Smart work Is the new hard work. Which side of the wave are you on?

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At Fluid, our motto is ‘work a better day, live a better life.’ Here’s how it’s helping us revolutionise the world of work, and what I’d like to share about our journey.

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One of my favourite quotes is by Doug Conant, the former CEO of the Campbell Soup Company; it says “to win in the marketplace, you must first win in the workplace.” With over 15 years of work experience and as a CEO myself, I know just how hard it can be to win in the workplace.  I’ve seen the brightest of my colleagues struggle with work-induced anxiety, deteriorating mental health, a lack of work-life balance, and the absence of a well-rounded life. I’ve struggled with it all myself.

On the other hand, I’ve also seen organisations do what they can for employee wellbeing. And yet, it doesn’t seem to be nearly enough. Perhaps it’s because leaders find their responsibilities for financial results to be divorced from work culture and employee wellbeing. Perhaps they just don’t know how to align the two. The global pandemic certainly hasn’t made things easier. Jobs used to be 9-5; now it’s commonplace for people to be filling in timesheets until 11 pm and to be waking up for Zoom meetings at 7 am.

What if there really were a way to reconcile and enhance both corporate performance and employee wellbeing simultaneously? What if one holistic solution brought together several touchpoints for creating, delegating, coordinating, and managing work, truly helping an entire organisation work ‘smarter’ rather than ‘harder’? What if project management could be entirely re-envisioned for our new digital world of work?

At Fluid, that’s exactly what we’re committed to. Here’s how we’re changing the world of work and some key insights I’ve gained along the way as CEO that I’d like to share with you.

#1 – Begin with a vision to make a difference

I want you to know that no matter what difference you’re trying to make at your organisation, whether it’s revamping a management process or advocating for a yoga room, you need to work in alignment with your organisation’s vision. A vision passionately chased can help you set your firm miles apart from everyone else.

It’s certainly how we’ve grown at Fluid. Everything we do stems from our vision, our raison d’etre; we’re committed to improving the way projects are run globally while improving the lives of each individual who uses Fluid. We’ve seen several organisations use a myriad of disparate tools from PowerPoint for presentations to Microsoft Project for plans, from Asana for delegation to Skype for chats, and from Excel for numbers to Trello for boards. While these applications are fantastic, they operate in silos, leaving users and managers with a ton of administrative responsibility. To address this, via Fluid, we created a single platform onto which an entire organisation can log on, and never have to leave. Communication, project sharing, meeting scheduling, reports, agendas, and minutes – everything’s automated, and everything’s seamless.

We believe we’re enabling a monumental shift in work and making fans out of clients the likes of Walmart and Barclays because our vision isn’t to sell a software product, but truly to make a difference. We’re going to do all we can to improve each user’s workday, and in doing so, work life, and we hope to inspire the world to join us.

#2 – Be massively transparent – the rewards will surprise you

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, Chief of HR, or manager, the single biggest piece of advice I’d like to give you is this: truly make your people your topmost priority. Make their lives as easy as you can. Help them work smart, and embrace transparency; this will open doors for you can’t even begin to imagine.

At Fluid, we put people first, no matter what. I personally ensure every team member is aligned with what our company is hoping to achieve. I email them to keep them abreast with exactly what we’re doing and who we’re talking to. We don’t work in isolation. Our people-first approach has helped us create a family: an ecosystem of support and friendship that fuels a culture of smart, inspiring, and extraordinary work. I’m certain it can help you do the same.

#3 – Step into your clients’ shoes

I assure you that if your team is able to, and committed to, stepping into your client’s shoes, and is dedicated to making their lives better, you will in time be unstoppable. You will find an extraordinary journey ahead of you.

At Fluid our people are our biggest assets, and they, in turn, put their clients first; we believe this differentiates us significantly from thousands of other organisations out there that put their products first. Our clients are our partners. We don’t want to sell them what they’re not even sure they need or will struggle to adopt. We provide them with multiple demos. We create sample instances to help them see the exact value they will or will not get. We train them. We meet them often. And we treat them all the same. We’re in the business of making a difference, and I know we’re just getting started.

I hope you’ll join us in our mission to build a happier and healthier world of work. See you on the other side.

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