Remote Working Leadership Tips

Whilst it is always important to continually look for new ways to develop your leadership skills, like most things it is even more essential during lockdown.

During lockdown leaders will be faced with many challenges including keeping their business / teams productive, staying connected with staff remotely and supporting them as they face uncertain times ahead.

See tips below to help you lead your team remotely during lockdown and come back stronger!

 Stay Connected

• Try to engage and speak with everyone in your team regularly, in some cases on a daily basis.
• Ensure that work tasks are fully understood, and that staff understand what is required of them.
• Encourage them to shout ‘help’ if required.
• Be available, not just on group meetings, matters may need to be discussed on an individual basis.
• Keep in touch with furlough staff also, find ways to include them in fun out of work activities with the team, for example an invite to do an online fun quiz with the rest of the team.
• It is an opportunity to learn how to lead a younger generation by embracing and communicating on the latest technology.
• Have a clear vision and communicate it with the team.
• Keep staff in the loop on plans and measures the company is taking to adapt to changes and come back stronger.
• Mix up the methods of how you communicate with your team by utilising Online Meetings (Zoom / TEAMS), phone calls, email, text and whatsapp.

Time Management

• Set realistic time frames and deadlines.
• Employ a ‘flexible’ approach to time management. Do not fall into the trap of thinking because staff are not sending out massive volumes of emails, they are not working.
• Focus on task outcomes rather than time.
• If possible, allow staff flexibility in their day, working around other commitments such as childcare.

Delegate

Some leaders will find they are busier than ever, juggling aspects of management they have never had to consider before. See this as an opportunity to help develop future leaders by delegating work were possible.

This could include identifying certain individuals to support you with marketing, maintaining staff morale, providing training to more junior team members, keeping in touch with clients, preparing work and planning for the future.

Prepare for the Future

Most companies’ business activities are quieter during lockdown, make the most of this downtime to plan and prepare for the future and catch up on matters you were too busy to focus on previously.

Also get your team involved, if they are quiet most would appreciate the opportunity to keep busy and play a part in helping the business come back stronger after lockdown.

You could focus on reviewing and improving aspects of your business such as:

• Work Processes
• Employer Branding
• Staff Training Resources
• Recruitment
• Staff Process and Procedures
• Social Media
• Business Development Strategies and Materials.
• Work Pipeline
• Exploring New Work Sectors and Market Opportunities
• New Technologies and Systems to make your business more efficient.
• Suppliers

Training

It is crucial you find time to continue training staff, otherwise you will lose valuable time during lockdown when your staff could have developed.

Engage with your team for new ways to deliver training and be open to delegate, you cannot help everyone at once!

Look for ways to make more virtual resources available to your staff.

If work is quieter, perhaps this would be an ideal time to build up your training resources that you can make available to staff now and for future teams.

In an ideal world it would be good practise for every company to have their own training portal online, creating an opportunity for staff to self-learn and expand knowledge in some aspects of the job.

This is valuable not only to keep people busy during lockdown but also a valuable resource for high achieving staff that are always hungry to learn more in their own time.

Prioritise Support

Dependent upon their experience, staff will either need direction or mentoring.

For more senior staff it is easier to employ a flexible approach, provide direction and allow those with the experience to deliver.

Whereas home working for more junior teams is a relatively new concept, as such you may find you need to put more time into supporting them.

On the same note you do not want to hand hold junior staff all the way and should look for opportunities to help them work more independently and use their initiative.

In addition, you should also consider that its not just Junior staff that may require support, different personality types react differently to change and in particular lockdown, so you should invest some time in identifying high risk employees.

For example, you might be aware of some staff that are experienced and great at their job under normal circumstances but need more regular reassurance.

So, it’s important to consider both experience levels and personality traits to allow you to prioritise your time and support.

Recruitment

As a leader its your job to do whatever you can to help your team and company bounce back from a crisis and lockdown is no different.

Hence its important you also keep an eye on future recruitment considerations. Bringing the right people additions into the business can make a huge difference in helping your team come back stronger after lockdown.

Consider yourself the same as a Football Manager / Coach, preparing your team during preseason training, you have no games (“projects”) on at present so the pressure is off, however the changes and efforts you implement during this period can make all the difference once you are back in the game.

Same goes with Recruitment, in the sporting world most of their recruitment is done preseason, quieter periods are an ideal time for you to keep a track and speak to the best talent in the industry, ensuring you can field the best team possible when business returns to normal.

It is also a good time to review and update your Recruitment Process, Procedures, On-boarding and Employer Branding.

Motivation & Staff Morale

•  Remain Positive
• Focus on motivating and inspiring.
• Be understanding and show empathy. Staff need a leader to act human more than ever during lockdown.
• Find your own mentor for your own well-being and support.
• Lead by example.
• Encourage online meetings /email / WhatsApp chat for morale.
• Something quite a few companies have started doing which is a nice initiative since working from home is having a ‘virtual’ drink and “recap of the week” on a Friday afternoon / evening.

(Essentially, everyone gets on a video conference, pops a few beers and have a collective catch up).

This helps to maintain the team spirit and allows an outlet for those less adapt at self-working. This is very good for moral and helps support any isolation/mental health issues people are having.

• Other fun activities companies are using to boost staff morale include Online Quizzes, Guess the celebrity, Matching Pets to Owners, East Egg competitions, Online Raffles, Desktop Bingo, Happy Hours, Fitness Sessions, Inspirational quotes as well as the interaction through the medium of online multiplayer video games.
• A big item on the agenda for many leaders has been addressing their employee’s mental health and how to make staff feel supported during lockdown. With that in mind employers should look for innovative ways (Such as those noted above) to also have fun and engage with their staff as it goes a long way to help with employee’s wellbeing. A happy employee is also going to be more productive than someone who is feeling miserable and isolated.
• Employees will also remember how you treated them during difficult times.
• Prioritising staff motivation activities whilst also trying to manoeuvre your business through unchartered waters can be overwhelming, as such it would be worthwhile for companies to consider nominating certain employees to assist with being responsible for innovating and implementing morale boosting activities.
• If successful perhaps some of these activities / strategies should remain after lockdown to help businesses provide ongoing metal health and wellbeing support for their employees.

*I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all those that helped contribute to this blog, many thanks!*

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