When the going gets tough, the tough get going – a cliché much used in the past, but perhaps designed for times like this. The whole world is going through an unprecedented crisis. Most of the service companies are able to continue to serve their customers by having their employee work from home (WFH). The big challenge for all the leaders is how to take care of their customers and business. However, employees’ wellbeing and motivation are also equally crucial.

It becomes even more important for leaders to come forward
proactively to ensure that the employees, and they
themselves, remain engaged properly to be ‘Fit for Future’.

Time to be More HUMAN

Employee Engagement is the result of a long-lasting strong bond between leaders and the employees, which makes it possible to maintain a highly positive environment in the team. It is important to realize that the foundation of the bond is trust. Trust starts building up when an employee feels that the leader is authentic, genuinely interested and not only doing a check-in-a-box exercise. Questions like “how are you doing?” and “is your family safe?” may not be sufficient. Maybe going deeper in conversation to empathize with the employee during the lockdown situation is the need of the hour. It is the time for the leaders to build more human emotional connect, dedicate more time, and be with them genuinely. Leaders need to take responsibility of physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of their team members.

Creating a better employee experience by regularly pushing valuable, relevant, and time-sensitive information will help them to be more informed and productive. Providing real-time, interactive support when they need it is another great step.

‘I’ before ‘We’

While all of the above is very important to keep the morale aloft, first and fore-most consideration is self-wellbeing of the leader herself (or himself). The leader has to necessarily remain in the right frame of mind before connecting with employees. Six key pointers for success that could help a leader to be effective in current situation are:

1. Accepting the new norm of reality.
   The faster this is done, the sooner will the team rally around. At times, leaders could be saying things that sounds good, but lack conviction. It will come through sooner or later and discourage employees from being proactive and creative.

2. Managing own stress and fitness.
   Employees need to feel free to discuss their issues with their leaders. If the leaders themselves look and display signs of stress, employees are unlikely to come forward openly.

3. Willing to listen with an open heart and mind.
   New circumstances demand new and radical ideas. Leaders should listen to their teams believing that no idea is bad. Unique solutions will turn up after rejecting dozens. Which amongst the dozens is the right solution can only be deciphered after carefully analyzing them all.

4. Be positive to lead the team through uncertainty.
   It’s the best time to demonstrate creativity. Leaders need to encourage people to talk and discuss novel approaches to novel problems. They should create a positive atmosphere to help mitigate situational ambiguity.

5. Detailed planning and follow through.
   The leaders have to be meticulous and seen to be thorough. Allowing radical new ideas to flow cannot mean a free-for-all environment. At times like this detailing, planning and maintaining a discipline can be very meaningful.

6. Accepting own fears and using it positively to build courage.
   Leaders are human too. Having fears of an uncertain future are natural. They should teach the teams to accept the situation for what it is and not allow it to dampen their spirits.

It is all about how the employees perceive and feel rather than leader’s viewpoint. Leaders need to keep reemphasizing on employee safety, managing employee anxiety and assuring that this too shall pass. And it is important that the leaders believe in it too before (s)he passes it on to the teams.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vineet is a global leader with business transformation experience. He has 20+ years of professional experience with a wide experience in manufacturing and global shared services domain. He has been instrumental in setting up global in-house centers for multiple companies across geographies. He is a people leader and practitioner of Lean Six Sigma, Service Design Thinking and a propagator of digital mindset. He has worked with companies like Honeywell, Whirlpool, MetLife and ABB. Vineet is also a renowned speaker on business excellence and operational transformation. Currently, he is the head of Alcon Global Services, India.