As coronavirus cases continue to surge, so have the number of companies telling their employees to work from home, with 46% of American businesses putting into practice remote-work (work from home) policies as of mid-February. If not completely shut down, several companies are now operating with either a hand-full of people or with a large percentage of their people wearing personal protective equipment inside and outside the workplace. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every work environment.
Whether you are a manager looking for ways to keep your newly remote-work team motivated and engaged, or an administrator struggling to keep the employees who come into work each day safe and motivated, here are seven practical ways to support and motivate your staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.
1) Make Safety a Priority
In today’s highly cautious climate, it’s hard for people to work with confidence if they do not feel safe. Employers have to be responsible for ensuring that not only are their work environments in compliance with state and federal guidelines but also communicate and streamline the value for employee safety, health, and protection.
If your company is still operating on-site, this means having more than enough hand sanitizer, soap, gloves, and masks for all staff to use, along with adhering to and practicing social distancing at all times. For businesses operating both in-person and remotely, your company’s health and safety policies should be updated and followed daily, highlighting any policy changes for employees affected by COVID-19.
2) Model Calm and Kindness
Stress, worry, panic, and emotions are at an all-time high right now. Regardless of how you may feel as a manager at this time, your employees need someone to look to for transparency, facts, and reassurance. Do not allow yourself to become paralyzed by uncertainty or panic.
A motivating leader will remain calm, communicate a clear and updated plan of action for moving forward, engage with kindness and caring support, and will honestly acknowledge changes to business daily.
3) Be Flexible and Willing to Reorient Activities
Hear me clearly as I state this, Loosen up and be flexible. During these challenging times, when working from home, your employees will also have to do household chores or help their children with remote-schooling, and you must understand that this is now also a part of their new normal. Allowing your employees some flexibility to focus on their chores or family at home is not a bad idea, whereas it will help them get back to work with a free mind. Therefore, it would be wise of you to be flexible with your employees to help strengthen their commitment towards the organization.
Another strategy is to be willing to reorient activities as many remote work teams are discovering, not all tasks are easily done at a desk in an office transition smoothly to a makeshift desk, countertop, or couch at home. It can be disheartening to staff to attempt to do work they’ve always done effortlessly in an environment that actively works against them. For this reason, be mindful to temporarily reorient the workload, assign tasks that can be done out of order, or with an extended deadline. Take the opportunity to have workers go through their workload list, read and clean their email boxes, along with other spring cleaning tasks. Doing this two to three times a week will help your employees to feel and be productive as well as position the company to start on the right foot when restrictions lift.
4) Be Secure
It is not only humans who get viruses, but computers and company networks do too. If you do not have proper protection for your company’s networks, it will be threatened by your remote-workers working from home accessing your systems via their own devices, or using unencrypted memory sticks. Many staff groups and businesses are now also utilizing free online video conferencing platforms like Zoom Meetings, Cisco Webex Meetings, Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams, GoToMeeting, CyberLink U Meeting, Bluejeans, Google Meet, and Lifesize to name a few.
Have your IT department to set up protocols and secure practices immediately, and you should communicate your company’s ‘secure policies’ a few times each week to make sure every member of your remote-work team is aware of how important it is to protect the company’s network systems.
5) Be Flexible and Willing to Reorient Activities
For many remote workers, working from home makes them more productive, but others will be easily distracted (or eager to just lounge and do work later; the procrastinator). Deal with this by checking their wellbeing daily and setting clear and realistic deadlines for tasks/projects while monitoring productivity and outcomes.
Whether your staff is working inside your work environment or from home, encourage everyone to be coronavirus-aware and safe. Also, be mindful that working from home can feel isolating and lonely. Use collaborative tools such as Zoom, Webex Meetings, Microsoft Teams, or Skype for Business to bring workers together virtually, and conduct genuine wellbeing check-in chat sessions. To streamline the communication of formal and important information – you could use video or audio conferencing, emails, intranet postings, and newsletters.
6) Implement Fun and Inspiring Moments
Even in stressful, high tension, on edge, and uncertain times, there should always be room for creative fun and moments filled with nothing but inspiration and gratitude.
As a manager and supportive soul — now is the time for you to build a supportive and robust communication regime with your teams, cheer them up with instant appreciation, and create a positive virtual community for all of your employees. You can also host online team building activities and breaks for sharing inspirational moments. Be flexible and open to learning new ways to get work done. Try not to be overly demanding or inclined to micro-manage every minute of your staff members’ workday.
7) Invest in Development
Lastly, invest in professional and business development. Finding and providing professional development opportunities for staff reminds them that you genuinely see value in helping to increase their knowledge and skills for the continued growth and success of the team. Virtual professional development sessions like webinars (a seminar conducted over the internet) will give them the tools and increased motivation to work with purpose, passion, and confidence.
The same rings true with business development. Have open discussions with staff regarding ‘What’s next?’ after the pandemic, and acknowledge and create a list of ideas and solutions. Apply this strategy with the other strategies outlined in this article, and you will see support and motivation grow daily with your team. With everyone checking-in, staying engaged, and leaning on one another, you all can emerge from COVID-19 as a more safe, durable, ready, and successful company.
Fact: We do not know how long the COVID-19 pandemic will last or ‘What’s next?’ for our businesses or industries, but one thing is for sure: In adjusting and working our way through this tumultuous time, we are discovering practical ways to carry on while learning valuable lessons about how to work effectively from home or more safely inside the workplace. Stay safe. Be blessed. Keep moving positively and productively forward each day.
Hello! What is one way you support and motivate your staff during the COVID-19 pandemic? Please feel free to share your strategy by commenting below. Thank you in advance for sharing.
About the Author: Ty Howard, Mr. Untie the Knots®,
Inspiring and Freeing Optimal Success Daily!
Ty Howard is America’s Untie the Knots® Consultant, and Optimal Success and Passion Expert. He has spoken to nearly two million college faculty, staff, students, student leaders, student athletes, and higher education association members across the nation and around the world. For information on his programs and services, visit: http://dynamiccollegespeaker.com.
