Teams | Collaboration | Customer Service | Project Management

New Future Forum Pulse study reveals that the view of the office looks different from the top.

Messaging has surged in popularity and become a go-to channel for many consumers since the COVID-19 pandemic. It looks like the trend is here to stay—74 percent of customers who messaged with companies in 2020 plan to continue doing so. Research also shows that 76 percent of consumers like to buy products using chat or messaging, and 72 percent are more likely to make a purchase online if they can ask questions in real-time. Google’s Business Messages enables buyers to do both.

Many organizations have tried the four-day working week, including Microsoft Japan, the Utah State Government, and a number of small UK companies. And all of them report many benefits. But so far, the only one to switch permanently is Perpetual Guardian – a New Zealand financial services firm that trialed the practice in 2018 before transitioning all 240 staff. Now the four-day working week is becoming a hot topic, with the governments of Spain and Scotland recently announcing major trials.

Looking for some effective team building exercises to bring your team together? As a former leadership trainer and coach, I have run several types of team building activities for teams of several sizes – with participants ranging from entry level employees to C-level executives. But with COVID-19 disrupting businesses all over, most teams have been forced to go remote. So how do you run team building games for remote teams? Don’t worry! You can always run virtual team building activities.

Hybrid work appeared as a light at the end of the tunnel when organizations were in a dilemma to thrive in work from home models. Irrespective of all the obstacles, the companies chose to survive with hybrid model best practices. Where some of the organizations were not even aware of the hybrid workforce culture, many businesses took advantage of the situation and progressed vigorously.

Giving employees more autonomy isn’t one and done—you also need to prevent burnout and promote fairness.

During the company’s all-hands meeting, you find out a sales manager role has opened up. As a seasoned sales rep, you naturally get excited—until you realize that you don’t know how to transition from a sales agent to a sales manager. You begin to wonder, Do I have what it takes? If you’ve ever felt this way, you’re not alone. Ask any sales manager, and they’ll tell you the journey to leading a sales team isn’t easy.

Digital marketing trends are changing every year, and to be a digital marketing specialist one must continue updating their skills in order to stay ahead of the competition. With COVID-19 throwing a wrench into every company’s practices, agility and flexibility are becoming more valuable than ever. On the other hand, some skills are so fundamental to the field that they are unlikely to ever lose their relevance.