Remote Working has become a necessity for many organisations, as the world changes and digital trends are accelerated. For many organisations, and for records and information managers and staff, the difficulties of translating our work from the physical to the digital environment can be a challenge to overcome.

This is because an organisation may try to recreate the physical office environment in the digital space. It is a strategy that often fails, because the digital environment is better approached and managed in a distinct way. For as long as we are trying to make any digital workplace the same as a physical space, business practice and business processes are likely to continue to try to function in the old way – which is also likely to make our work more difficult when working remotely.

Distributed Working

To help to change our thinking on how to thrive in the Remote Work environment, business leaders are beginning to use the terms Distributed Working or Distributed Workforce. These terms lend our thinking to the idea that there is no central workplace or physical space for our activities, which helps us to change our way of working.

Distributed Working is characterised by having more than one office location, having employees who work from home, and/or a mobile workforce. As we adopt Remote Working out of necessity this is a model that fits well into our workplaces.

Choose Your Tools and Use Them Well

One of the foundations of Distributed Working is the tools we choose, but more importantly how we use them. Digital workplaces are enhanced and enabled by the right digital tools – rather than made more difficult – and by using those tools to their full capacity. Remote training sessions are enhanced and offer the full benefit to learners when the right tools are used well.

A choice between synchronous or asynchronous communication, documents updated and shared in real time, well managed live online meetings and training, specific structures for group sessions, and a supercharged responsive support environment, are just some of the ways that tools can be used to enable digital working and training.

Fit for Purpose

Making our digital workplaces fit for purpose makes Remote Working and online training manageable and productive, and helps to guide our work and performance in a challenging new environment.

To find out more about enabling Remote Working and training at your organisation, contact IRIS.