Here is Imprint’s…what is yours?
So many businesses — large and small — have had to migrate to a work from home (WFH) situation.
And it’s a journey! Bumps, laughs, mistakes, frustration—and, through it all, a lot of great work for our clients. Here’s my take on Imprint’s journey to date. I want to know what yours has been—I’m hoping you’ll share! (See how, below.)
Imprint’s Journey
We officially went to WFH status on March 12. While we made a “dry run” a few weeks earlier, we still had to deal with the reality of a new situation. It was a new experience for all of us—that meant lots of confusion and anxiety in an already anxious time.
Week one: Being remote is new, but we fundamentally know how to work this way. We’re getting into the groove of our daily 8:45 a.m. team video check-in, and half the guys are starting to grow facial hair. By week’s end kids and pets in the background are no longer the least bit distracting. The team is settling in.
Week two: Too many video calls! If we don’t have the commuting time, why are we working longer hours? Am I really needed for all these calls and meetings? Internal swirling ensues.
Week three: We establish “rules” for the length of meeting times, and further refine how our remote communications work. We’re enjoying our daily quiz game competition and hold our weekly Thirsty Thursday happy hour via video. We settle in, once again.
Week four: We might have fine-tuned our internal work process, but clients haven’t hit their strides yet. Alert: Clients swirling! Most are much bigger organizations than Imprint, and they’re understandably having trouble communicating with all their team members. We scramble to help them put the pieces together. By Friday, calmer waters prevail.
Week five: We’ve launched seven key initiatives since going to WFH, and we’re making significant progress on all. Some focus on improving our internal work flow. But most important, we’ve started to meet with clients and present our thinking on content their customers need when they reach the “recovery” phase. This means creating journey maps for key audience segments and mapping out the information and education they might need over the coming months.
Where will weeks six and beyond take us? That we’ll discover together. But what we do know is that it’s all about journey maps. What’s yours?
Email me your sketch, drawing or photo at aseibert@imprintcontent.com.
