As we are all painfully aware, it’s now nearly a year since the pandemic struck and we have all experienced various lock-downs, restrictions and changes in routines. And many businesses have had a tough time. How have Proudhouse coped? And what lessons can be learned for a small business? Chris Chambers, co-owner comments below:

The Team

I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to create a team spirit. Long before covid came along, we had already achieved this. But how? Firstly, your team members need their sense of identity created for them. All staff should have their job description defined, their photo on the website, their signature block on their email, their own PC, desk etc. Then create collaborative workspaces that integrate those individuals together – that could be as simple as a WhatsApp group but other systems, CRM software, database management software, etc that staff have access to, contribute to and interface with. I created our own CRM system and my golden rule is that if/when any member of staff is away/sick/holiday etc then their absence should have zero impact on other members of staff’s ability to carry on where the absent member left off. This means a culture of logging activity, collaborative notes, and all adhering to common standards and routine procedures.

Standards and routine

As soon as there is more than 1 person working in business, you risk creating different standards! This is not good for customer service! Customers expect the same standard, timescales and routines – this applies for parity between different customers, but also creating known expectations for a customer returning for repeat business. The solution: You need to write out your procedures book! Break it down into workflow chunks and create a sequence of simple procedures/routines – for example, the first routine in our e-book starts with a basic overview of how staff are to unlock and open the building each day, all the way through to how to do viewings, or managing rent arrears etc. The emphasis of these documents is to describe what we’re trying to achieve – and not a stifling prescriptive set of instructions – after all, I also want free thinking staff who can use their initiative.

Delegate Decision Making

As a business owner, there is nothing that saps energy and motivation more than having all decisions deferred back to you! Trust your staff – give them decision making powers. They are closest to the work! They will be frustrated if they can’t proceed whilst awaiting a decision. And if they make a wrong decision… ok it happens. But it won’t be that often.

Covid Ready

With the above aspects already sorted then, actually, responding to the requirements of Covid has just been a simple technical challenge. Our phones are VOIP phones and can be plugged in at home; VPN connections enabled staff to work from home after setting up some basic IT/Network changes; our banking and accounting was cloud based anyway. And the dreaded Zoom meetings enabled a once-a-week staff update.

I’ve not seen my staff for weeks! I check the IT workflow and CRM systems and see that everything is progressing as normal. I don’t micro-manage the staff – instead, I audit their work and make comparisons against the routines and performance standards that we’ve set. That’s good enough for me. And the staff get to manage their own routines around home-schooling, walks and exercise etc. It’s a win-win.

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Legal Disclaimer. This content is not intended to be legal advice or an official source of information. Landlords and/or agents should seek official advice from a relevant professional or official organisation in order to assist them to satisfy their legal obligations.

Copyright and plagiarism. The content in this blog article is original material authored by Chris Chambers. Downloading and printing for personal use is permitted. Reproduction in a public forum, e.g. on a website or a link on a social media, must include suitable references and identify Chris Chambers of Proudhouse Property Management as the author.