DS.Emotion Co-Founder, Matt Button shares his experience of working remotely, why it’s business as normal for the agency and cats and dogs on conference calls.
Since we’ve all switched to our Agile Working Strategy, we have used the existing procedures and infrastructure in place to enable us to continue to provide the high-quality service that you have come to expect.
It’s been a busy few days and as we approach the weekend, I wanted to share a quick update of what’s been happening here at DS.Emotion.
Working across the country
With offices in London, Leeds and Manchester and clients across the country, the response from our team has further highlighted the differences in cities in the north and south of England. As Boris Johnson mentioned, London is a ‘few weeks ahead’ in the outbreak, so we’ve been tailoring solutions to suit our clients in various locations.
What I’ve been really impressed with is our team’s creative agility. Because we’re all over the country, we’ve been able to listen, learn and respond quickly to problems in this ever-changing environment. With event cancellations, postponements and general uncertainty for businesses, it’s clear that our clients need support more than ever to navigate to the next period.
Communication is more important than ever
Not being in our offices has highlighted the value of good communication. Whether it’s on video conference calls, phone calls or even virtual tea breaks with Google Hangouts – speaking regularly is key for our team and our client’s wellbeing. It is going to be strange for a while so it’s really important that we all keep communicating with one another, even if it is just to say hi and ask how we’re doing or sharing ideas for staying sane.
Creativity always comes through
The creativity I’ve seen across both the industry and in the responses of the general public has given me the reassurance that we can, and will, adapt. Restaurants switching to online deliveries, online yoga classes for business parks, and even balcony based workouts are great examples of this.
Our teams are thinking laterally to help our clients. From small things like our London office sending daily online news updates to larger strategies such as our Manchester office coming up with a creative solution for a cancelled residential launch (which we’ll share next week) and the Leeds office creating a platform to deliver virtual public planning consultations for developments.
We’re about to see a change in the placemaking and property sector and it excites me to see what new creative strategies our agency and the industry will come up with next.
Pets on conference calls
Finally, a bit of light relief. Being in so many video conference calls this week with the team and our clients, it’s been great to see so many four-legged friends make a star appearance in our video updates.
Badger, my pet spaniel is a regular addition to our Leeds office anyway, but I’ve been introduced to a number of additional pets in the DS.E family, who we will be introducing to you all over the next few weeks. Our Innovation & Strategy Director, Lawrence’s daughter’s pet worm has created quite a stir!
Final point, for now
We’ll be sharing what we’re up to on our social media channels. So, feel free to follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter for the latest information. Stay safe everyone and I look forward to speaking with you again soon.
Matt Button
Co-Founder at DS.Emotion