Managing Remote Work From a Seasoned Pro — Afifa Siddiqui

Afifa Siddiqui runs three companies and they’re all remote. Although this was not planned, Afifa comes in at an excellent time to discuss how to set your company up for success if you’re not usually used to remote work. She shares her tips and strategies to keep her employees engaged and ready to face a new day. She also shares how she handles self-doubt and how she has built resilience throughout her professional career.

 

Key Takeaways

● We’re living in uncharted territory and people are looking to their government and leaders for guidance. ● Afifa has been running a remote company for a while now and can offer advice on how to better manage remote workers. ● Set up a proper communication channel with your team and then check in with them to ensure everybody is rowing in the same direction. ● Take this crisis a day at a time. We don’t really know when it will be over. ● This is a stressful time, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little bit of watercooler talk. It’s okay to share memes and funny tidbits throughout the day to keep things fun. ● You have to relax the expectation and really work through this together. ● Remember to bring more of the human element in when engaging a remote workforce. ● Why should people consider going remote? ● Afifa shares how she got started in her career field. ● How does Afifa handle self-doubt? ● Every company right now is discovering their pivot point and discovering on the fly where their next opportunity is. ● Afifa has taken on the risks of being a remote company and so she is fortunate that she is set up and well-prepared during this time.   Resources Evolutionizemedia.com/podcasts/shes-talking-back/ Afifa on LinkedIn Careerleaf.com Canadianpayrollservices.com Slack.com   Quotes   Michelle’s quote: “Afifa talks about how it’s important to relax expectations to invite more empathy and bring a mentality of ‘we’re all in it together.’”   “It’s not easy for everyone. Some portion of society works better this way, others really do need that interaction and extra support.”   “Mistakes are going to happen. It’s not a case of if, but when.”   “I spend a lot of time self-reflecting because I want to be more careful and more conscious about how I occur to people.”