Leading during Covid-19

According to research from the SHRM, 71% of organisations struggle to adapt to remote working in terms of productivity and communication; and 65% cited maintaining employee morale as a top challenge. It's already difficult to lead people at the best of times, and the remote work shift due to COVID-19 has made it even harder.?

Location-agnostic work presents an excellent opportunity for organisations to access a more diverse talent pool, for example, people who need flexible work arrangements, etc. But the usual way we do most things is being severely challenged; for example, communication, collaboration, learning, morale-building (or even just morale maintenance right now), etc. These challenges have had an impact on day-to-day operations; and what's worse is that adapting to the pandemic means that we have to innovate and transform even faster.?

Leaders have to acknowledge that each employee is facing unique challenges. Social media gives us a very clear insight into some of these challenges; LinkedIn, previously a work-only zone, is now full of people bringing their “true self” to the platform, talking about mental health, bereavement, and other issues. People are expecting to be supported as they trudge through further rounds of lockdown, stress, and other difficulties. As companies, we have to empower staff to share their concerns without inhibition; we have to find new ways to establish trust and confidence; and we have to accommodate the rolling changes of circumstances that we are all undergoing - from homeschooling to illness to relocation.??

And we have to do all this at the same time as delivering results, here are a few measures that can help leaders to succeed at remote leadership:

Cultivating Collaboration

Maybe the first step to cultivating collaboration with remote teams is to understand that your employees are battling a new set of distractions, leading to a difficulty engaging in virtual meetings and workshops. Leaders have to rethink meetings, develop daily routines, scheduled breaks, and turn to technology and advanced tools to enhance collaboration during the remote working environment.?

There are a number of collaborative tools that you can try for remote teams, obviously you must be living under a rock if you've missed video conferencing, e.g. with Skype, Zoom, or Teams; but there is a whole host of other tools e.g. project and task management with Trello or Asana; brainstorming and ideation with Miro; visual collaboration with Mural.co; file collaboration with MS Teams or Google Drive; and I have even had team parties in virtual escape rooms, on houseparty and others.

Leading with Empathy

It used to be easy to notice when a coworker didn't turn up for work or if someone was stressed or anxious when we worked in physical offices. However, it isn't as easy to pick up these signals in a fully remote setup. During the current crisis, leaders have to go the extra mile and proactively reach out to team members to check on their well-being and mental health.?

A study by Qualtrics found that 42% of people globally have experienced a decline in mental health. Specifically, 67% are experiencing increases in stress, 54% are emotionally exhausted, and 57% have increased anxiety. These issues create problems;- like 20% take longer to finish tasks, and 12% are challenged to juggle their responsibilities.?

However with an empathetic leader, 61% of employees felt innovative and 86% reported they were able to navigate work-life balance. Being able to put yourself in someone else's shoes is clearly high on the list of most valued leadership traits.

Maintaining Productivity

This study states that businesses lose $600 billion a year to workplace distractions and that remote employees are 35-40% more productive than their in-office counterparts. But it does require that leaders step in and help employees prioritise their tasks, remove clutter, and manage expectations. The staff and leaders should be realistic about tasks that can be accomplished with regular check-ins about expectations and priorities.?

My team uses Trello, approved for use, from a security perspective, from inside the bank. Seniors meet for half an hour every Monday morning to build a prioritised "Big picture" list for the week, allocate team members to the specific actions, and estimate the workload for each team member. The team then does their own individual reviews of the proposed priorities. Then we regroup online as a team and spend 15 minutes to confirm and understand any changes in priorities and for them to discuss what they will do to achieve their priorities. Follow up happens towards the end of Friday afternoon to understand and briefly analyse how the week has progressed and what’s been achieved.?

It's also important to encourage teammates to identify stress- and distraction-free workspaces in their homes where they can concentrate and work effectively. There should also be boundaries for at-home hours where employees are not be interrupted unless it's truly unavoidable. Leaders can also encourage employees to use tools like Focusmate, an online “accountability” tool that matches you with someone else trying to keep on task so you can keep each other on track, acting as accountability partners.?

Encouraging Communication

Different people like different ways of communicating; both in terms of style and frequency, so it's important to have these discussions with your teams.

An MIT study showed that employee performance depends on how you use software/ technologies and not on the software/technology itself. Leaders can improve communication by ensuring the right technology in place and that the team agrees on how it should be used, setting tasks and defining boundaries, staying in sync, and being responsive and supportive.?

It's not easy getting people to adopt new technologies, just ask your average Software company - which is why they have a series of tasks they try to get you to do to get you familiar with the product as quickly as possible, and to get you hooked. Therefore I usually get team input on the problem we are having, when we have decided it's a big enough issue - we look at the options. Then everyone, and I mean everyone, has to start using the tool for a stipulated time at which point we have a review and decide whether it's a total failure or worth considering. It also needs regular reviews to see if improvements can be made on how we use it.?

Conclusion

Basically, we need to recognise the impact of uncertainty on every node of the organisation. As leaders, we must learn how to be more emotionally intelligent, empathic, and compassionate. It's about acknowledging how employees' priorities have shifted to family health; to homeschooling; to the possibility of us Hong Kong folks being swept off to Covid detention camps; to our much reduced social circles and how each of these can add yet more stress. Leaders can support remote workers with regular check-ins, multiple communication options, structured meetings, technology tools, opportunities for social interactions, and ongoing encouragement and emotional support.