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SINGAPORE: The hashtag #WFH (“work from home”) has dominated social media posts as Singapore’s “circuit breaker” measures kicking and shutting down nonessential workplaces.
It is hard enough leading teams amid market conditions worsening faster than the 2008 global financial crisis. Try to do so while discovering divided teams and physical isolation, not to mention fighting panic in the face of growing contagion.
It is precisely at a time like this that we need to stay together and learn from each other.
I have had the privilege of speaking with many business and RR leaders. H H. Since the outbreak (not just for video calls) and I’ve compiled five helpful tips, cross-referenced with global studies, for managing remote teams.
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1. CREATE COMMON REFERENCE POINTS
First, don’t let your team have to guess what their lives will be like at work. They are already surrounded by a whirlpool of uncertainty. Work should not add to that.
A survey by healthcare consultancy Business Group Health revealed that 54 percent of employees believe that employers are responsible for protecting the public during health crises and have high levels of trust in their organizations.
Leaders must create common benchmarks for their company policy information and internal communications teams, where they can find announcements related to work arrangements during this COVID-19 crisis.
Most importantly, organizations must state the reasons behind these policies and articulate the leadership principles that guide decision-making through this crisis, whether this involves arranging a Zoom meeting at a certain time of day. or coordinate actions with other departments.
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Small toy figures are seen in front of the Zoom logo displayed in this illustration taken on March 19, 2020. REUTERS / Dado Ruvic / Illustration
The good news is that the same study also indicated that seven out of 10 large employers have an established emergency preparedness plan to guide support measures for employees during the coronavirus outbreak.
But for teams working through them, creating these benchmarks can be as simple as circulating an internal document for everyone and updating it periodically, with links to authoritative sources of information to prevent the spread of disinformation.
2. PROMOTION AND COMMUNICATED ROUTINES
Second, accept that we all need some element of predictability in our lives. Having a daily work routine helps reduce stress from uncertainty and improves productivity. Communicate what this is to your team.
The best performing companies we observed established work routines for their teams even while working from home.
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The basics include maintaining connectivity during stipulated business hours. In some cases, team members sign up through chat with their managers when they start and finish the day’s work.
The use of status icons helps indicate availability where teams are not used to sharing calendars.
Counterintuitively, the importance of routine is not the hours people are at work. Respecting the hours “out of the office” allows a psychological separation of work and personal life.
Good managers focus on team productivity during work hours, but they also do their best to protect downtime as much as possible because productivity is negatively affected when team members are “always active” “
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(Photo: Unsplash / Oleg Magni)
A study by Airtasker, an online services marketplace, showed that, on average, remote employees worked 1.4 more days each month, or 16.8 more days each year, than those who worked in an office.
3. USE VIDEO CALLS, GIFS, EVEN EMOJIS, TO CONNECT
Third, accept the fact that humans are social animals and thrive on non-verbal cues exchanged in face-to-face communication, which cannot be allowed to disappear by remote work. Ask how you can go beyond email and instant messaging when communicating with the team.
Video calls are a great idea. They allow some non-verbal communication, improve understanding, and allow constructive conversations when there is disagreement between two or more parties.
Gartner’s research revealed that 40 percent of organizations have established additional virtual records for employees with managers and 32 percent have introduced new tools for virtual meetings.
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Video calls also urge people to find a dedicated workstation at home, a best practice that improves productivity while promoting the physical separation between work and personal life.
During chat, the use of appropriate emojis, stickers and GIFs (video clips) can transmit the tone more effectively and increase textual communication, avoiding lack of communication during stressful situations.
4. PROMOTE SAN SANITARY CALLS ’
Fourth, keep in mind that even for those familiar with remote work, one can easily feel out of sight and out of mind. Check with your team regularly.
One of the most common complaints about remote working is loneliness. Separating employees from their teams and organizations affects functional, social and emotional talent.
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(Photo: Unsplash / Siavash Ghanbari)
During sensitive periods, organizations must fight isolation by strengthening relationships and building a sense of resilience.
A study by remote company Buffer found that one in five remote workers identifies loneliness as their biggest struggle, on par with collaboration and communication difficulties.
Some organizations like Asia’s leading financial supermarket GoBear have shared that they allot time to make “sensible calls,” dedicated video calls to register individuals or groups.
Having a coffee or a meal together can help break periods of being alone and help team members take time off from work. Ideally, all parties to the call would close windows on their desks and focus on connecting with each other.
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Similarly, the leading Southeast Asian super-app, Grab, launched a radio station that shares information and allows song dedications among employees. They also have a chat panel that combines employees who don’t know each other well for virtual coffee sessions. Employees get to know each other better, strengthening social ties throughout the company during these difficult times.
All of these help address feelings of isolation. As a bonus, they also allow bosses to show care and concern for their team during a very difficult and stressful period.
Combining these initiatives with periodic surveys of the organizational climate to assess overall morale can reduce the challenges of remote root work.
5. ACCEPT A TIME OF PRODUCTIVITY RAMP
Fifth, understand that teams will need time to get used to working remotely; they must “build muscle” before they can be truly effective. Productivity may drop in the first few weeks as adjustments are made, so ask how they are adjusting.
When a quarantine order hits you out of the blue, online delivery services will save your day. (Photo: Pexels / Canva Studio)
Each team member will take time to get used to the new way of working and develop a natural rhythm. They may need to ensure that their home Wi-Fi bandwidth is sufficient and set clear limits with other family members in the home who also work remotely.
The best leaders we spoke with planned this and in some cases decided to bite the bullet sooner to get ahead before the circuit breakers were implemented.
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OPPORTUNITY IN CALAMITY
The coronavirus story is one with an unclear ending.
But the economy is likely to take longer to recover and have COVID-19 under control. Even after the pandemic ends, companies have an opportunity to reinvent and reinvent the way they work rather than revert to old ways.
If leaders invest in these practices, they can be rewarded with more committed, resilient, and high-performing teams.
CHECK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments
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Leong Chee Tung is the CEO and co-founder of EngageRocket.
