Navigating the Pandemic: 5 Ways to Work Effectively Amidst the Coronavirus Outbreak
With the current environment and the threat of Coronavirus
Disease 2019 (COVID-19) spreading among teams working in close quarters,
companies should be taking precautions to protect their proposal team members. Where
possible, organizations should seriously consider the benefits of encouraging
virtual proposal teams, which will limit the risk of widespread illness among
the team. When working closely in a war room environment, when one person gets
sick, the entire team tends to get sick. However, there are instances where
teams might have to be in person (e.g., Classified responses). When this is the
case, leadership should take extra precautions and follow World Health
Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidance for promoting good hygiene, encouraging
sick team members to stay home, keeping surfaces clean, and limiting travel to
the extent possible.
PROMOTE GOOD HYGIENE
If in-person work is required for your proposal effort, CDC guidance
recommends that leadership actively promote frequent and thorough hand washing.
The CDC indicates that it can also be helpful to provide team members with
alcohol-based hand rubs containing at least 60% alcohol. Leadership should also
encourage respiratory etiquette, including covering coughs and sneezes. Organizations
should provide plenty of tissues and trash cans; sick employees should be
encouraged to cover their noses and mouths with a tissue when coughing or
sneezing (or an elbow or shoulder if no tissue is available). Further, to the
extent practical, leadership should discourage the team from using other team
members’ phones, desks, offices, or other equipment.
ENCOURAGE SICK TEAM MEMBERS TO STAY HOME
Though you should always encourage your team to stay home
when sick, the current pandemic threat makes this even more important. To
prevent the spread of infection, if possible, provide opportunities for sick
individuals to take time off without negative repercussion and/or to work
remotely, if desired. The CDC also recommends sending home any employees who
appear to have acute respiratory illness symptoms (i.e. cough and/or shortness
of breath).
KEEP SURFACES CLEAN
When in-person work is required, the CDC and OSHA recommend
that you routinely clean all frequently touched surfaces in the workplace, such
as workstations, counter tops, and doorknobs. Use the cleaning agents that are
usually used in these areas and follow the directions on the label. Provide
disposable wipes so that commonly used surfaces—e.g., doorknobs, keyboards,
remote controls, desks—can be wiped down by the team before each use.
You should also maintain regular housekeeping practices,
including routine cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces and equipment. When
choosing cleaning products, the CDC and OSHA recommend Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA)-approved disinfectant labels with claims against emerging viral
pathogens. Products with EPA-approved emerging viral pathogens claims are
expected to be effective against SARS-CoV-2 based on data for harder to kill
viruses.
LIMIT TRAVEL WHEN POSSIBLE AND FOLLOW RECOMMENDED TRAVEL GUIDANCE
With travel guidance changing daily, and more and more
instances of travelers spreading the virus, you should try to limit proposal
team travel as much as possible. In fact, more and more we’re seeing the
Government and many large organizations putting such limitations on travel in
the interest of employee public safety. If travel is deemed necessary for one
of your proposal efforts, check the following websites for up-to-date travel
guidance:
- CDC travel warnings: http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019‑ncov/travelers
- U.S. Department of State (DOS) travel advisories: http://www.travel.state.gov
- World Heath Organization: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
The CDC recommends advising employees to check themselves
for symptoms of acute respiratory illness before starting travel and to notify
their supervisors and stay home if they show any symptoms of being sick. Ensure
that employees who become sick while traveling immediately notify their
supervisors and promptly call a healthcare provider for advice.
USE VIRTUAL PROPOSAL TEAMS WHERE POSSIBLE
In their online guidance, the CDC and OSHA encourage company
leadership to explore whether they can establish policies and practices such as
telecommuting and flexible work hours to increase the physical distance among team
members and other employees. With the current environment and the threat of
COVID-19 spreading among teams working in close quarters, companies should seriously
consider the benefits of encouraging virtual proposal teams. This will limit
the risk of widespread illness among the team. When working closely in a war
room environment, we all know that typically when one person gets sick, the
entire team tends to get sick.
However, managing virtual teams requires some extra
diligence to ensure success. For the best results, you should leverage
collaboration software, train teams on tools and expectations, establish a
regular communications cadence, and encourage cross reading.
Leverage Collaboration Software
When working with virtual teams, it’s critical to leverage
collaboration software and tools, including collaboration portals, telephone
and/or video conferencing, and chat applications.
Collaboration Portal:
You’ll want to establish a repository for files and data that organizes and
secures data to replicate the tools and controls provided by a centrally
located team. Companies are increasingly turning to applications such as
SharePoint, Privia, Virtual Proposal Center (VPC), and even JIRA to facilitate
management of the large volume of files and data. The collaboration portal is
used for writer collaboration, color reviews, and final production. These
collaborative software applications also include features for version control. Since
team members post files from remote locations, you should be sure to establish
and clearly name file libraries, directories, and security profiles early in
the proposal process.
Telephone and/or
Video Conferencing: Teleconferences and/or video conferences are also
important in virtual proposals since they help bring the team together. To make
sure these tools are used effectively, you should establish teleconferencing
and video conferencing protocols and ensure that all proposal team members
understand related expectations.
Chat Applications:
Chat applications are a great way to help dispersed team members collaborate
quickly and effectively. Ensuring that all team members actively log into and
use the company’s preferred chat application can help facilitate more frequent
and effective collaboration among the team.
Train the Team on Collaboration Tools and Expectations
Having the right tools is the first step in helping your
virtual teams to succeed; however, virtual proposal development will only work
if the team members understand how to operate in the virtual environment. Team
members must be trained on the use of collaborative software, coordination
expectations, and proposal procedures before the team begins using the system.
This is essential to maintaining configuration control while providing an
environment conducive to collaboration. Even if team members claim to have used
the collaboration tools before, it is helpful to provide refresher training to
go over key processes and features.
Establish a Regular Cadence
Stand-up calls become even more critical when managing a
virtual proposal team. Make sure to pick a time that is convenient for all
participants, keeping in mind any impacts varied time zones will have. Keep the
stand-ups short, focusing on any capture updates, upcoming milestones,
outstanding action items, brief section statuses, and any author roadblocks.
Make sure authors are uploading their drafts to the
collaborative site nightly so you can check on the progress and make sure the
development is on track with your established schedule. If you notice any
issues with content or rate of progress, you can reach out to authors to help
them address the problems before they negatively impact a color team review, or
worse, final production.
Encourage Cross Reading
A common problem with virtual teams is that it becomes so
easy for authors to avoid communicating. This leads to sections that are
developed in silos, which can result in inconsistencies across the proposal
sections. I always encourage cross-reading with my proposal teams, but when my
teams are virtual, I usually include formal cross-reading assignments that
occur in conjunction with the Pink Team and Red Team reviews. This pushes
authors to identify areas where their sections are inconsistent with other
sections and collaborate with each other to drive updates to the Style Guide
and/or Wall of Truth.
Final Thoughts
With the current environment and the threat of COVID-19
spreading among teams working in close quarters, companies should be taking
precautions to protect their teams. When possible, leadership should seriously
consider the benefits of encouraging virtual proposal teams. However, in
instances where teams might have to be in person (e.g., Classified responses),
leadership should take extra precautions and follow WHO, CDC, and OSHA guidance
for promoting good hygiene, encouraging sick team members to stay home, keeping
surfaces clean, and limiting travel to the extent possible.
Written by Ashley Kayes, CP APMP
Senior Proposal Consultant, AOC Key Solutions, Inc. (KSI)
LinkedIn
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