Learnings from working digital with ToM

23 April 2022

The pandemic has also shaped us as an NGO. We had already designed our work digitally and networked beforehand. But the times were not easy for us either. Meetings, all online. We look back on two years of the global pandemic.

Everything different?

While other NGOs had to redesign their entire collaboration, for us our work at ToM did not change completely overnight. Our team consists of an off-site team, which is spread over several countries, and an on-site team in Malawi. The monthly meetings and consultations also took place digitally in the times before the pandemic.

Friction arises in collaboration, there are communication difficulties, and therefore it is particularly important for us to create a good digital working atmosphere.  We all have limited capacity, and the right digital tools have helped us work together over the years. Over the course of the pandemic, we have dealt with different areas.

Three interesting points can be found here in an overview:

• Visualize, visualize, visualize. Mind mapping, task lists, or even various brainstorming options. Just give it a try. 
• No time or just too many steps? We are all Scrum Masters now. In 2021, we decided to get involved with Scrum, and it has helped us to develop a new perspective on how we work together and how we work. Thanks again to the team of Wibas for their support!
• Breaks. 40-hour workweeks, sleeping 8 hours a night, eating healthy, maintaining friendships, being there for family, and much more. We work at ToM because we enjoy it, we enjoy learning new things, and we enjoy it. But sometimes there are just weeks or even months when it becomes too much. That’s why we’ve learned over the last few years that it’s important to give people the opportunity to get involved, but also to take a step back. The same applies to long meetings or workshop weekends. 

See you soon!

We are excited to have a new #FacesOfTom soon. Are you curious? If you have any questions for the Offsite team, we are always happy to include them in our interviews. Just drop us a line on our social media. See you soon!