This is a difficult time for leaders, particularly new or emerging leaders. It’s difficult when you can’t interact with your team face to face. It’s hard when you know that their personal lives, as well as their professional lives, have been turned upside down. It’s tough when your personal and professional life has also been turned upside down, but, as a leader, there are high expectations that you will continue to lead and lead successfully. Others, your team, your bosses, your colleagues look to you for direction, support and performance.
What can you do to keep your team engaged, keep them motivated, make them want to stay, and be led by you? After all, by the time our workplaces emerge from this crisis, some of our best performers may have moved on and decided to change their way of life. As your leader, you want to maintain a high level of participation, you want your team to emerge stronger and more complete.
A key leadership role is that of facilitator of change. And boy, this current situation is an example of change, a significant change. Normally, when we are faced with a change in the workplace, it is as a result of a break in our normal routine or a challenge to our beliefs and attitudes. But this change is about making everything different, moving away from our usual routines, both at work and at home. The big difference compared to most changes in the workplace is that none of us can resist change. It is here and we need to discover the best ways to live with change and grow from it.
Some principles you can apply to help mitigate the challenge of keeping your team motivated and engaged, while helping you continue to grow as a leader.
Keep them close
The comunication is the key. Use video as much as possible. This helps teams feel like they are interacting face to face. If you can, do daily checks that help team members – and you – have the necessary social interaction you used to have in the office.
Let’s take an example of remote communication. You may think that you can continue to connect with your team in the same way as before, only now using technology. Technology, while great for connecting remotely, may not always meet the needs of every member of your team. Some may feel the need to connect more often, individually. This may require phone conversations, email exchanges, or text messages about your individual needs and challenges. It is critical to note that having a weekly video conference or phone call with your team will not meet everyone’s needs. Communicate with each of them individually, schedule regular check-ups using the technology that works best for each of them. This can be time consuming but is necessary to keep them motivated and engaged.
Set goals for these daily check-ins and weekly meetings and follow up with team members on progress. Make sure you have an agenda and stick to it. Provide opportunities for personal development, delegating, team members, agenda creation and meeting management, as well as subsequent progress updates. This will reduce the burden on you and improve the skills of others.
Don’t forget the value and challenge of active listening, especially when using online video tools, as, with most of these tools, only one person can speak and be heard at a time. Do you need to implement a process to ensure everyone has their turn to contribute? How do you make sure no one dominates the conversation? During these calls, listen to the tone of voice, the words used, and what is getting excited. Without the advantage of body language, listening skills stand out.
take care of yourself
One of the best ways to develop your leadership strength is to use Stephen Covey’s circles of interest, influence, and control. Ask yourself, what keeps you awake at night (aside from Covid-19 if you can), which of these things can you influence, is it possible that you can change? For those things you can influence, can positively affect, focus on what you can control. Thinking about your situation in this way helps you become more self-aware, aware of your feelings. Being self-aware helps you better understand and appreciate your emotions and those of others. Increasing self-awareness improves self-confidence, allowing you to better tune in to subtle feelings.
You can’t do everything. As mentioned earlier in this article, delegate. Give team members the opportunity to try out new skills or tasks, new ways they can contribute. You may want to consider dedicating one of your daily checks or weekly meetings to training, and one of your team members will lead a short training session. Since many employees have not experienced work remotely in the past, time management training may be the right skill to help them manage their workload at home.
Lead from the heart
Kouzes and Posner in their book, The leadership challenge, speaks of the need for leaders to encourage the heart. Leaders do this by acknowledging contributions and celebrating accomplishments. Encourage your team to create a list of ideas to recognize the effort that others have shown. Then put them into practice as often as possible.
Be an inclusive leader, one who makes sure team members speak up and are heard, empowers them to make decisions, encourages them to provide your opinion and feedback on how you are leading during this difficult time, Create opportunities for them Come in mentoring each other and sharing the credit for successes.
Bloggers from the UK’s Hot Spots Movement, a group focused on the future of work, advise leaders to “build a narrative.” “A narrative provides a way to make sense of events and communicate experiences, insights and emotions. Creating a strong narrative does not depend on leaders having all the answers (now more than ever, this is clearly impossible). However , is based on creating a continuous communication thread that recognizes deep uncertainty and at the same time envisions the future, to help people connect with a sense of direction and purpose. ” Creating this narrative can be cathartic for your team, especially if they are encouraged to share their personal stories. As Aisha Zafar of Mohawk College Enterprise says, “Stories evoke emotions and build human connections.”