Adam Singer CMO of Think3, an investment fund for Saas startups, says that Fortune 500 companies are not ready for remote workforce management. So reports Ad Exchanger.

This is because many marketing organizations and other top executives are still clinging to an outdated way of thinking when it comes to remote workers. Performance marketers need a “philosophical shift” by doing away with over-scheduling-in-person meetings, Singer argues. This will actually help teams get more work done.

Gartner says that the actions marketing leaders take now will set the tone, internally and externally, for how the organization will weather the current coronavirus crisis.

From an internal perspective, it’s important that marketing leaders anticipate how business disruptions will impact existing marketing operations, assess the needs of employees and prepare for alternate workplace operations.

Here are some tips for helping your workers adjust to this new reality—and to do it effectively.

• Leah Anathan, CMO of Mews Systems, says her first order of business was to “just acknowledging the seriousness of it all,” according to an article in CMS Wire. “The news is incredibly unsettling, and it's important to acknowledge this. It's equally important to stay focused on our mission because this situation will not last.”
• Tim Minahan, CMO of Citrix, said that he makes “it a practice to either open or close each day with a personal outreach to my leaders to stay abreast of any late-breaking news and to take a moment to find out how they and their families are doing personally,” according to CMS Wire.
• Vicki Brakl, SVP of Marketing, Training and Development, MNI Targeted Media says that “sometimes you just have to have fun. To combat this challenge, I've implemented a ‘Learn Something New’ challenge and have encouraged my team to participate. It's a way to keep the team connected and engaged,” according to an article from MarTech Advisor.
• Paula Hansen, Chief Revenue Officer, SAP Customer Experience said the quarantine may yield some new thinking, according to an article from MarTech Advisor. “Some remarkable innovations have come out of people being in quarantine. Isaac Newton discovered Calculus while in quarantine. William Shakespeare wrote 'King Lear' while in quarantine…. You may have some extra time to ideate, to think about your customers and to understand what success looks like in this new paradigm.”
• Alon Alroy, Co-Founder & Chief of Customers and Strategy at Bizzabo, says that the firm has “implemented company-wide virtual lunches with gift cards to UberEats, virtual happy hours, using video for meetings and daily video check-ins with team members,” according to the MarTech Advisor article. “We've also provided employees with a few work-from-home tips including: stick to your usual morning routine as if you were commuting to work (i.e. eat breakfast, workout, get dressed, make bed); set up a separate work space other than the couch; and set a schedule for your day and stick to it.”
• Norman Guadagno, CMO, Acoustic says that “by implementing remote work, many would think that interpersonal communication suffers, but as marketers, such a large part of our day comes from collaboration with peers,” according to the MarTech Advisor article. “Maintaining that level of communication is imperative in these times to ensure continued collaboration and a feeling of closeness to team members… For all meetings, participants should use video: This will help with important non-verbal cues and mitigate miscommunication. This also helps meeting attendees stay more connected and engaged.”
• Singer also notes that CMOs looking to attract talent may want to consider letting people choose where they want to live and how to work best. This will help CMOs hire top, experienced talent.