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AFTER LOCKDOWN: MANAGING FOR TEAM HARMONY
Here we offer some guidelines and food for thought to managers and team leaders, of whatever level, as we move out of lockdown and find new ways of working over the coming weeks. Your HR team and colleagues working in staff welfare will be a great support to you through this time and we suggest you use them to full effect.
As a manager or team leader, please make sure you take good care of yourself, whatever the work pressures – and ask for support yourself when needed. In this way you will be able to support others.
We have set out some guidelines under three headings different experiences, inequalities and practical issues.
Under each heading we make some practical suggestions on how to manage those issues. You will want to pick and choose which ideas sound right for your staff; and you will no doubt think of others. Discussing the range of ideas with your team will be a helpful exercise in itself and will allow others to contribute.
Different experiences of lockdown
Don’t assume everyone has had the same experience of the last few months. As has been said, we’ve been through the same storm but in different boats. Some people will be eager to tell their own stories when they return to work, which can be therapeutic and this is a good moment for a reminder to the whole team to be sensitive to each other.
Some individuals will have experienced high stress from loss of control over their lives and others may have heightened anxiety due to financial, domestic or health worries. The effect of these stressors may remain for a period of time, even when lockdown is long past. Others may have found lockdown a positive experience and may be concerned about returning to work.
Offer each member of staff the opportunity to speak to you privately about their experience and their feelings about post lockdown working. Remember, as their manager you don’t have to fix their problems or situation, but you can provide high quality listening which will be very important. As best you can, hold this space for your team member rather than making comments or talking about your own experience. Find out what bereavement / other counselling is available in the organisation.
Introduce a brief “check-in/ how are you?” time at the start of team meetings or at the start of each working week. This is particularly valuable when some staff are working remotely. Knowing how your team are doing will increase effectiveness and help staff settle and re-engage, saving you a lot of time in the long-run.
Think about increasing choice and control for your team, even if it’s just over the small things.
Inequalities and disparities
Some people will have had the advantage of a garden or balcony during lockdown, while others won’t; some have had the space to set up their home office in a separate room while others have been working on the kitchen table. Some with children will have combined home schooling with working from home. Those shielding (whether themselves or a vulnerable household member) will have had particular restrictions on movement.
In addition, staff may feel they have been treated unfairly by organisational responses to the crisis: some will have been put on furlough and others not, for example. Issues of equality, difference and fairness may create some bumpiness in working relationships. Perceived unfairness or inequality are just as damaging to work harmony as real unfairness and just as real to the person concerned.
Hoping that these problems will go away or being tempted to leave a conflict situation in the too-difficult pile never works and stores up issues for the future.
Take care with the assumptions you make about home circumstances and be thoughtful about how you, as a manager, talk about remote working.
Be prepared for conflict to arise here and there, sometimes where you would least expect it. Talk to HR early on about possible ways to resolve it.
Practical issues of working from home
Pressure (whether real or imagined) to be “always available” when working from home causes considerable stress for some, while others thrive and are energised by the “always on” culture! Research suggests that some people have worked longer hours than normal in the current crisis, maybe due to the difficulty of managing work/home boundaries or due to sickness of colleagues.
Under normal circumstances, each member of your team will have a preferred mode – and frequency – of communication with their colleagues: those preferences may have been challenged or disrupted during lockdown. Take the time to speak to your team members privately about these issues, as well as allowing space for discussion at a team meeting. When you can, allow your team to take control over small things that are important to them.
Find out if your team members made discoveries about their own preferred way of working, their productivity or their work/life balance during remote working and explore how these can be accommodated longer-term. Consider assigning work from home “buddies” for those who function better with more social interaction. Changes always have to be in the context of organisational requirements but some modifications may be minor.
Be clear with your team about your expectations on availability. For those still working from home, ask how your behaviour as their manager can help them manage their work/home boundaries. For example, emailing requests or instructions outside working hours can cause considerable unnecessary stress unless staff know that they’re not expected to respond outside normal working hours. Give some thought to managing your own availability and be clear with others about your boundaries.
As a manager or team leader, you may feel anxious about how to supervise people working remotely. Be open about your requirement for different ways to check in /get updates from your team. Adapting your usual practice to different circumstances is not micro-management; you have every right to introduce different ways to maintain accountability. Not being clear about this now will only lead to problems in the future.
Don’t assume that everyone is equally comfortable using MS Teams, zoom etc. While these technologies may be necessary for group discussions, allow your staff some flexibility in other circumstances and for one-to-ones.
Build in regular reviews of how this different way of working is going. If staff know that there will be frequent opportunities to raise concerns and to tweak arrangements, that will help them cope with what for some will be a stressful way of working.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
AFTER LOCKDOWN: MANAGING FOR TEAM HARMONY
Here we offer some guidelines and food for thought to managers and team leaders, of whatever level, as we move out of lockdown and find new ways of working over the coming weeks. Your HR team and colleagues working in staff welfare will be a great support to you through this time and we suggest you use them to full effect.
As a manager or team leader, please make sure you take good care of yourself, whatever the work pressures – and ask for support yourself when needed. In this way you will be able to support others.
We have set out some guidelines under three headings different experiences, inequalities and practical issues.
Under each heading we make some practical suggestions on how to manage those issues. You will want to pick and choose which ideas sound right for your staff; and you will no doubt think of others. Discussing the range of ideas with your team will be a helpful exercise in itself and will allow others to contribute.
Different experiences of lockdown
Don’t assume everyone has had the same experience of the last few months. As has been said, we’ve been through the same storm but in different boats. Some people will be eager to tell their own stories when they return to work, which can be therapeutic and this is a good moment for a reminder to the whole team to be sensitive to each other.
Some individuals will have experienced high stress from loss of control over their lives and others may have heightened anxiety due to financial, domestic or health worries. The effect of these stressors may remain for a period of time, even when lockdown is long past. Others may have found lockdown a positive experience and may be concerned about returning to work.
Offer each member of staff the opportunity to speak to you privately about their experience and their feelings about post lockdown working. Remember, as their manager you don’t have to fix their problems or situation, but you can provide high quality listening which will be very important. As best you can, hold this space for your team member rather than making comments or talking about your own experience. Find out what bereavement / other counselling is available in the organisation.
Introduce a brief “check-in/ how are you?” time at the start of team meetings or at the start of each working week. This is particularly valuable when some staff are working remotely. Knowing how your team are doing will increase effectiveness and help staff settle and re-engage, saving you a lot of time in the long-run.
Think about increasing choice and control for your team, even if it’s just over the small things.
Inequalities and disparities
Some people will have had the advantage of a garden or balcony during lockdown, while others won’t; some have had the space to set up their home office in a separate room while others have been working on the kitchen table. Some with children will have combined home schooling with working from home. Those shielding (whether themselves or a vulnerable household member) will have had particular restrictions on movement.
In addition, staff may feel they have been treated unfairly by organisational responses to the crisis: some will have been put on furlough and others not, for example. Issues of equality, difference and fairness may create some bumpiness in working relationships. Perceived unfairness or inequality are just as damaging to work harmony as real unfairness and just as real to the person concerned.
Hoping that these problems will go away or being tempted to leave a conflict situation in the too-difficult pile never works and stores up issues for the future.
Take care with the assumptions you make about home circumstances and be thoughtful about how you, as a manager, talk about remote working.
Be prepared for conflict to arise here and there, sometimes where you would least expect it. Talk to HR early on about possible ways to resolve it.
Practical issues of working from home
Pressure (whether real or imagined) to be “always available” when working from home causes considerable stress for some, while others thrive and are energised by the “always on” culture! Research suggests that some people have worked longer hours than normal in the current crisis, maybe due to the difficulty of managing work/home boundaries or due to sickness of colleagues.
Under normal circumstances, each member of your team will have a preferred mode – and frequency – of communication with their colleagues: those preferences may have been challenged or disrupted during lockdown. Take the time to speak to your team members privately about these issues, as well as allowing space for discussion at a team meeting. When you can, allow your team to take control over small things that are important to them.
Find out if your team members made discoveries about their own preferred way of working, their productivity or their work/life balance during remote working and explore how these can be accommodated longer-term. Consider assigning work from home “buddies” for those who function better with more social interaction. Changes always have to be in the context of organisational requirements but some modifications may be minor.
Be clear with your team about your expectations on availability. For those still working from home, ask how your behaviour as their manager can help them manage their work/home boundaries. For example, emailing requests or instructions outside working hours can cause considerable unnecessary stress unless staff know that they’re not expected to respond outside normal working hours. Give some thought to managing your own availability and be clear with others about your boundaries.
As a manager or team leader, you may feel anxious about how to supervise people working remotely. Be open about your requirement for different ways to check in /get updates from your team. Adapting your usual practice to different circumstances is not micro-management; you have every right to introduce different ways to maintain accountability. Not being clear about this now will only lead to problems in the future.
Don’t assume that everyone is equally comfortable using MS Teams, zoom etc. While these technologies may be necessary for group discussions, allow your staff some flexibility in other circumstances and for one-to-ones.
Build in regular reviews of how this different way of working is going. If staff know that there will be frequent opportunities to raise concerns and to tweak arrangements, that will help them cope with what for some will be a stressful way of working.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
One to one COACHING Team Coaching
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Conflict coaching can be useful if there's a difficult situation, and mediation isn't possible, for example because one party refuses to mediate or is reluctant to meet with the other party.
The coach can help one or both parties to think through their responses in a constructive way, to avoid further escalating the problem. Breaking the Cycle of Conflict Conflict coaching changes the dynamic of a conflict, whether only one party, or both parties, are being coached. If one party can be supported in reflecting on their reactions, their feelings and the effect of their actions, they can choose different behaviour. This may put an end to the spiral of escalation and lead to greater understanding on both sides. Sometimes it can be helpful either in the lead up to a mediation, or as a follow up after a mediation has taken place. |
Team coaching can be appropriate if a team is having difficulties due to “personality clashes” which are reducing its effectiveness. It is also an excellent maintenance and development activity for teams which are functioning well, to enhance performance, help them embrace difference, and build a strong sense of team membership which will reduce the risk of future difficulties. How it Works We'll work with you to design an approach that meets the needs of the particular client team. Typically we spend time with individual team members, as well as facilitating sessions with the whole team, and then explore ways to enhance the team /individual / team dynamic. We sometimes make use of the MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) as a tool for understanding and exploring individuals' different working styles. |
