COVID-19: 9 productivity hacks to help you and your wedding venue team work effectively remotely

In an industry centred around first impressions and showrounds, working from home is likely to be a big change for all wedding venue teams. Bridebook have put together 9 productivity hacks to help you and your team tackle remote working as effectively as possible – you might even find yourself still using these when things go back to normal!

1. Communication is Key

Regular and consistent communication is essential to maintaining effective remote working as a team, and it doesn’t need to be any more difficult now you’re not sharing an office. Ideally bookend the day with a structured team catchup and then communicate updates more informally in between. These are our top tools for communicating online:

Slack 

• A messaging and desktop app which makes team communication easy;
• Create channels and topics to organise the conversations and facilitate both key discussions and informal chats.
• Download Slack here

Zoom

• Video conferencing tool easy to use with teams of all sizes;
• Makes meetings more accessible – only one person needs to download it, everyone else can jump in from their phone, desktop or tablet;
• Screen sharing allows for collaboration during meetings.
• Signup for Zoom here

Google Hangouts Meet 

• Another easy to use tool for video meetings, ideal for smaller teams;
• Just set up a meeting in your calendar and share a link.
• Get started with Google Hangouts Meet here

2. Prioritise Tasks Daily

Each morning set out your key priorities and communicate those with your team in a daily standup meeting. Setting clear expectations, accountability and deadlines will give everyone focus for the day ahead. You can then create a schedule of tasks, allocating time for deep focus where necessary. A debrief at the end of the day is an effective way to ensure everyone is keeping on track.

3. Work Environment

The right setup is essential for productivity and well worth putting time into. Can you work comfortably? Is there any equipment that would support you better, such as a monitor or noise cancelling headset? Can you work free of distractions? Sharing a house with others working from home can be an additional challenge, so if this is the case try to set some ground rules and expectations from the start. We found this helpful tool to manage multiple workspaces in the home:

Work From Home Scheduler

• A household resource management app enabling you to work productively with everyone under one roof.
• Download the app here

And if you have little ones, we’ve written a whole other article on how to work remotely with children.

4. Stick to Work Hours

When you work from home it can be difficult to switch off and before you know it you’ve worked through to bedtime. Try to stick to your usual hours where possible – this is much more sustainable and will avoid burnout, enabling you to maintain levels of productivity and good for your mental wellbeing!

5. Take breaks

Especially if you work on a laptop or computer, regular breaks will give your eyes a rest, avoid unnecessary headaches and reignite motivation. Think about your usual work structure in your venue – How can you ensure to keep those mental breaks and breathers? Why not set daily alarms? And be sure to make the most of your daily allocated outdoor exercise time if you can – the fresh air will clear your head like nothing else!

6. Limit Social Media

While it’s great to stay connected with others, social media can be the detriment of your productivity. Try to limit this distraction by removing any browser shortcuts, logging out of accounts and, if you must scroll, keeping it strictly to break times.

7. Bridebook Tools

Bridebook has been built to help support you effectively run your business. Use the enquiries manager to keep track of the progress of your enquiries and analytics to see which areas could do with some TLC. Now’s the perfect time to ensure you’re maximising your business potential.

8. Look Ahead

Day-to-day work has no doubt changed completely in the last couple of weeks. While the near future is uncertain, try to find opportunities to look ahead and maybe even start setting those 2021 goals. Could you make improvements to your team management? How’s your marketing strategy? Are your platforms up to date with your best photos? This will be over at some point, so put yourself in the best position possible for when it is.

9. Work out what works for you!

Try to be patient in finding your best way of working, and be open-minded too. Last week may not have been productive, but it doesn’t mean this one can’t be. Think about what’s working well and what’s not and make adjustments. 

These are just a few thoughts on how to maintain productivity in a home setting, and who knows, you may even find some aspects of work benefit from this remote approach. For further support on how to work from home as a team, have a look at our 5 top tips here. Of course if you have any questions at all or need any help then please do reach out to anyone in the Bridebook team. You can also join the UK Wedding Venue Slack group here to chat with others who are in the same boat, and if you have any thoughts or tips yourself then please do share – we are in this together!