There’s much more to working from home than setting up a video conference. We need creative ideas to keep people employed who have jobs that aren’t conducive to working at home. Flexible work arrangements are important to explore.
There’s much more to working from home than setting up a video conference. We need creative ideas to keep people employed who have jobs that aren’t conducive to working at home. Flexible work arrangements are important to explore.
With schools closing down and workplaces going online, many of us are finding ourselves in uncharted territory. It’s not just that we have to work from home, but we have to do it with our kids running around the house. The fact is you’re going to be more distracted working from home over the next few weeks when the whole family is home with you. But there are best practices to help you stay focused without ruining your relationships with your spouse and children.
The last word for this time of the Coronavirus crisis is that it is only temporary. You can set up routines that won’t last forever, like giving your kids more screen time or shifting your work to the evenings or playing tag in the yard at lunchtime or calling your coworkers just to chat. We’re all on edge with the ambiguity of the illness and the effects of cabin fever. Treat yourself and others with compassion during this period of time. Think about how you will want to look back on it.
Two important challenges arise when we ask our employees to work from home. First is the technology challenge and second is the leadership challenge. To keep your team members productive, make sure they have the technology they need, are trained on how to use it, and have quick access to IT help to solve tech problems. This should be delegated to your IT department or service provider. You do not want to have to shift your role to IT support to keep your team up and running.
What you will need to do as a virtual leader is to shift your management style. No matter what your leadership philosophy is, going virtual will impact it. If you are normally hands on, for example, you will need to make peace with the idea your team working without you when they are working from home. If you are normally more hands off, you will need to find ways to check in more with your team to make sure things are going smoothly.
Working virtually is not fundamentally different than working in the office, but leadership challenges tend to amplify in virtual teams. Communication, trust, and engagement are three areas that are impacted the most. Here are some tips on managing virtual communication.
Set the expectations of how often and by which method you want to communicate with your team. Questions to consider:
Recommendations:
To see more tips on building and maintaining trust in virtual teams, and engaging employees on virtual teams, stay tuned. Here are tips on running virtual meetings.