One of the consequences of working remotely during the pandemic is that some of your management skills may have eroded. Although you may have picked up some new ones, some of your old standbys may have atrophied.
Spring is the time for renewal, so why not use this time to take inventory of your skills? Everyone is different, so here are some questions to start your thought process. Chances are that these ideas will generate others that are unique to you.
Well, I hate to give you the news, but we are rounding the corner to complete the first two months of 2021. Is it my imagination, or has this arrived sooner than expected?
Time is obviously relative and depends on everything from your workload to family responsibilities to personal projects. The more you juggle, the more challenging it can be.
Many of us are a good ten months into managing a remote workforce. Although some have done well and even flourished, others are stumbling. This can be frustrating, especially if you felt successful when you were together with your team in the office.
Work will eventually return to an office environment, but it will not likely ever revert to the way it was a year ago. The managerial skills that make you brilliant in the office are different than the ones you need to succeed remotely. And whether you return to a conventional office environment or stay remote, the skills to successfully manage remotely will serve you well.
Just because many companies are working remotely doesn’t mean that your staff isn’t experiencing strife. “He said” this and “she did” that and “I don’t know anything about this” are expressions that pop up, whether you’re remote or physically in the office.
When you hear these types of phrases occasionally, it’s normal and controllable. But if these expressions occur regularly, you need to investigate what’s going on.
Everyone has their own standards of performance and achievement even if they don’t consciously think about them. The workplace supplements these standards by setting expectations for performance on the job.
Leaders need to be clear about their expectations, especially in our multigenerational workforce. What an older Baby Boomer experienced earlier in her career and expects as a given probably isn’t the norm today. If that same older Baby Boomer imposes 1970s expectations on a Gen Z employee, they may not be enthusiastically received.
Last time we looked at issues related to virtual hiring and today’s topic is what to do after someone is hired. Virtual onboarding is obviously a little trickier than onboarding in person, so here are some tips. Some of these are obvious, but who hasn’t had a time when the obvious was forgotten?
+ Replace a job description with a statement of roles and accountabilities. Clearly identify what is expected and identify the accountabilities. Accountabilities are important because it demonstrates from the beginning that you expect the person to be responsible for outcomes. Review this on the first morning and check back during the next few weeks to make sure the person is clear on these responsibilities.
Many managers – especially inexperienced ones – suffer from resistance to delegation. They often declare that it’s easier to do it themselves than to ask someone less experienced to handle it.
The challenge is, of course, that if you don’t delegate, you’ll suffer from perennial mountains of work and your “delegatees” will never get the experience.
As the reopening continues, leaders are once again facing new situations. The “current normal” (I don’t want to call it the “new normal”) is about making do with less. Fewer people are doing the work of many. Expenses are under scrutiny.
Leaders have been inevitably stressed with the myriad difficult decisions that have been made in the past several months. But it’s important to remember that everyone is stressed.
Most of you are still leading remotely with your staff also working remotely, sometimes even with a skeleton crew in your place of work. Although we have become more accustomed to this after two months, it still feels surreal, doesn’t it?
I know you have been working tirelessly to keep everything together at your company. The new rules of work are changing all the time, so you’re reacting as the environment morphs.
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: