We’re All Remote, What Now? 4 Ways to Connect with and Support your People During the Coronavirus
Heather Leachman-Beck
Director, Workplace InnovationsI have over 15 years of experience in design and office interiors ranging in specialties from interior design to customer success. I specialize in enhancing user experience through a design-thinking approach for workplace design and strategies to optimize productivity, communication, and engagement. When I’m not in the office you can find me taking pictures of all the flowers and/or my sweet little girl.
We’ve lost the luxury of shared space. And in the same fell swoop, many of us—worldwide—are having feelings of trauma and grief. The need for human connection is more evident now than it possibly ever has been. So as employers, how can we implement tools, etiquette, and structures of support? As colleagues, how can we better our communication and have each other’s backs? As humans, how do we emerge on the other side of this unconscionable disruption of daily life into a world that’s better for all?
No one—not a single one of us—has the answers right now. There’s no playbook for this. But I am thankful that before the proverbial sh*t hit the fan, we at Hyphn put in a lot of work to understand how to help humans manage change, and how to coach organizations so they can retain and uplift their people when their work life is upended.
The one grand takeaway is this: we should be hopeful. The world has been rife for a significant shift to make work more people-centered. We’re seeing stories of light from all corners of our world that showcase businesses rallying to support their communities. I believe in purpose over profit. And I think that when the dust settles—if we all make a commitment to do what’s right now—the after-Covid world will feel a little more the same.
1. Consult your culture.
Any company can preach culture or values. And they can be relatively straightforward to practice when it’s business as usual. This is not business as usual for anyone. Now more than ever, your employees, clients, and customers are paying extremely close attention to how all companies live up to their values. So take a fresh look at your own: before remote work was mandated, how did you practice your values? Did your company hold regular happy hours? Would the CEO or president regularly check in with team leads? Did you have a company-sponsored March Madness bracket pool every year?
Take a moment to write down everything that defined “normal” that is no longer possible in the time of COVID-19. How can you, as an employer, carry this into your new remote world? Culture and morale are intricately intertwined, and both are tangible illustrations of your company values (regardless of if these have been formalized or not).
A few idea starters:
Have virtual team happy hours. Carve some time out of the week to all get together and share a moment during which tasks, projects, and deadlines are not discussed. Explore virtual games, or create some fun discussion questions to ensure the mood is fun and lighthearted.
Make 1:1 check ins a regular occurrence. An immediate shift to remote work is incredibly jarring (even if your team already had a considerate policy in place). Make it a habit to check in with as many of your leaders and team members as often as possible. Even just simple questions like, “what did you make for dinner last night?” can go a long way towards keeping the team spirits higher.
Practice the buddy system. Assign each of your employees a buddy (or let them choose their own) and encourage daily buddy check ins. Having a quick daily moment to check in with someone can be a great reprieve.
2. Know your tools.
Zoom, Slack, GoToMeeting, Skype the list goes on and on. What tools were integrated into your process before the pandemic? How can you tap into their full features to enhance communication without the overwhelming prospect of introducing your team to something brand new?
Slack is an excellent example of a tool that can work much harder for your remote team. As it becomes more and more ubiquitous, more features are popping up—many of which are super useful, some of which are simply fun. Be sure you’re taking the time to coach your team on all of the bells and whistles and implement smart etiquette rules for using Slack. Overuse video chat—even for a quick question—instead of typing it out into the chat box. Get your team into the habit of setting a status so if someone is on a call, they’re not being inundated with the popping notification sound. And finally, ensure everyone has installed the Giphy attachment. Everyone could use a laugh a few times a day.
The truth is that tools can be expensive. Especially now, many organizations may be lacking funds to try something new. If your tools are proving insufficient, now that your team is remote, take a moment to research the myriad free options available. And, if you’re still feeling overwhelmed, feel free to give us a call.
3. Practice servant leadership.
Now, more than ever, servant leadership is proving its incredible effectiveness. For many families, the changes happening are literally putting them in a life-or-death situation. Organizations simply can’t expect their employees to prioritize work over their own wellbeing; they can’t expect consistent or high levels of productivity; they shouldn’t expect growth. Right now, instead of setting goals and enforcing deadlines, team and organization leads should be proactive in asking individuals what they can do to be supportive of their task list. The question now is not, “how soon can you get to this?” and rather should be, “do you have what you need? What can I get you to help?”
More importantly, let empathy be the guide. Go beyond work conversation. Ask if they’re okay; if their family is okay. There has never been a leadership course that was created to help your employees keep their morale and productivity high during a pandemic. So everything you do might feel clunky or imperfect. But the thing your people will remember is that you tried to help, they felt your empathy, and you did what you could to offer support. That’s what this is all about.
4. Ask for help.
Just like everyone else, we are experiencing the whole suite of grief, trauma, and disenfranchisement. Truly no one is immune. But what we are supremely thankful for is that we have put in the thoughtful and supremely important work of understanding change management. We are experts in helping people navigate change in the workplace—though clearly before this moment, we had never considered the implications of helping a workforce adapt to uniform remote work amidst a pandemic.
All this is to say, we’re here to help. We can be your advocate and consultant in selecting and implementing new tools, training your team, and wading through the unknowns. We can help you create a communication schedule for staying engaged with your people in trust and morale-building ways. We can help you better understand the temperature of your team so you can start creating a smarter path forward and into the future.
Just as a way to get your started, below you will find a snapshot of the Hyphn Work From Home protocols in contrast to the protocols we created for our Design Studio. Please feel free to take a look and let us know if you need guidance in creating your own.
Get in touch with me—even if you’re not sure we can help—because right now, we’re all on the same team.