While many employees have worked from home occasionally during their working careers, the new policies separating employees from each other and their managers has proved to be a unique and challenging experience. In recent months, our conversations with managers have centered around unknowns, unexpected circumstances, and undefined expectations. Some of the most confident managers have felt lost and lower in confidence given the deviation from their traditional approaches with their teams. Consider how many moments during the past nine months you have had a shorter fuse, felt mentally and physically exhausted, or felt disconnected from your team. These experiences are happening not only with a majority of managers but at all levels throughout an organization and the impact will last far longer than necessary if we don’t see a shift in how we consider our responses to the ‘new normal.’
In order to ensure connections are maintained, communication stays strong, and deliverables are met with high quality outcomes, it takes a shift in how we lead remote teams. First, managers must set the tone by increasing their resilience amidst the challenges accompanying remote teaming and then position others to be strategic in their responses as well. The ability to Bounce Back is a concept used to create thriving moments together as a team in our current work environment and is a multi-faceted growth strategy. It includes building the Physical energy to get through the day, the Mental Attentiveness to stay focused, the Emotional Agility to manage our responses to the unexpected, the Social Connectedness to keep relationships strong, and the Alignment to priorities for what matters most, both personally and professionally.
While on the surface many start with redefining structure and processes on the path to leading remotely, without the ability to maintain hardy responses to the new structure, managers will be unable to maintain credibility, trust and rapport with their team. If managers can focus on strategies that help them bounce back and prepare for a well-rounded approach to leading, positive outcomes go up and we experience synergies as a team.
Dennis Faurote and Sarah Turner’s VIRTUAL LIVE “Leading Remote Teams” course is December 9. Find out more and register
here.