The COVID-19 virus situation is forcing many white-collar professionals to begin working from home. If you scroll through LinkedIn, you’d think that we’d just invented homes and the concept of working from them. Yes, for many it’s a novel new experience and both leaders and employees are trying to adjust to this new modus operandi.
Here are four recommendations gleaned from my experience of working from home before it was mandated by the government:
Use Technology to Check-In – Inc.com suggests that with the bevy of software options available, from Zoom to Slack to Google Hangouts to traditional texts and the dozens of options in between, it’s essential to make the team still feel like a team. There may be members of your team you spent less than 10 minutes a day with but those 10 minutes still need to happen! The key is not to micromanage or over-do it. Try to simulate as much of a collaborative environment as you had at the office or heck; you can even try to improve it! Also, encourage team members to virtually interact without you.
Do Not Increase the Number of Meetings! – I am not a fan of meetings. Meetings often lead to repetition, micromanaging, boredom, and loss of productivity. However, given the strange scenario we are in right now, I have been tempted to increase the number of meetings with my team. Meetings may just be to “check on them” or “make sure we are all on the same page” or “show them how much I care.” Nope, more meetings are not the answer. Before COVID, we had 11 million meetings per day just in the US alone. A whopping 63% of those meetings had no agenda, and 45% are just to share information, not good.
So, what to do instead? Determine why you want to hold the meeting. Define the purpose of the meeting, be clear on the goal and desired outcome, and don’t be afraid to be very specific. If you are not able to identify a clear result, you should probably not organize the meeting. Instead, think of alternative and more effective ways to address the situation. If an issue can be addressed with just a phone call, save everyone the hassle of another meeting.
Increase Communication Regarding Objectives and Accountability — The Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) says that many teams’ biggest stumbling block going from being under one roof to a virtual office is that the “unspoken” language disappears. Where people may have been on the same page in the past without much discussion, it may not be the case moving forward unless special attention is given to ongoing objectives and continually making sure the team is meeting those objectives. Viruses don’t care about deadlines, but your customers, suppliers, co-workers, vendors, the board of directors still do.
Ramp Up Your Emotional Intelligence – Remember that this is a new situation for everybody, and there are going to be growing pains. People react differently, even in the best of times. WE ARE NOT IN THE BEST OF TIMES. People are not working at home because they want to; they are working there because they must. We see it every day, and not just on CNN. It’s in our closed schools, churches and restaurants. It’s in the eyes of those who have lost loved ones or fear getting the virus. It’s having family members lose their jobs and businesses they’ve worked a lifetime to build.
Anxiety about the world is understandable, and now you’re asking your team to blend their professional lives with their personal. There are going to be bumps, hiccups, hurdles, and likely tears. You must be ready to manage all that.
“When you become comfortable with uncertainty, infinite possibilities open up in your life.” – Eckhart Tolle
