Throughout the United States, organizations are in the middle of reopening, scaling back the level of openness, or planning to reopen. Media and social media channels are filled with warnings, new data and arguments of all sorts.
In the midst of the noise and challenges, three areas will determine the success your organization will have in returning to serve customers or constituents: Leadership, communication and teamwork.
By paying close attention to these interconnecting areas, leaders throughout all levels of organizations will be able to assist their associates as they transition from the disruption of the last few months. And a transition will be necessary.
The Institute for Public Relations and The Harris Poll surveyed 831 adults between May 15 to 17 to discover their feelings about returning to work and the preparations and safeguards employers need to implement. All survey respondents were in the United States and worked full time.
“Study: Employee Expectations Are Changing Due To Covid-19” identified six key findings:
- Most employees want to phase out the open office concept to ensure social distancing.
- Overwhelmingly, employees don’t think employers should require employees to return to the office if work can be done remotely until COVID-19 is no longer a threat.
- Most employees think they should be able to work from home until they are comfortable to return.
- Three-quarters of employees expect workplaces to supply certain protections when they re-open.
- Employees expect their employer to provide certain benefits if they contract COVID-19 at work.
- Americans are more likely to support legal protection if companies demonstrate accountability for employee safety.
The weight of these concerns must be added to the additional time, energy and strategic thinking required if you’re leading an organization in financial distress due to the virus.
Leadership
As if guiding a business wasn’t challenging enough, leaders will face even more challenges in the second half of 2020. Leaders should plan to spend more time in strategic thinking, troubleshooting and planning when considering the wide variety of potential challenges. A few obstacles are fluctuations in the economy, public health concerns and political and social unrest.
Leaders must also increase their capacity to be empathetic listeners and seek to deeply understand situations. For instance, if schools are not holding in-person classes five days per week, what allowances will you give to parents who must be at home to assist with virtual learning? Human resource professionals will be challenged to answer a growing number of questions regarding sick leave and family medical leave.
Despite the leader’s additional work, challenges and responsibilities due to the pandemic, your employees and customers will be watching and making judgments organizations are guided. The amount of time and effort spent ensuring the health and safety of others will be remembered for a long time.
Communication
A communications professional in my circle of friends put in a series of 18-hour days recently. Work weeks consisting of 60 or more hours are common as communicators strive to help keep their stakeholders informed and serve leadership.
During normal times, communicators are often challenged to provide frequent, clear and thorough messages. The pandemic introduced a new model of managing the flow of information on numerous changes. Outlining safety precautions and guidelines will require more communication and will include frequent reminders on using everything from hand sanitizer to personal protective equipment.
Teamwork
Leaders, consultants and academics continually emphasize one critical component in organizational effectiveness: Teamwork. While many aspects of teamwork changed due to the pandemic, its importance increased because of the physical separation of people and the resulting decrease in the quantity and quality of communication.
In some cases, your employees’ conversations during the last few months were strictly about work. This paused or altered relationships. If organizations were onboarding new employees before the shutdown, those relationships remain undeveloped.
Communicating and emphasizing teamwork and a team approach to reopening will enhance the transition to pre-pandemic conditions. Leaders can make this time of transition an opportunity to reinforce the organization’s values and enhance its culture.
Ready to improve the leadership, communication and teamwork in your organization? A conversation often is the first step. Schedule a free call with Joe Mueller and discover the path for your organization to move forward.