Implementing changes as part of New Work in sales and service departments

Everybody is talking about New Work these days, but how do managers deal with it best? How can the everyday working life be organized more flexibly for employees, yet efficiently at the same time? New Work describes the transformation of paid work which is characterized by a high degree of digitalization of working tools, interconnectedness of people, as well as flexibilization of job locations, working hours and contents.

In the following, we present steps as to how sales and service departments can best get accustomed to the New Normal and the New Work situation.

What do we recommend?

Covid-19 has brought with it a variety of changes in sales and service departments. By now, new habits and processes have become commonplace among employees and business partners. In a first step, we recommend reflecting on these changes. What has changed for your organization? What progress and setbacks have occured? How do you evaluate the changes with regard to the future? As every enterprise draws its own lesson, it is important to be even more aware of the process-related and organisational changes.

Next, an analysis of the changes in the market environment is to be conducted. Have your clients, business partners or competitors changed or is there a new best practice in the interactions among the stakeholders? In addition, evaluate which chances and risks result for your company!

The first two steps serve as a basis for the stage of conceptualising New Work in your sales and service departments. The concept should include, in particular, questions about flexible work in terms of time and location, agility in organisations, leadership and sensemaking in everyday working life. Please consider, however, that particularly temporal and local flexibilisation is not viable in all departments of a company.

• Which reforms should be kept and which changes should better be reversed?
• In which departments can local and temporal flexibilisation be implemented as best as possible? What prerequisites are to be considered?
• Which organisational as well as governance structures need to be created?
• Which corporate structures need to be adapted to establish New Work models?
• Does the management successfully practise New Work in the sense of trust in employees and transfer of personal responsibility?

The insights and objectives are then to be translated into a roadmap based on your concept. Define clear tasks and responsibilities. Furthermore, you need to provide resources (e.g. employees, budget, facilities, IT infrastructure) to put into place the best possible working conditions. Ensure a transparent procedure in any case including open communication on all levels to successfully implement the transition to New Work. At the end of the day, the goal is that everyone experiences the change as something positive and that opportunities are exploited to the fullest and pursued in a sustainable way.

Conclusion

Every change brings about uncertainty and an “out-of-the-comfort zone”-momentum, for employees as well as managers. In these times of pandemic-induced upheaval and digital transformation, take advantage of the possibilities of using chances in the market in a way that is beneficial and profitable for your company! Understand New Work as a process entailing a redesign with a permanent cultural change and constant reflection significantly increasing the meaningfulness of your work and the positive attitude towards your company as well as the commitment of your employees.