I read an article on LinkedIn recently, which shared a fascinating study sharing that “always on” isn’t always best - explaining that in the technology-filled world we live in, where our teams can stay in touch with us 24/7 through apps such as Slack and WhatsApp, can cause us to be less productive, and prevent us from problem-solving. As a business owner, encouraging teamwork within your company can feel like an excellent solution to encouraging employee satisfaction, but how do you help your team to continue to build relationships and finish projects, without feeling worried about being available all day?
In my own team, we use Google Hangouts to stay in touch, as well as working in the office together, which can help us to work on group projects and quickly get responses to our questions without interrupting one another if we are working on individual projects for our clients. I believe that we need the time to have solo work, as this time is important during the working day to finish our “to do” lists, but that having the ability to stay in touch with one another, whether it be about work (which most of our conversations are) or about personal life, is a key element to building rapport with one another. In an office environment, especially the ones which are open-plan, it can sometimes feel distracting to be working with others.
Whether they come up and ask questions outside of the project you are working on, or simply stopping by to chat over a cup of coffee, I can see why less work can actually get done. In our office, I share with my team when I need to have some time to get my head down and focus on a client or a task, and this is the time when they can continue to talk amongst themselves, but to use Hangouts to message me questions which I can come back on when I am back and available to assist or chat with them. In my opinion, as a business owner, I need to show the level of interaction and the expectations I have of my team by leading with my own example.
In this way, I help my team know that out of working hours messages can be sent, but are not expected to be responded to until the working day starts; I also show to them that working as a team can be extremely beneficial, and asking for help is never frowned upon, however, to ensure that the other member of the team is not working on a project that requires their full attention.
You need to make the decision on what works best for you, and then to show this to your members of your team and expect the same of them - however, do remember that you are the business owner and you may work longer hours than your employees, so don’t expect them to have the same passion and working hours as you do, unless you are very lucky!
