Improve productivity, value from your home

There’s been a lot of talk about how the coronavirus pandemic will affect the physical workplace. Will people whohave been working from home continue to do so? How will the configuration of space change to reflect a new or hybrid way of working? What type of safety precautions will remain in place for years into the future?

At the same time, the pandemic has also forced employers to reevaluate their people and their skills. Management is recognizing the qualities that have made team members exceptional contributors during the pandemic — traits that will likely be valuable in the pandemic’s aftermath.

Here are the characteristics that we’re hearing employers value more than ever. They will be seeking these qualities when they recruit. And they will be training employees to enhance these traits and skills going forward. If you’re an employee, use the list as a checklist to determine where you can improve upon your weaknesses or show evidence of your strengths.

Integrity. Employees must be completely trustworthy. With many people working from home full-time or part-time, management is not around to observe little details. We must trust team members to have the integrity to get their jobs done well, adhere to timelines, and confess their mistakes or other failings. (It goes both ways — employers need to provide an environment that is open to employees learning from their errors.) Even everyday acts like tracking time when working remotely require integrity.

Personal productivity. Self-motivated, self-directed people will be more important than ever as direct supervision will likely be reduced. Are they good at staying focused and overcoming distractions? (Some work-from-home environments will have more distractions, some fewer.) Productivity also involves thinking a step ahead rather than waiting for someone to give them direction. Employers will focus on this quality during interviews and reference checks.

Self-awareness. Employees must be aware of when they need help and be confident to voice their needs. They need to know their weaknesses and look to other team members or ask for guidance rather than plowing ahead and hoping for the best. Self-awareness is the yin to the personal productivity yang. Self-motivation only works when someone doesn’t try to exceed their abilities or operate independently from the team.

Professional written communication skills. Writing skills will often make or break remote employees. If emails and texts — the most common forms of workplace communication — are not clear and concise, misinterpretation and wasted time will follow. Some people undercommunicate, which could be interpreted as being cold or unfeeling. And some people overcommunicate, which frustrates those who must wade through 30 sentences when the message could have been said in one or two.

Digital aptitude. The ability

and willingness to embrace videoconferencing, collaboration tools and project management platforms has never been more important. Even if we return to offices full-time or part-time, many of these systems are here to stay. Employees who can use them to improve workflow and teamwork will be valued over those who cannot.

Flexibility. Many people have become accustomed to working from home or at different times during the day. The classic 9-5 workday is probably a thing of the past for office workers. Service jobs may have variable time demands. Manufacturing and assembly jobs are expecting more employees to be crosstrained to fill in for absent workers. That means everyone will need to be flexible to accommodate the diverse schedules and availability of teammates, clients and external resources. Someone who can go with the flowandadapt to fluid situations will be more successful than someone who cannot.

Of course, it’s not as if these qualities were unimportant before the pandemic. But the pandemic has triggered a shift from a centralized, structured, highly managed workplace to a decentralized, fluid, self-managed environment where the above-mentioned skills will be prized and even more integral to personal and team success.