Your employees need active leadership

Leading virtually has its challenges, and requires leaders to adjust how they assign work and interact with their employees. Your employees may feel challenged as well, since not only do they need to learn how to work differently, but they may have other stresses impacting their work like children at home.

Just because you don’t see most of your employees on a daily basis, doesn’t mean they don’t need leadership. Leadership doesn’t stop because of the current situation. It’s important to be an active leader, not a passive leader.

The same leadership principles are important, it just takes more energy and effort in a virtual environment. As a leader, you don’t have the benefit of the daily interactions like passing a colleague in the hallway or chatting before a meeting to create connections. It will require more organization, planning, effort, and energy to create connection with your team.

Active leadership is continuing the important practices of leadership, no matter where your employees are working:

  • Feedback
  • Check-ins
  • Team meetings
  • Coaching
  • Support
  • Connection

A study by Remote.co found that “87% of remote workers feel more connected through the use of video conferencing.” Video is an important tool for connecting people.

One way to ensure deeper connections is to require employees to use their video camera, if they have one available. You wouldn’t allow a member service representative to show up to work in their pajamas, would you? Of course not. Employees may feel more casual at home, and just not turn on their camera. It’s okay to be more casual, but employees are still coming to work, even on a Zoom call. Just like they are “seen” in a team meeting in the office, they should be “seen” in a virtual team meeting. Instill the same standards for video meetings—expect employees to come to the call ready to engage. Having some people on video and others not contributes to a lack of connection. For team video meetings with less than 10 people, have them keep their microphones unmuted so you can build off the natural comments and conversation.

While video is a great way to connect, it’s also important to consider that constant virtual meetings can be draining and exhausting. Consider other options for connecting such as a phone call, conference line, or chat. Not every interaction needs to be a video call.

Caretaking the culture is still one of the main responsibilities of leaders, even in a virtual environment.  It’s easier and more comfortable for most leaders to focus on tasks and results. But purposefully creating connection is important to keep your team engaged and productive.

Hold regular individual video calls with each one of your direct reports and connect with them. Don’t make this call all about work—make it a point to understand their personal challenges during this unprecedented time.

Below are some examples of questions you might ask. This should be a genuine, authentic call to demonstrate your care and concern for your employee.

  • How are you doing through all of this?
  • How has this challenging time impacted you and your family?
  • Is there anything I can do to support you?

Listen to your employee and empathize with what they are going through. Some employees may have minimal impact (just navigating how to work remotely), while others may have a more significant impact (elderly parents, children they are trying to homeschool, or a spouse or partner whose job has been impacted negatively).

One of the worst things leaders can do is to conduct work as usual. What is going on in our country—and in the world—is unprecedented, and has an impact on each of your employees in different ways.  These regular interactions can do a lot to help your employees feel valued and understood, which will impact how engaged they are in their work.

No matter where your employees are working, they need you. They need you to create clarity, caretake the culture, and support them through this time. Effective leaders are active leaders—they understand the importance and responsibility of leading their employees through challenging times.

Laurie Maddalena

Laurie Maddalena

Laurie Maddalena is a dynamic and engaging keynote speaker and leadership consultant. She writes a monthly online column for next generation leaders for CUES and has published articles in Credit ... Web: www.envisionexcellence.net Details