How 7Geese is Operating During COVID-19

7Geese has always been about people. It’s evident in our company and in our product.

We have a firmly-held belief that the growth and wellbeing of individuals are at the core of a company’s success. And right now our people, indeed all people, are going through a very difficult time. 

This is the first time I have experienced a major work disruption as a Chief of Staff. It has caused us, as a team, to stop and reflect on the short and long term effects of our current circumstances. 

We, all of us, are not merely experiencing a sudden shift to a “work from home” situation. This crisis is not your typical work from home scenario. We are dealing with more than that; we are dealing with work from the home policy during a pandemic. No one was given the luxury of a gradual adjustment; it was all very sudden. 

Meanwhile, we all share similar concerns for our health and that of our families. And we are cut off from the communities and social interactions that are important to us. External situations will affect our motivation, mood, and productivity. This is anything but business as usual. Yet our mission as a company is to be the connective tissue between a company and its people; the trusted advisor who you can turn to for advice on the best practices of people management. 

To that end, we agreed that the simplest thing to do is to share how we as a company are navigating these changes, in the hopes that you can find them useful in your own decision-making. 

The first step we took was to meet as a company and acknowledge that this situation is without precedent and that productivity is certain to take a hit. It brought a deeper sense of connectivity and trust across all levels of the organization. 

In terms of our human resources efforts, we have made a number of decisions. We have decided to hold off on all hiring at the moment. Any related activities regarding onboarding were pushed to later quarters. Our main focus was to ensure our existing team members were well supported mentally. A re-shuffle of our People and Culture objectives was done to reflect the new priorities. We hold our key result of high E-NPS still at heart as our annual objective for 2020. However, we were able to be agile and ensure that the new objectives for Q2 would still contribute to that key result but in a different fashion.

Our internal communication was ramped up, through the use of weekly OKRs updates and our mid-quarter OKRs check-in. Daily standups for all teams continue, along with 1-on-1s. 1-on-1s has become my main pulse on how the employees are holding up. It was important to equip our managers with the right template with the appropriate questions. It has also become crucial to hold quick 1-on-1s with each manager to monitor their own resilience. Managers, during this time of crisis, are not only managing their own emotions and concerns, but also those of their team members. 

Now is not the time for assessment-based performance reviews. We have always made our performance reviews growth-based, so we are still having those conversations. We have recommended our managers to turn the opportunity to talk about buoyancy, resilience, and motivation during this time, for example, asking: How are you actually doing? How are you dealing with this climate of uncertainty? What motivates you every day to work for 7Geese? How can I support you to keep this motivation going? What are some growth areas that we can be creative and focus on during this time? 

Our CEO, Amin Palizban, has always been a huge supporter of mental wellbeing. As part of our proactive support for our team, we offer $100 per year to help with wellness at home. We encourage employees to take advantage of meditation and exercise, perhaps even investing in gym equipment to use at home. To extend our social responsibility, the fund can also be used to support any local businesses through charitable giving. Through our Slack channels, the People and Culture team is also focusing on providing materials such as articles, webinars, and other resources to help team members process their emotions. Our extended benefits cover counselling, psychologists, and employee assistance programs.

We continue to adapt to these changes as we face them and we are having a lot of conversations with customers and partners about the way they are handling the situation. If you would like to reach out to ask questions or want to chat more about our approach or yours, please contact us here.

"Originally published at OKRs and Continuous Performance Management | 7Geese."