Category: Team Management

Overcoming Challenges in Returning Back to Work

Category: Business, Organisation, Team Management, Technology, Work From Home, Work from Office

“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity” – Sun Tzu

The Covid Pandemic brought major disruptions in the way businesses carried out their operations. Organizations handled this metamorphosis by adopting new ways of working which allowed employees to work from remote locations through a hybrid working model. Now that the business leaders want their employees to return back to their workplace, they are facing some amount of resistance from their workforce which could put businesses at risk on account of lower productivity and rise in turnover. Let’s look at some of the ways by which a leadership team can mitigate these challenges through enhanced employee engagement and collaboration.

It’s imperative to engage and connect deeply with employees by fostering positive workplace culture through employee newsletters. Understanding employee concerns and resolving any unfounded fears and anxieties about returning back to work would go a long way in instilling faith and confidence amongst the workforce. Use employee communication apps to establish and deepen connections with team members. Leverage on RSVP alerts to send notifications about important meetings and gatherings. Reward and recognize performers for their achievements and celebrate special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries with animations.

The leadership team needs to play a key role in managing change and handle this critical phase of transition tactfully. Conduct Online surveys to identify any challenges faced by employees. This would help in keeping a tab on employee sentiments and understand their mindsets and behaviors. Reinforce faith and restore employee confidence by driving key leadership messages through digital signage. Drive key messages about change through multi channel messaging and assess employee understanding of changes with quizzes and online questionnaires. Make use of remote collaboration tools like video conferencing and zoom to strengthen communication capabilities across the teams.

Another important concern which needs to be addressed is to ensure employee safety standards. Ensure that the employees who are required to return back to work are vaccinated to de-risk the workplace environment. Leaders can make use of technology driven contact tracing to check the spread of virus and ensure that the staff members are protected from any infection. Maintain social distancing norms and avoid people getting too close to one another in the office premises by prioritizing health and safety. Re-evaluate physical space and amend workflows by deploying sensors and wearable devices.

Conclusion

We at Newlineinfo Corp put our employees first and care for their wellbeing. We have a robust action plan and are committed to provide all the support and assistance required by our workforce while returning back to work.

Things High Performing Teams Do Differently

Category: Business, Leadership, Organisation, Team Management

“Conscious leadership is the intention, awareness and choices designed to inform, impact and guide better thinking, feeling, and actions, to achieve meaningful and valuable results.” – Tony Dovale

The Covid pandemic has transformed the modus operandi of the digital workforce through remote working. Organizations across the world have been developing new ways of working resulting in hybrid working models. This has caused a dent in team bonding due to social distancing impacting the interpersonal relationships amongst team members. Leadership team is grappling with such new age challenges to keep up the employee morale and motivate them to deliver higher productivity for achieving growth and profitability. Let’s look at some of the things that high performing teams do differently for delivering superior performance.

Ineffective communication can often lead to poor staff engagement levels that can lead to trust issues and misunderstandings. This can have a negative impact on service delivery and customer satisfaction levels. On the contrary, when the communication is effective, it can create a clarity of purpose that helps the team members understand the organizational goals for strategic alignment. It creates a robust platform for building trust and interpersonal connectivity through sharing and understanding. Leaders need to instill confidence through inspiring communication for restoring faith and allaying any fears and anxieties during pandemic situations.

For being effective, team meetings need to be scheduled with specific agenda within the stipulated timelines. Being sensitive to the needs of the employees and encouraging feedback from their team members, business leaders would be able to tide over the crisis situation and build resilience within their teams. Generation of creative ideas and creating a culture of transparency and openness would help in building inclusivity resulting in effective collaboration with all the team members.

Normalize the emotional concerns and reinforce the values of the organization by demonstrating a can-do attitude in responding to the pandemic. Have water cooler conversations covering topics which are not related to work to de-stress the work environment and develop a close relationship with the team members.

Building a high performing team is not just about hiring the right talent and providing them with the appropriate tools for carrying out their work. Leadership needs to create a high performing workplace by encouraging their team members to express their emotions openly that can help deliver better individual and team performance.

Foster an ecosystem of reward and recognition to honor the staff who have gone the extra mile and performed during crisis situations. Remembering the team members who lost their lives due to the pandemic and paying homage to them as a mark of gratitude would help in demonstrating a culture of empathetic leadership. Appreciating the efforts of team members need not be top down always. In fact the peer to peer interactions grow deeper when the team members are cognizant of the efforts and achievements of their colleagues. Understand the psychological needs of employees and create a platform for connecting with team members through Employee surveys, town hall sessions and news stories.

Conclusion

We at Newlineinfo Corp have a high performing team who are equipped with the skills of the future and committed to handle any crisis situation with agility and business resilience.

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