Lifeflow is a working culture we employ at Aprimo, a system of creation and development that represents a pretty big change from how many companies were working just a few weeks ago. Lifeflow centers the people at your company, leaning on powerful remote work and agile technologies to loosen the mental and physical strains of 9-to-5 drudgery on knowledge workers so they can do their very best work on every single project.
But as businesses all over the world find themselves adapting to pandemic-influenced demands for employee and workflow flexibility, Lifeflow offers solid guidelines for any company hoping to adapt to a quickly shifting business environment. In Lifeflow, a robust, technologically equipped infrastructure gives companies a way of working that minimizes the effect of disruptive forces that push more rigidly structured businesses to their limits.
Process Makes Perfect
In the previous blog in this series, we laid out areas that teams need to master so Lifeflow can work to its fullest potential. It has a few requirements that teams need to commit to:
- Clearly communicated expectations: Your team needs to know what’s expected of them. How are meetings scheduled? When are the “can’t miss” meetings? Who needs to know when you’re out of reach? Be transparent about expectations and communicate them clearly.
- Personal discipline: Trust your teams to do what must be done to the best of their abilities, whatever their process looks like. But the process actually has to happen! Discipline is required for all work to be completed but working from home on a flexible schedule means being very self-disciplined.
- Cloud-based applications: Lifeflow needs certain applications to keep teams connected, to smooth communications, and to manage projects. Understand what your team needs and ensure the capabilities you deploy meet every one of those needs.
But maybe the most important piece of an effective Lifeflow strategy is having well-defined processes and work methodology. Right now, our entire industry (and much of the world) is in a turn, or a time of unusually high uncertainty. To weather a storm of this magnitude, businesses need to establish consistent work processes supported by powerful work management capabilities that empower their marketing teams to do their best work from wherever they are.
As a leading Gartner analyst put it this way recently in a LinkedIn post:
Parents accustomed to homeschooling are better prepared to maintain education standards and activities at home. Companies that have a full or partial remote workforce and use virtual meeting software… are fairing better than those trying to figure it out now. Marketers who have in-house agencies with work [management] systems can quickly adapt to changing customer needs and priorities… they have visibility into the work and can effectively engage resources to solve problems and innovate.
Infrastructure is the long and short of it. If your team has embraced more agile work methodologies supported by a flexible core of work management capabilities, you’ll be better prepared for the turns of tomorrow.
Replan, Remix, Respond
Lifeflow is a people-focused endeavor, a philosophy designed to take the drudgery out of working life and refocus work on team member happiness and satisfaction—and the productivity that comes from that. One of the best business “side effects” of Lifeflow? Your team is suddenly capable of weathering almost any change in work life.
Work management solutions—essential to Lifeflow—enable you to replan, remix, and respond to disruptions in your marketing plans. AI-powered workflows can be enriched on the fly as marketing resource wax and wane, with complete transparency, allowing you to make sure that your precious resources are always being used to their fullest.
At the end of the day, what you gain is the data and insights to inspire confidence in decisions and accurately lead your team.
Conclusion
Sounds simple, we know. But continuity during turns like the one the whole world is weathering right now is possible. Because Lifeflow is people-focused, productive working from home, successful teams distributed across the globe, and being able to adapt in-flight projects to changing market conditions are all a part of everyday life.
Adapting to a new normal takes time and patience, no matter the tools you have at your disposal. Making your marketing team people-centric means leading with empathy, transparent communication, and understanding.
How is your team coping with sudden industry changes? Are you using Agile methods to adapt to changing times? Let me know on social by tagging me in your post (@edbreault) or send me a message directly.