Business

Brandquad: Managing a Team Remotely and Impact on Performance

Published

4 years ago

April 15, 2020

Today, remote management or remote management is a management solution adopted by the majority of companies. Indeed, with the impact of Covid-19, many employees are forced to work from home. Remote management is thus becoming, for companies, one of the keys to overcome this crisis. However, working remotely cannot be improvised and the managers who implement this method at the time of this health crisis must have in mind a few rules of good practice. This is why Brandquad, an international company that has been successfully using this working method for several years now, has decided to share its good advice to help companies to make remote management work in an optimal way.

When working remotely with employees from different backgrounds, there are a number of obstacles that companies have to overcome. According to Anthony and Phillip from Brandquad, there are four barriers to overcome: cultural differences, distance, language, and professions. However, this is no easy task for this international company specializing in product content management. Here are his tips.

Making remote management work

Established in Paris, Moscow and Dubai, Brandquad is a master in the art of bringing together very different and culturally distant profiles.

It all starts with quality recruitment. Ideally, it should target the younger generation, because remote management implies a new, more modern way of working. In addition, it is necessary to ensure that candidates are able to work remotely, that they are sufficiently autonomous and receptive to the fact that they are simply “drifted”. It is also necessary to recruit different and complementary profiles, both technical and commercial.

Next, the company must set up network tools to maintain contact between the different collaborators, even though they are physically distant from each other, and to monitor the progress of projects. In order to do so, Trello is a versatile and very well-thought-out tool that brings transparency, follow-up and interaction. For its part, Brandquad uses Skype instant messaging, the Google suite (Drive, Calendar, etc.) and HubSpot.

Finally, priority must be given to the different profile management. Getting people with different cultures and languages to work requires certain measures to be put in place. Employees must be driven rather than micromanaged. In other words, they must be given an objective and be given regular check-ups to ensure that they are progressing well in their work. These points of contact are small rituals that break the distance.

Impact on performance

Overall, remote management has a positive impact on business performance. Distance tends to make employees more autonomous and productive because, especially if they are well driven, they do not feel constantly monitored by their manager. They are more motivated to achieve their goals and are also happier at work.

Above all, remote management requires a trusting relationship between employees and managers. Distance requires an effort of transparency and implies regular reporting. This monitoring allows employees to show the progress of their project and involves them fully in the achievement of their objectives.

Remote management also promotes productivity and the separation of tasks in the sense that each employee is placed in the country he or she knows best. In this way, he or she will be able to gain a competitive advantage and enable the success of his or her company on an international scale.

For Brandquad, remote management is a way of working that is becoming more and more essential for companies in the current context that is emerging: modernization of managerial techniques, recurrent strikes, the Covid-19 pandemic, etc.

Business

Turning Tragedy into Triumph Through Walking With Anthony

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Rosario Farell

On the morning of February 6, 2010, Anthony Purcell took a moment to admire the churning surf before plunging into the waves off Miami Beach. Though he had made the dive numerous times before, that morning was destined to be different when he crashed into a hidden sandbar, sustaining bruises to his C5 and C6 vertebrae and breaking his neck.

“I was completely submerged and unable to rise to the surface,” Purcell recalls. “Fortunately, my cousin Bernie saw what was happening and came to my rescue. He saved my life, but things would never be the same after that dive.”

Like thousands of others who are confronted with a spinal cord injury (SCI), Purcell plunged headlong into long months of hopelessness and despair. Eventually, however, he learned to turn personal tragedy into triumph as he reached out to fellow SCI victims by launching Walking With Anthony.

Living with SCI: the first dark days

Initial rehabilitation for those with SCIs takes an average of three to six months, during which time they must relearn hundreds of fundamental skills and adjust to what feels like an entirely new body. Unfortunately, after 21 days, Purcell’s insurance stopped paying for this essential treatment, even though he had made only minimal improvement in such a short time.

“Insurance companies cover rehab costs for people with back injuries, but not for people with spinal cord injuries,” explains Purcell. “We were practically thrown to the curb. At that time, I was so immobile that I couldn’t even raise my arms to feed myself.”

Instead of giving up, Purcell’s mother chose to battle his SCI with long-term rehab. She enrolled Purcell in Project Walk, a rehabilitation facility located in Carlsbad, California, but one that came with an annual cost of over $100,000.

“My parents paid for rehabilitation treatment for over three years,” says Purcell. “Throughout that time, they taught me the importance of patience, compassion, and unconditional love.”

Yet despite his family’s support, Purcell still struggled. “Those were dark days when I couldn’t bring myself to accept the bleak prognosis ahead of me,” he says. “I faced life in a wheelchair and the never-ending struggle for healthcare access, coverage, and advocacy. I hit my share of low points, and there were times when I seriously contemplated giving up on life altogether.”

Purcell finds a new purpose in helping others with SCIs

After long months of depression and self-doubt, Purcell’s mother determined it was time for her son to find purpose beyond rehabilitation.

“My mom suggested I start Walking With Anthony to show people with spinal cord injuries that they were not alone,” Purcell remarks. “When I began to focus on other people besides myself, I realized that people all around the world with spinal cord injuries were suffering because of restrictions on coverage and healthcare access. The question that plagued me most was, ‘What about the people with spinal cord injuries who cannot afford the cost of rehabilitation?’ I had no idea how they were managing.”

Purcell and his mother knew they wanted to make a difference for other people with SCIs, starting with the creation of grants to help cover essentials like assistive technology and emergency finances. To date, they have helped over 100 SCI patients get back on their feet after suffering a similar life-altering accident.

Purcell demonstrates the power and necessity of rehab for people with SCIs

After targeted rehab, Purcell’s physical and mental health improved drastically. Today, he is able to care for himself, drive his own car, and has even returned to work.

“Thanks to my family’s financial and emotional support, I am making amazing physical improvement,” Purcell comments. “I mustered the strength to rebuild my life and even found the nerve to message Karen, a high school classmate I’d always had a thing for. We reconnected, our friendship evolved into love, and we tied the knot in 2017.”

After all that, Purcell found the drive to push toward one further personal triumph. He married but did not believe a family was in his future. Regardless of his remarkable progress, physicians told him biological children were not an option.

Despite being paralyzed from the chest down, Purcell continued to look for hope. Finally, Dr. Jesse Mills of UCLA Health’s Male Reproductive Medicine department assured Purcell and his wife that the right medical care and in vitro fertilization could make their dream of becoming parents a reality.

“Payton joined our family in the spring of 2023,” Purcell reports. “For so long, I believed my spinal cord injury had taken everything I cared about, but now I am grateful every day. I work to help other people with spinal cord injuries find the same joy and hope. We provide them with access to specialists, funding to pay for innovative treatments, and the desire to move forward with a focus on the future.”