Teamwork is more valuable than ever

The experience of the past several months has driven home the value of a great team.

COVID-19 knocked us all out of our routines: We’re working from home and wrestling with new technologies, and many of us are also juggling parenting responsibilities without school or extracurricular activities to keep our kids occupied. Logistically, teamwork is now the only way to get work done.

The new reality may demand new models for working together. For our part, we’re building on the team-based editorial model we’ve always used—for example, assigning two senior editors where we’d normally assign one, so one person can keep things moving if the other gets called away unexpectedly.

Job-sharing can be especially tricky when people work remotely. In our experience, doing it right takes:

• Attentive planning: What are the client’s needs, what discrete tasks do we have to complete to meet them, and who is going to field each one? How will we cover needs we can’t anticipate?

• Constant communication: The information in one person’s head has to be shared with the other person in real time.

• Deep trust: Each person has to know they can count on the other to do good work, on time—no exceptions.

This kind of teamwork delivers emotional benefits, too: We feel connected even when we can’t be together physically.

Reach out if you want to share your thoughts about delegating, sharing responsibilities or keeping teams connected during this strange time. We’re always up for a good collaboration.