Chances are that your company has had to make some changes in order to continue operating during these challenging times. Some of these changes might have been things like instead of holding in person meetings you now hold video meetings or instead of using the premium paid version of a type of software you now use the free version.
Your team might be finding that the tools your business is using aren’t really cutting it for remote work or they seem outdated compared to some of the other tools you have come across lately. You might also be finding that teams within your company are congregated into their own tools and aren’t communicating with each other like they did in the office, and you have no visibility of what your company as a whole is working on. This way of working is unsustainable and can cause chaos, frustration, a lack of trust, and a lack of direction within your company.
In order to avoid this lurking disaster, efforts should be made within your company to find and implement tools that will increase collaboration and visibility throughout your entire company, bring everything into one place - notes, tasks, knowledge, and files, and allow team members to self-manage their work.
Who should find the tools?
If you are a manager, then chances are that your team members have already come across tools they would prefer to use for their work. You should first ask your team members what tools they have come across or have already tested out or use on their own. The answer could be right in front of you, all you need to do is ask!
If you are a business owner/CEO, then chances are that your managers have already pitched tools to you that they wanted for their team. Now is a great time to re-evaluate those tools and ask the other managers within your company if they would also work for their teams. You should also reach into your business owner/CEO network and ask what tools they have implemented recently, love using, or have dramatically changed the way they work.
Who should test the tools?
The team members who will be using the tools should be the ones who test them. There’s no sense in picking out a tool for someone to use and then finding out that they aren’t using it or can’t use it because it doesn’t work for them and their role! Depending on the tool and how it will be used within your company, you can go about testing a tool by having one person in a specific role test it out for the rest of the people in that role or you can have one team within the company test it out for the other teams within the company.
Who should select the tools?
In a perfect world, your team members would test tools, all of them would indicate that they love the tools and want to use them, and the tools are within your company’s budget, so it is easy for you to make the decision to move forward with the tools. We all know that’s not always the case! If you find that everything is not “perfect”, then it comes down to you as the manager or business owner/CEO to make the final decision of whether or not to move forward. Generally speaking, if a majority of testers have indicated that a tool will fit their needs and the needs of the company, then it is safe to move forward with the tool, so long as it is within your budget.
Who should implement the tools?
If the tool you select to move forward with and implement has had a champion user from the first step of finding the tool or from the test step, then that person should help to implement the tool throughout their role/team/company. This means they will have a big hand in determining how things are set up within the tool, how it gets rolled out, and how training is handled.
If the tool you select to move forward with and implement was more of a team effort in selecting, then you as the manager or business owner/CEO will take on the task of putting together a plan for implementing the tool. This could mean you are the one who sets up the tool, rolls it out, and determines how training is handled or it could mean that you delegate the set up of the tool, roll out, and training to specialists within your company.
Friyay has all the tools you need to be a connected super team
With Friyay, your entire team can manage their work and projects and keep all of the data and files associated with their work and projects in the same place. Your team can finally have a place to call home and be connected to each other. At Friyay, we use Friyay to plan our tasks for the day, put together action plans for the week, organize projects, and keep all of our documents in one place.
If you want to try out Friyay or have your team try it out, signup is free. Simply go here and create your account!