Leading in a Crisis - 2020 Style
By now you have likely been working remotely with your team for a few weeks or so because of the COVID-19 pandemic. How’s that going? Of course, you’re demonstrating leadership in crisis like Winston Churchill and have communication infrastructure that could track Jason Bourne. Right?
These are tough times for managers and team leaders. Not only is there a worldwide pandemic that will affect every business and every person in some way, but you are also in a situation where many of your “go to” leadership tools are not available to you because face-to-face communication is not possible. You are being asked to draw on a mix of leadership skills for crisis management and leading remotely – neither of which you practice regularly. You were probably given short notice to make sure your team was equipped to work from home, and then, you were working from home too. Your team is doing work, but…how do you know it’s working well? Here are some things you can check how well things are going, even if you’re a month into working remotely with a stressed-out team.
Check in one-on-one
If you regularly check in with all of your direct reports during normal times, this will be fairly easy. If you don’t, it might feel a bit weird now, but it’s important that you do it anyway. It is hard to feel motivated when you are working from home, caring for and possibly playing at teacher for kids, and competing for a quiet space, bandwidth, the good desk chair, whatever. Depending on where you are located, your team members may live in very different circumstances than you do. If you are based in Nairobi, for example, some of your team members may be two hours outside the city where the infrastructure is less reliable. In busy cities with small crowded shops, team members may be concerned about safely buying necessities while remaining a safe distance from others. People may have serious financial concerns because other wage-earners in the family may be laid off at the moment. Team members may be reluctant to tell you they don’t have reliable internet, a quiet place away from kids, they were out shopping to take advantage of off-peak hours, or that they are distracted by pressing financial concerns. The tricky thing is that these things are both relevant to your team member’s performance and absolutely none of your business.
Without asking a lot of personal questions, you want to make sure people are ok, that they understand what they’re supposed to do, and that they feel confident that they can ask to do something differently if their home set-up requires it.
How are things going for you?
Is there anything I can do to support you in this new work situation?
Are there any times of day that work better/worse for you?
What the best way for me to communicate with you?
Check in on the team - meetings
Some people may rejoice in the lack of meetings, but it will be important to continue regular team meetings, even if the format changes. These routine meetings serve a valuable purpose in normal circumstances and the value is magnified with a team working remotely, especially since the team is also facing uncertainty in a global crisis. You should try to simulate a face-to-face meeting as closely as you can. It may not be possible for everyone to be present in a video-conference, but it will be important that they at least call in. Its important to connect as a team, even if it’s through imperfect means. Here are some ways to make sure your meetings are effective and people feel connected.
Allow for social interaction with the team: You will be checking in with each person, but some of them may not be talking to each other as often. The beginning of a conference call or video conference, as everyone connects is a good time to allow for informal conversation. This will help people feel more connected to each other. Some offices are holding on line happy hours, to keep connected, which is a good idea. But the informal time at the beginning of a meeting has the advantage of mandatory attendance and since it’s not a purely social meeting, people are more likely to share more serious aspects of the challenges they face than they would in a happy hour where they may feel obligated to keep things light.
Keep it short: It’s hard to keep everyone’s interest in long conference calls, especially if you can’t choose the video option, so it might be best not to choose an agenda format that involves each person giving a summary of what they’re doing. You can use the information you receive in your individual check-ins to identify the most pressing topics, or ask for input on the agenda. There will be some people to do more of the talking, either because a particular topic is most relevant to them or because they just talk more. Make sure to choose topics so that every person will be involved in the discussion for at least one topic and to ask enough questions to ensure that everyone involved in each topic has a chance to speak.
Review priorities and set expectations: Depending on where you are in the world, you may still be approaching the peak of COVID-19 infections or you may have passed it, and the local government where you are may be reacting by ordering anything from complete isolation at home to suggested social distancing. You will need to reinforce or revisit team priorities each week as new information becomes available. It’s tough to feel motivated when you’re physically disconnected, so it’s even more important that the team is connected by their shared goal and that they each understand their role in achieving it. As the leader, it’s your job to make sure this is clear for everyone.
Answer the hard questions: Depending on the organization, you may be the only link between your team and headquarters or upper management. You will be responsible for understanding any new developments related to how the pandemic is affecting the business and any new decisions management has made. You will need to identify possible ways that decisions affect your team. It will be important at each team meeting to address this topic directly, if only to say there are no new developments. In the absence of information, people will fill the gap with rumor. If they hear from you that there has been no change, that will help stop speculation.
Revisit communication norms: Maybe everybody on the team has a smart phone and/or a laptop, but it would be a good idea to understand what form of communication works best for people. Since many people are doing double or triple duty as child care, teacher, cleaning service, cook, or may not have a good isolated work space, it might be best to use text apps like Slack or WhatsApp so people can have brief communications without hearing a lot of noise or interrupting a spouse’s conference call. The team should agree on what kind of information requires an e-mail or a call and how quickly they should expect a response. E-mail will be important because it’s easier to track and, once you get back to the office, it’s where people will look for substantive discussions, decisions and plans. But, with the challenges people are facing, more may need to be done with informal communication than usual. Even if you established norms at the beginning of remote working, it’s a good idea to review them and make sure they work well for the team.
Check in with yourself
Anxiety: Your team may be anxious and they will look to you to be a calming force. Keeping them up to date with information will help ease their concerns. You should not try to answer medical or epidemiological questions. You can, however, direct people to what the local Ministry of Health or the WHO are saying. You should make sure to be aware of the latest guidance and regulations in your location and how they affect your organization and your team. Finding answers as quickly as possible to questions related to pay, sick leave, and safety measures will go a long way to reducing their anxiety. Of course, you will face some anxiety too. Communicate honestly about your own anxiety, and let the team know it’s ok to feel anxious, and at the same time, don’t let anxiety take over. Read enough news about the pandemic to make informed decisions about your safety and that of your team, but try not to dwell on the more sensational aspects of the news.
Maintaining productivity: You may be tempted to worry that people are not working because they’re at home. It’s safe to assume they aren’t working the same hours or in the same manner. It will be important to remind yourself that normally, your staff complete their work every day without you physically watching them. If the work is getting done, this is the time to let go of your concerns about their minute-to-minute schedule. If work is not getting done, ask how you can better support people. Maybe someone’s household situation means they will work better on some tasks in the evening. Maybe someone else is having connectivity issues that affect the speed of their work. This is not normal or permanent, and it’s a time where the benefit of the doubt cannot be overused.
Self-care: Eating right, sleeping well, and getting a bit of exercise will all make it easier for you to handle stress and minimize anxiety. If you can’t stay focused and positive, your team will find it much more difficult to do so. Make sure you don’t work all the time even if there isn’t anything else to do. You may be more productive if you step away for a while. If you are one of the people who have taken on an additional nanny, cook, cleaner, teacher role, be aware that you will not be excellent at all of these things at the same time. If you take care of yourself, you have a fighting chance of being ok at some of them.
While you may never have faced this particular challenge before, good leadership will always be a combination of providing clear goals, open communication, supporting your team, and being honest about your own concerns. Use the tools you have to do the best you can and don’t forget to take care of yourself and your team. Even Winston Churchill and Jason Bourne wouldn’t expect more than that.
To learn more about this, sign up for a free consultation here.