It’s not been a great week: COVID-19 contagion rates are rising everywhere, restrictions have been tightened, as furlough lifts more people are being made redundant, and the weather is awful and the days getting shorter.
So many people I have spoken to this week have admitted to increasing gloom and despondency. This presents a particular challenge for the strategic leaders of the organisation and for managers and supervisors also. In the first wave of the pandemic and of home working, there was something of a novelty, along with lots of sunshine. This time round we have less to lift our spirits and this will make it especially challenging for strategic leaders and managers.
In an earlier blog, I predicted that we needed to plan longer-term for the pandemic continuing and advised prioritising well-being.
Certainly, this is a time when as a leader or manager of people you need to put extra time and effort into your people responsibilities, prioritising one-to-ones and team get togethers above all else. Don’t put off those conversations or tasks that you don’t feel up to – the repercussions of not doing them might be worse.
Of course, you need to prioritise your own well-being too. Make sure you have someone to confide in and be sure to make regular time to do things that lift your spirits.
These are the top three priorities I recommend for managing your remote teams at this time:
- Put extra effort into relationships
- Keep people engaged and on track with short-term goals
- Keep people together. Some of those Zoom calls and social events may be getting tired now, so introduce learning and development events instead or, as well as.
I will go into more on these topics in the next few weeks.
Our online course ‘Leading Virtual Teams’ is designed in ‘episodes,’ so you can dip into it, as and when, for ideas on how to manage and motivate remote workers. It is a great resource to have available for your team leaders.
©Janice Caplan 2020