (e.g. content newsroom on a weekly retainer)
- Arrange meet-ups with clients or experts and share the content from them to add value
- Be creatively opportunistic and accept payment I kind (e.g. no rent in return for squarespace sites for landlord)
- Think strategically as the world will be different coming out of this – different category opportunities, etc.
Cost management
- Tiered salary reductions (e.g. 20% for board, 10% over £40k and voluntary below)
- Effort to keep people sane during Furlough: encourage volunteering, changes of contract to allow them to work elsewhere, learning plans
- Did consultation for 6 people in under a week and can un-furlough in 3 week’s time
- Broadly, there is no right answer for all agencies – horses for courses.
Have you implemented anyting unique to deal with the crisis? Tell us on our dedicated Slack channel! Email anthony@bima.co.uk for more info
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Leadership
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