by Peter A. Arthur-Smith, Leadership Solutions, Inc.®
“We’re getting a lot done and my team seems to be quite happy,” pointed out a client executive during week six of the COVID-19 lockdown.
His financial team members were all working from home. Many critical things were getting done that his team didn’t seem to have time for previously. Out of the office they weren’t being constantly interrupted and weren’t regularly being pulled away to cover the latest hot-priority. Is this the new operating normal? Will people really welcome the return to their offices once more?
No commuting hassles! No gasoline to buy! Less emphasis on what to wear! Little possibility of managers looking over your shoulders several times a day. No problem taking a short breather between projects or taking in some fresh air to think for a few moments. Does this sound like workplace people being treated like adults or what?
Enlightened leaders (ELs) will have no issue with any of this, although conventional managers (CMs) may be somewhat alarmed. The latter could well be thinking: “How am I going to assert myself going forward?” Or “Can my people really be trusted to work from home?” Or “How am I going to handle this new normal?” On the contrary, this is the moment ELs have been waiting for. Now they can come into their own.
With such attitudes and thinking, this is the time for genuine team building, especially with everyone dispersed across a thirty plus mile radius. Maybe this is time to organize regular team Webinars – how lucky we are to have these modern communication tools – so that we can collaborate in real time. People will be interested to catch glimpses of each other from time to time, as well as learn what each other is up to.
Even so, before we charge ahead with team play, let our team leader pause and think through what (s)he needs to accomplish ahead of the moment. How to make it enough of a team success that members will be looking forward to the next one? Effective leaders are usually one step ahead. So, let us hope:
» (S)He has been chatting with everyone on a fairly regular basis to encourage good will.
» Those conversations have been focused on team member well-being just as much as work related matters.
» Those chats have also been keeping everyone on the same page and encouraging them to communicate with each other where appropriate.
» Those exchanges have reminded people of team progress and what to look forward to.
These are things that didn’t happen so much in the office, because they were often taken as given and everyone in the office ‘attended to what they were paid to do – right?’ However, the new dispersed office mode now creates an opportunity to reframe the conversation – a regular leadership ‘motivational’ dialog versus a frequent management ‘overseeing’ one.
Of course, this client team executive – we prefer to view him/her as a Strategist in EL parlance – had sent out signals over the past week about a probable team session at 11.00 am, the following Monday morning. This gave everyone time to find a quiet space at home, have their meeting ID, and be thinking about what they would like their team to accomplish over the next 1-3 months. Now they’re all good to go.
And then (s)he pitched in, “Have any of you something of interest to share with your colleagues either work-wise or personal related?” A moment of silence while everyone collected their thoughts together and waited for someone to jump in. Sure enough, Jill did with a work related story that everyone listened to intently, followed by a chorus of “Wow!”
“I would now like to hear everyone’s thoughts about what we ought to accomplish as a team over the next 1-3 months,” their Strategist requested. “Since you kicked things off before Jill, thanks so much, would you like to start?” With that our Strategist used his/her home-made whiteboard – sitting on an appropriate support mechanism – to encapsulate Jill’s input. (S)he then proceeded to list thoughts from the other five team members.
At that point, their Strategist invited everyone to text him/her their top three items – not necessarily in priority – using identification letters A thru H. As those texts arrived , allowing for participant confidentiality, their Strategist turned his/her whiteboard away from view and checked off everyone’s preferences against the listing. Based upon these votes, three items came out clearly at the top. They then discussed and worked out action initiatives for each and then formed three ‘pairs’ to figure-out and implement them.
After dealing with several questions, their Strategist thanked everyone for their participation. (S)He then ended the meeting with a humorous story about what it was like to have in-office meetings. Everyone laughed at the comparison and then signed off. You can imagine that his/her team spirit is now in pretty good shape. Is this one way future remote meetings will happen? It often takes leaders more than managers to do this.
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