During the next few months, we will be focussing on increasing your self-awareness as a leader. We began with an excellent network session on leading with emotional intelligence (EQ) rather than intellect (IQ). This provocation helped us to understand the 5 dimensions and 15 realms of this capability it will also assist leaders to unlock their empathy and humility.
The Covid pandemic has been one of the most challenging periods for executives and many have risen to this crisis and by necessity elevated their organisations with agile and ingenious solutions. They have embraced collaboration and peer-to-peer networks but most importantly they learned to recalibrate HOW the business should do things not just what it does.
However, as we move through this second period of lockdown many are still grappling with the emotional challenges of employee remote working and from observing early productivity increases they are now experiencing declining effectiveness and reduced levels of morale across the virtual team environment.
A majority of these concerns are outlined below:-
- People can easily be distracted at home and it is much harder to establish the right "mindset" and prioritise work appropriately.
- Without significant effort, communications can be disparate, and individuals can be left out of the loop.
- Creativity can be lost because of the absence of information exchange and the spontaneous brainstorming with colleagues around the coffee machine.
- Company culture comes under strain because people don't feel part of a face-to-face community and it becomes difficult to effectively induct new employees.
- Individuals depending on their personal circumstances can become lonely and isolated and the potential for mental health issues amongst this group of remote workers is greatly increased.
In fact, it's this feeling of isolation and loneliness that can be the most damaging to the company performance and the self esteem of the executive group.
We all need a level of human interaction to keep us sane and when we are in lockdown and perhaps even living alone, which some of your employees will be, to prevent the rapid decline of mental health.
To understand the seriousness of this more fully, we can explore some interesting characters from literature.
It was poet John Donne, after a period of confinement, who wrote, "sustained solitude is a torment which is not threatened in hell itself." Loneliness is a fairly modern concept but the period of isolation from our colleagues at work and some members of our family is much more aligned with John Donne's definition of solitude.
If we reflect on Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe where he endures 28 years on an uninhabited island, which might sound excessive when compared to the Covid lockdown, but my argument is that our modern pace of life and constant access to the stimulus of others can mentally make 3 months seem like 3 years which is made worse by the media one minute releasing positive data and the next more bad news. This period is also littered with false dawns, like the moment when Crusoe discovers a shipwreck near the island but none of the crew survived. He breaks down for the first time in the book and cries out "oh if only there had been one soul saved out of this ship, then I might have had one fellow creature to have spoken to me and to have conversed with!" For many the second lockdown is a parallel to this false dawn with an unexpected extension to isolation.
[A slight digression, but when Robinson Crusoe finally, after 25 years, encounters Friday, he has slightly muted excitement. But more importantly in today's society the novel, written in 1623, was the first non-white character to be given a realistic, humane, and individual strength of a character in an English novel. The book then creates what could only be described as the beginning of the classic racial divide, when Crusoe teaches him to call him "master", which makes Friday an enduring political symbol of racial injustice right at the beginning of an imperialist expansion which today is gradually but effectively been addressed.]
Let's lighten the moment with Tom Hanks in isolation and what should have been an Oscar winning performance from Mr Wilson (the volleyball). The moment most people are waiting for during the lockdown is the arrival of an online shopping parcel, Mr Wilson washes up on the island in a FedEx box. What Castaway portrays brilliantly is the deep belief and truth about the irrepressibly social nature of human beings. Without this contact, our mental health deteriorates to the point of anchoring connection with inanimate objects.
At the beginning of the movie "Room" lead character Jack wakes up in the shed where he'd spent every minute of his life in captivity and greets his best friends. "Good morning, wardrobe. Good morning, TV. Good morning sink. Good morning toilet. Good morning all." For some people it's hard not to feel like Jack these days, with household objects becoming increasingly familiar.
So as leaders, how do we avoid this terrifying description of isolation or sustained solitude? A recent survey in America, where they are more willing to open up about mental health issues, suggested that 41% of people are struggling with mental health conditions as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and many companies are failing to address the problem. How many of you are writing emails or sending text messages beginning with "hope you are well” knowing many people are not well? Or receiving and sending replies like "ok thank you" or "I'm fine" which hide how people are really feeling.
Whilst we all hope that the emergence of vaccines will solve the problem, the reality is that significant damage can occur over the next 6-9 months. We need to act now and accept that more must be done to provide security, connectivity, and a real sense of belonging. How can we achieve this when a majority of our communication is done virtually? Many organisations are planning to make home virtual working part of the future, so we must surely all improve our approach.
One of the most fundamental starting points is to build a connection and create a virtual community. This is all about how much people understand what is happening in the company and establishing a culture of "care" for what the business is doing, but most importantly how it does it. Often described as "one team, one goal" mindset that unites everybody and encourages cooperation and collaboration.
Here at Uspire Network we have created a process called your Virtual Care Credo or VCC. This is an engaging purpose for this new way of working and it has four components and five steps:-
- How do you want people to feel during this evolution and transition to virtual working?
- Defining what the business should be doing for its people?
- How to make people enjoy reaching out to the broader team and helping to keep everyone engaged?
- How to keep everyone focussed on the business vision and outcomes required to succeed?
Let's now look at the five steps to create your VCC.
Once you have developed your VCC, the next important step is to address any loss of team spirit. It's difficult to build a "three musketeer" environment when people are highly functional over Zoom or communicating via a series of disjointed emails.
As a leader trying to master virtual interaction, you must establish a compelling direction for your team. You can only do this by checking with everyone individually to ensure they are connected to the business strategy. At this point the objectives that underpin the strategy should be distributed throughout the team. A good technique to encourage full team participation remotely is to rotate the chairman for meetings. It's also important to agree the team goals that can only be delivered successfully by working together.
One of the biggest mistakes leaders are making right now is just because everyone is working from home, does not mean they are available all the time. People still schedule meetings, calls and downtime the same way they would if they were in the office. Don’t assume they are just doing nothing waiting for your call.
To maintain high levels of morale amongst virtual teams the Uspire Network has also developed a 15-point plan for leaders.
- Stay connected with others by introducing regular full team contact. Mix it up and try “walk and talk” meetings where everyone gets on a call whilst enjoying some outdoor space and fresh air.
- Maintain a strong company message and adapt by introducing your virtual care credo. Continuously reinforce the company vision and strategy. Keep people well informed about any changes in direction.
- Build an achievements wall. This enables you to deliver "shout outs" and celebrate success.
- Establish a remote work and play culture. (See our summary of creative team building ideas.)
- Move learning and development up the agenda. They need it more than ever it’s a sign that the company are investing in them personally.
- Take regular team temperature checks using surveys.
- Promote "Time to Think" people need gaps in the day for mindfulness or exercise. Create a virtual office breakout room so people can chat during breaks.
- Introduce virtual support groups where people can ask for help and discuss issues with colleagues.
- Move employee wellness up the agenda. Don’t just say you care make it visible in your actions and resourcing. Create a "panic button" if someone is showing signs of heightened stress or changes in behaviour react quickly.
- Trust them. Just because you cannot see them working should not change your behaviour. Deliver empowerment and be more flexible about how and when they work.
- Collaborate with established partners and create joint "hangouts" where you can share challenges, and communicate with trusted employees from other companies.
- Support local employee causes, create an identity for the company where your people live and now work. Get them to tell stories of how the company supported and has delivered something significant in the local community.
- Have an appropriate sense of humour during difficult periods. You need to become the Vice President of Fun, not just the boss.
- Dial up humility, transparency, and empathy by sharing your stories and showing some vulnerability. Also make sure you never miss a birthday or work anniversary of a team member. It will mean a great deal to each individual.
- Help everyone get "set up" properly and efficiently. You don't want your team working from home having to sit on the bed or in a freezing garden shed. Where appropriate, give them a home office allowance.
Finally lets refer back to the network session with Lynn Leahy and the importance of building empathy in a virtual world. She introduced and reminded us of the ‘Mercedes Model’ for looking at the relationships we build both in life and with our teams.
Remember if the conditions in any one of the three segments change then the other two change automatically so the relationships we build and the empathy we are trying to create can be influenced by many variables. The clear disadvantage following this remotely is the limitations of body language and how people adapt their virtual persona.
So to demonstrate and practice empathy try and repeat back what you have heard to check your understanding. Ask them to help you to more fully comprehend the situation. We should never be defensive or dismissive. Fundamentally we must listen and ask ourselves what are they saying and how are they communicating. Stephen Covey reminds us that ‘Seek first to understand before being understood’. We constantly need to evolve as a leader because self-actualisation is the oxygen and nourishment that feeds both success and contentment.
Tom Hanks played an obsessive and clock-watching businessman in Castaway. When on the desert island in isolation he befriends the volleyball, he then jokes with Wilson, confides in Wilson and at one point even kicks him out of the cave like an angry spouse. When he finally loses his volleyball to the ocean current he cries out, ‘I’m sorry Mr Wilson’! Look after yourself and your people don’t lose any of the team to the ‘flash flood’ and rapid current of the Covid pandemic.