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Following the spread of the COVID-19, many companies succumbed to the hardships of the economic turmoil and were forced to file for bankruptcy. Others managed to stay in business, but they had to quickly adapt to the new reality that all businesses were facing - how can business thrive without being able to bring the teams together?

Define the Role of Leaders and Prepare Them

The immediate solution to this problem was remote work. Creating a home office became a necessity and has proven to be an indefinite alternative for many. These changes have made the role of leaders even more important. Leaders are responsible for coordinating a team, keeping it together, and motivating people during these uncertain times. Therefore, the team leader must be trained and prepared to handle the situations in this new, socially distanced normal. 

According to “The emotions of the professional in times of pandemic" published by Observatorio de RRHH, it is more important than ever for people to trust their leaders. Companies must understand the role of leadership, its responsibilities, and how to empower leaders to make efficient and informed decisions.

Today, the most important thing is to keep teams motivated and focused to achieve business goals while maintaining healthy morale. It is critical to have oversight in all the activities and engage the team to share the status of deliveries in an open and healthy environment.

Pay Close Attention to the Welfare of the Teams and Inspire Them

It is extremely important to keep in mind that we are still in an isolated reality, which can affect people's mental health. The study, "Citizen Brands in COVID-19 code," by Cadem reveals the impact of the pandemic on society - how they feel and what they are looking for. According to the research, people "oscillate between fear, anguish, and stress." This is another issue leaders must pay close attention to and manage to ensure the welfare of the team.

Engage With Team Members and Help Them Stay Positive

Taking time to engage in activities outside of programmatic activities such  informal conversations can create moments of relaxation where collaborators can share their experience of working remotely. Leaders and teams will not know what is going on in their colleague’s minds and offering these opportunities to externalize feelings can positively affect personal and team performance.

For Montserrat Reyes, Nisum’s Recruitment and Selection Assistant, “These moments are not only about focusing on what we have to do and delivering a project or task but also about generating spaces with more laughter. For example, the daily stand-up serves to express what and how we are in the workplace - personally and emotionally. With these types of initiatives, leaders can create rich relationships where they can allow the team members to be more open, and it creates the opportunity to know more about their day-to-day lives. It allows the leader to become part of a team member’s life.”

Set Up Flexible Work Hours 

Many large tech corporations such as Twitter and Google invest in employee happiness by offering a flexible work environment. Google’s recent changes to work flexibility have increased employee pride to 89%, 4% higher before the pandemic. It seems that work flexibility plays a positive role in employee happiness and morale. To set up flexible work hours, discuss what hours work best for the team or individuals and set expectations on deliverable timelines. This will give employees more freedom to achieve a work-life balance and allow them to work in a way that suits them best without hindering productivity nor quality.

Invest in People-Oriented Leadership

This pandemic created various changes in the workflow for many and embracing the home office is one of them. Work from home may become a permanent reality for many companies in the upcoming years. These are the times where charismatic, participatory, democratic, and people-oriented leadership becomes even more opportune and important.

Employees must be guided by leaders, and in turn, leaders should become an example of motivation and inspiration in the workplace. In the pre-pandemic work culture, management teams had already played an important role with great responsibilities, but now, without daily interactions in an office, it is even more vital for the success of the team members and business for the company to consider the well-being of its employees while reflecting the productivity.

How Nisum Can Help

Large organizations have found that Nisum gives them a competitive edge through Lean and Agile coaching. They are using Nisum to build change management systems that address key organizational challenges related to team efficiency and product centricity. Now more than ever, we can help manage an effective remote work culture through our expertise with distributed teams to drive results.

Our team of technical experts has the experience, knowledge, and cutting-edge tools to deliver customized digital solutions to address the specific need of each client in all facets of its organization. To know more about our services, contact us.