For the majority of today’s workforce, we’re exercising our agility muscles more aggressively than we’ve ever had to before now. The Coronavirus pandemic has created a time in our lives we have never seen before. As leaders, we need to remember one part of the job more than ever – how to be there FOR your team.
We connected with Kim Laughlin from Cultural Apex Coaching to ask her about the ways that strong leaders are focusing on their teams today. Here’s what we learned!
Three Ways Great Leaders Offer Their Teams A “Soft Place to Land” When Agility Is Being Tested
ONE | Remember Your Role
It’s important to remember that as leaders, we are there for our teams, not the other way around. Our jobs go beyond the tactical and procedural portion of the positions we hold. Being there for our teams may require us to edit our current paths of management. We must be someone they trust and know they can come to when things get difficult. Get to know their individual challenges and allow flexibility and patience to be part of the process. Lead by example! Make sure to work in the same type of conditions to remain humble.
TWO | The Three C’s
Communicate. Communicate. Communicate!
- The First C – Phone communication | Call frequently so they hear the voice of their manager and give them space to talk to you about what needs they may have at the moment.
- The Second C – Video communication | For some people, a visual is much more impactful. Ask them what works best and accommodate as much as possible.
- The Third C – Email communication | This avenue is best to be used to be as informative as possible. Some employees prefer to read rather than see or hear from you but again, ask them what works best for them.
THREE | Expectation
Expect as you should. Don’t forget, not everyone is used to working from home and those who are, don’t typically have as many distractions. With the added layer of the stress of getting sick or getting someone else sick with something we are learning new things about every day is taxing beyond belief. Results expected need to be considered with all the obvious pressures COVID-19.
See what Kim shared with us in a video chat about adjusting expectations and communicating them in this video.
It’s important to remain present and know this is a day by day situation without a concrete end in sight. It will get better. We don’t know the exact date however, we can still be productive and even improve relationships in the meantime.