As Managers and Team Leaders hope to begin to return to the workplace, how can we use the re-entry as an opportunity?
After nearly a year of home-working, videoconferencing and remote leadership many will be returning to a new kind of office. One with temperature tests, taped lifts and red lines.
Many of our clients have remarked how the forced separation has strengthened some bonds with adversity bringing working communities together just as it has other communities. This will now be tested by the return to the workplace and workers with differing interpretations of the Covid crisis and the measures taken.
There has been a pulling together of teams with groups responding to the need for all to do their bit. The goodwill and equity that has grown as a result of this should be the basis of moving forward. You do this by using the trust you have developed in your team as you responded to their needs in a difficult time. Build on that trust by maintaining its two key components : Competence and Motivation.
Competence
As a leader, you’ve been stretched over the past period and responded well to the need to understand your people and their issues and their differences, to resolve difficulties, to maintain focus on work and objectives with communication and connection. This has been noticed by your people and they like it. Don’t leave it at home on your journey back into work.
Motivation
Your people knew that you had their interest at heart. You’ve built an affiliation and trust because your motivation has not just been about the company and its products or services but about its people. You have been seen to be interested in their safety and security , their mental and physical well-being and it’s not gone unnoticed. Build on it when you return. Changes are hitting your people in sometimes unexpected ways. As they return, some will be ecstatic, some will be wary, some will struggle, others will thrive. Be there for them by using the competencies you’ve developed and the motivation to care.
