Organisations the world over are currently facing an extremely difficult time, tackling new and unique challenges every single day – monumental challenges that could never have been anticipated by any one of us. Employees, too, have a whole host of new worries and anxieties on their minds, whether that’s their family and friends’ health, their job security, or perhaps having to home-school and look after their children, all whilst working fulltime from home. The challenges both employers and employees are facing are unprecedented.
Interestingly, a study conducted by Harvard Business Review before the crisis, found that working from home – which has now become the norm for many – is less motivating than working in an office. Moreover, the study found that when people had no choice in terms of where they worked, their motivation dropped even more dramatically.
So, given this research from Harvard, it’s likely that, right now, your employees won’t only be lacking motivation due to new uncertainties and anxieties, but also because of their enforced, newly home working environment.
As a leader, it’s imperative for you to help your teams adapt to the current situation, putting a clear action plan in place to help drive motivation and engagement. After all, as our Hays CEO Alistair Cox has said before, “crises and uncertainty causes people to complicate things. A leader’s job is to simplify them and set the action plan”.
So, below, I’ve shared seven ways to help you keep your team motivated during these difficult times:
As soon as a change or a new challenge arises, make sure you are communicative and clear. You need to have regular conversations with your team – whether that’s over a phone or video call – to help them feel trusted, valued, informed and included.
In fact, as our CEO Alistair Cox has discussed, the contact you have with your team at this time needs to be even more frequent than perhaps it would be normally; “this will keep the lines of communication open, and they won’t feel they’ve just been left to get on with it”. Regular communication is particularly important if there are going to be any furloughs, redundancies, budget cuts, changes to your strategic priorities, or perhaps the new plans for transitioning back into the office.
You should remind your team that they can approach you at any time if they have any questions or concerns, or if they just want to chat. Make this as easy for them to initiate as possible; using whatever means of remote communication they find most comfortable – whether that’s a phone call, instant message, email or video call – ensure you’re reachable through all platforms during working hours. Be well equipped and plan well for the questions you predict your team might ask you about, and be as reassuring as possible with your answers, whilst remaining honest and realistic at the same time.
The message here is that if you keep employees in the dark during this crisis, you risk them picking up on rumours and jumping to the wrong conclusions. In my experience, it’s when this miscommunication (or lack of communication) happens that people will begin to feel negative, morale gets affected and motivation and productivity suffers.
It is not enough to just be transparent about the unique challenges facing your business, you should also endeavour to get people’s feedback and input on them. Hold virtual team meetings and ask your team to raise their ideas and solutions – try to create an open environment where everybody feels they can speak up and make a valued contribution.
Use this as an opportunity to develop your inclusive leadership skills, knowing that this will make your employees feel more involved in working together towards a solution. There are some simple steps you can take that will make a big difference to your team, such as asking yourself the following questions: do you show acceptance of everyone without bias? Do you listen to the opinions of diverse groups? Do you provide an appealing vision which inspires diversity of thinking?
If employees are involved in decisions, they will feel like they are needed. If they feel like they are needed, they will feel more confident in their abilities and motivated to continue delivering value. As Yvonne Smyth, our Group Head of Diversity and Inclusion, explains: “one of the most important but perhaps overlooked skills of an inclusive leader is to be truly open to new ideas borne from perspectives different to your own. To resist the temptation to take executive style action and instead consult and actively listen to the views of others.”
Taking an inclusive approach to your leadership style will help your team stay unified and connected through this challenging time – something that Diversity & Inclusion expert Charlotte Sweeney OBE has recently written about for us. For example, if you’ve finished a big team project, or completed a difficult task, why not organise a team celebration? Although you can’t pop to the nearest bar after work to raise a glass together, what’s stopping you from all grabbing a drink from your fridge and jumping on a video conference for a virtual “cheers!”? Activities like this will demonstrate to your team that you really appreciate their support and commitment during this time and will remind them that you’re all in this together.
Whilst financial incentives may not be possible at the moment, there are other ways to reward your team which won’t affect your budget. Praise costs nothing, but will mean a lot to your team, particularly during periods of uncertainty such as these. So, give credit where credit is due and thank them for their hard work.
Praising your team remotely doesn’t have to be any different to praising them in person. Where you once would have walked over to their desk and thanked them for their work, why not send them a quick message to say how grateful you are? This could be an audio or video clip, which would only take you a couple of minutes to record. Or perhaps arrange a video catch up call and let them know that you’re really impressed with a piece of work they recently completed, or that you’re thankful to have them on your team to help through this difficult time. Dialling them on an unscheduled video call is a really great way and makes a pleasant change and a lovely surprise when they realise what you are calling for. Communicating your appreciation through video is particularly powerful as it will allow you to demonstrate that the praise is genuine through your body language, and particularly a smile! Remember that your virtual acts of praise don’t need to be large and lavish, but they do need to be sincere.
When we are facing unexpected or new challenges to our businesses, as we are now, we all often need to work a little (and sometimes a lot) harder. Wherever possible, make sure your employees aren’t working long hours, and be flexible in giving them the autonomy to manage their working hours in a way that works for them.
Remember that so long as the work gets done, it doesn’t matter when it happens. Your team members may have found new routines which work for their arrangements and responsibilities, and you need to be flexible, understanding and open to that. After all, performance isn’t judged on how long someone sits at their desk each day, it’s judged on the output produced and value delivered.
It’s little acts of compassion and tolerance like these that will communicate to your employees that you appreciate the hard work they’re doing at this difficult time, and show that you view their wellbeing and work-life balance as a priority.
Whilst there may be lots to do, having overworked and overwhelmed employees will not benefit you. There is only so much your team can take before they lose all motivation, burnout and give up completely. Follow the advice from our Managing Director of Belgium Robby Vanuxem’s latest blog around how you and your team can avoid overworking during lockdown. For example, setting strict boundaries and minimising distractions, such as chatty housemates or loud TVs.
It’s also worth reminding yourself of the three ABCs of our basic psychological needs: Autonomy, Belonging and Competence. This is something Dr Kevin Teoh, Chartered Psychologist, recently wrote about, and encapsulates exactly how you can be helping your team to maintain their mental wellbeing in an uncertain world. For example, providing your employees with the autonomy and freedom to decide their own working hours, to help them adjust and fit their working life around their home life.
As a leader, you need to be using this time to invest in the upskilling of your employees. After all, it’s the companies that spend time and resource investing in the training and development of their people now, that will likely emerge at the other end in the best possible situation. As our CEO, Alistair Cox explained, this crisis is temporary, and we need to use this time to better ourselves in any way we can. Furthermore, “by investing in them [your employees] now, you are proactively showing them that you are investing in their future”.
Start by asking your team in which areas they would like further development and think about what the future skills requirements of your team might be, post-crisis. Understandably, budget may be an issue for any kind of formal training but there are other ways such as mentoring, free online training tools or by delegating certain tasks which would build upon their skills set. Encourage them to upskill themselves, for instance via webinars or even listening to podcasts.
Investing in both your own personal development and that of your team won’t only better equip you all for the future; it will also demonstrate to your employees that you care about their progression needs and are committed to helping them achieve their career goals. Knowing this will make them feel more motivated to make you proud and stick with you through this challenging time.
Communication among employees will have undoubtedly changed during this turbulent time. The casual, upbeat conversations you once had on a daily basis with team members might now be more difficult to come by whilst you’re all spread across the country, working remotely. But maintaining positivity and cheerfulness when speaking to others, will do a world of good for your employees during this period. Perhaps in your next team catch up call you could share some positive stories of how the business has adapted, explored new markets or launched new products?
It’s important, too, to keep having those informal conversations with your team during the crisis, whether that’s asking how their evening was, what meal they are cooking tonight or what their weekend plans are. Create those ‘water cooler’ moments even when you’re working remotely; perhaps everyone is hooked on the same tv drama, or maybe someone has a funny story about a new hobby or activity they’ve tried out during lockdown or can share a good book recommendation? You could even encourage your team to take virtual lunch breaks together – a chance for them to catch up and maintain the informal relationships they’ve built up over the years or months they’ve worked together.
Remember also to watch how you speak to others and the language you use during this testing time – it’s not just what you say but also how you say it. Whilst you may be under plenty of stress, don’t take this out on your team. Instead, use your position as a leader to nip outward negativity in the bud and to exude positivity. This should have a trickle-down effect within your team, increasing their workplace happiness levels and overall motivation.
In a similar vein, whilst there will undoubtedly be challenges to your business which you will need to address, try and keep working life in this new ‘business as usual’, as consistent as possible, by establishing new routines and habits to provide stability and familiarity. Make a concerted effort to help your team to adapt to the new ‘business as usual’ as quickly as possible.
Continue to delegate and oversee workloads accordingly, and keep routine things like team catch up meetings, one to ones and weekly reports in the diary. Dr Maggi Evans, Occupational Psychologist, suggests that setting short-term targets with your team will help to provide clarity on your expectations, and help people to know what good looks like, whilst also enabling a sense of achievement as things are ticked off. Whilst this may not be how you would usually work in your normal setting, it will provide your team with clear priorities and goals, enabling them to maintain focus. After all, steadiness and routine will reassure any employees who feel negative about their futures and therefore tempted to develop a defeatist attitude.
In summary, this challenging time for your organisation has the very real capacity to decrease the motivation of your employees when you need it the most. So, follow the above steps to help you respond directly to their fears, insecurities and grievances, making them feel appreciated, useful and ultimately motivated to work productively and deliver value both now and in the future.
