What changes would you like to see in your team when you transition from sheltering at home and begin to return to the workplace? This is a great time to rethink higher standards and to articulate those expectations to your staff.
Here are some extremes to observe from the past six weeks or so. When working remotely, have your people:
+ Stepped up and performed beyond your expectations or have they retreated into doing the minimum?
+ Consistently offered to mentor and support other team members or have they gossiped and complained?
+ Offered additional help to you or have they hidden in a corner?
You get the point. From conversations with clients and colleagues, there are always surprises in terms of who has stepped up and who has slacked off.
Attitude is more important that skill. This is even more meaningful now than in “normal” times. You can train for skills, but it’s virtually impossible to train an attitude.
You have time to evaluate and determine who will be the future backbone of your company. Use the remaining time working from home to think about how you can boost your stars and whether your least effective staff is remediable.
Reinforce what the stars are doing right and help them spread their work ethic to colleagues. Do this now and it will make an even bigger difference when you go back to the physical office.
I say this all the time….remember that you set the tone. Use this opportunity to trigger continuous improvement and a new level of excellence in your company.
