How to Manage Business Processes Remotely During Post Pandemic

It’s been two years of fighting the COVID-19 virus, and we can finally say that we’re almost done with it. Systematic vaccinations and nationwide quarantine measures helped countries worldwide manage the pandemic, and now we have to think about what happens next. One of the main concerns is, of course, how to manage business processes more efficiently. Additionally, you will want to improve how you lead your team successfully in post-pandemic times. 

The thing is that many people want to remain working at the home office when the pandemic is over – 78% of respondents confirm that. Meanwhile, there will be a part of your workforce that will want to return back to the office. So, how can you manage business processes when a part of your team works remotely and another part comes to the office daily?

How to Manage Business Processes Post-Pandemic with Kanban

We’ve looked into the issue from the point of view of the Kanban management method and put together three effective tips. Let’s take a closer look at them. 

1. Establish the System of Milestones to Improve Workflow

First and foremost, to make the transition to the post-pandemic workflow smooth, you will have to invest in remote-friendly tools if you haven’t already. From Kanban’s standpoint, such tools can help you break down all the activities into trackable milestones. 

However, when establishing the system of milestones, it is crucial to remain reasonable when dividing tasks among your teams. Here, the Kanban methodology offers you a so-called WIP approach which describes the work-in-progress limit and offers to divide all tasks into three stages:

• To do – the tasks that you yet have to start
• In progress – the tasks your team is currently tackling
• Done – tasks that have been completed

How can remote-friendly tools help here?

They help you visualize this WIP system, see who is responsible for a particular task, and set realistic deadlines based on how difficult the activity is. You will especially enjoy this system to manage business processes if your team has to deal with an increased number of requests different in size and priority. With such an agile approach in place, you will have no problem establishing the right order of daily tasks for your team. 

2. Help Your Workers Adapt their Skills

There is a big chance that some of your team members joined your company during the pandemic and have been working remotely since. However, now they have to face the new reality of the hybrid workflow, which they might find difficult to handle if they don’t have the right skills. 

If this is the case, you can also apply the Kanban method to help your workers manage business processes better. This methodology bets on visualization, helping you grasp and memorize new information faster. For instance, you can teach your teams English for business communication by visualizing different business situations and how to handle them. You can even encourage your team members to reenact these situations. This way, you visualize and practice the skill at the same time. 

Speaking about visualization, it is also a good idea to do the same with the corporate policies to help the teams transition from the fully remote to the hybrid work mode. This will also help the newcomers adjust to the work environment faster in the future. 

3. Implement a Solid Feedback System

Finally, to help your team function better and optimize all business processes, you need to integrate feedback loops. 

In Kanban terminology, feedback loops involve a set of methods to improve the team’s productivity. The goal is to boost personal work performance, team dynamics or focus on improving a certain business process that lacks progress. 

Implementing feedback loops is a big process, so let’s focus on its main essentials. According to the Kanban methodology, the overview of all feedback needs to go through three main stages (cadences):

• How to get things done
• How to get things done better
• How to do things right

Based on these loops, you can establish the right project management system that will help your team manage business processes more effectively and easily transition from a fully remote to a hybrid workflow. These loops also help you understand which meetings to schedule in order to generate the right feedback. The Kanban methodology singles out seven types of such meetings:

• Standup meetings (15 minutes daily)
• Replenishment meetings (30 minutes weekly)
• Service delivery reviews (30 minutes every two weeks)
• Risk reviews (1-2 hours monthly)
• Delivery planning (1-2 hours once in a deliver cadence)
• Operations overview (2 hours monthly)
• Strategy review (4-5 hours quarterly)

If you want to learn more about each meeting type, you can read our guide on feedback loops. 

Wrapping Up

So, how can Kanban help you manage your team and business processes remotely in post-pandemic times?

First and foremost, it can help you approach your workflow in a reasonable manner and prioritize the tasks. Apart from that, it can help you visualize all the processes and let your team learn more effectively. 

However, the best part is that the Kanban methodology gives new opportunities to handle feedback better. As a result, your team will be more productive and motivated to reach new heights.

This was a guest blog. Please review our guest blog disclaimer.