FEATURE: LEADERSHIP Leading


‘Working from home’ is now a fact of life for millions of people while many others experience ‘social distancing’ in the workplace. Both can lead to a sense of


isolation, restricting the day-to-day interaction that not only helps people to do their jobs well but which creates the feeling of being part of a team. Yet we’re also seeing a remarkable


surge in entrepreneurship and innovation. In our communities and businesses alike people are finding new ways of collaborating and helping each other. Many are beginning to argue that


this is transformative and that the post-Covid world won’t be the same as before. How we connect with each other will become even more important than it already is. ‘Connectedness’ is more than a


jargon word: it is what makes work meaningful and engaging for most people, and it is what makes organisations both productive and innovative. In good organisations our


interaction with colleagues enables us to share problems, plan and schedule our work together, celebrate our successes, generate ideas for innovation and improvement, and help shape future directions and strategies. Even day-to-day gossip helps us to feel part of the work community. Above all, connectedness


gives our work purpose – not just focused on a narrowly specialised task but aware of our part in a bigger product, service and organisation. Remote


Yet, over several weeks, there is


a real danger that more and more people will feel disconnected and disengaged from their organisations, simply performing expected tasks within an increasing sense of disconnectedness. But it needn’t be like that. The


coronavirus crisis is an amazing opportunity to work in new and better ways – and in many cases doing the things we should have been doing anyway. Here are a few ideas to make the most of remote working and maintaining your team.


1. Job design People need fresh challenges and an opportunity to try new things in their day-today jobs if they are to learn, develop, and remain engaged and healthy. Does the current situation enable people to rotate jobs, cover for unwell colleagues and learn new skills? Elearning, and even virtual and augmented reality can be valuable resources in helping lone workers solve problems, learn and develop, and remain engaged.


working can easily become the enemy of connectedness. During the first few weeks of isolation at home, some people may even enjoy the novelty whilst others will experience a sense of dislocation and unease.


24 Chamber Profile Summer 2020


‘Communication and relationship building lie at the heart of successful teamworking’


2.Teamwork There is an incredibly strong association between empowering teams to plan, schedule and improve their own work, and achieving high performance. Communication and relationship building lie at the heart of successful teamworking, and webinar technologies can fill the gap when people can’t all be in the same room. Planning meetings at the


start of every day enable people to make decisions


together, but don’t forget the importance of


‘productive reflection - how did we do, where could we improve, what can we celebrate?


in troubled times


Dr. Peter Totterdill (pictured), CEO of Workplace Innovation Europe CLG, based in Exeter, looks at how businesses can use the current pandemic to reflect on their current performance and future direction


Think too about online coaching


for your teams, helping them work and learn effectively together, avoid blame when things go wrong, and always search for the better argument – no matter who it comes from.


3. Measure what matters We’ve heard that some managers are asking: “But how will I know if they’re actually working at home?” Wrong question! Firstly it demonstrates a culture


of mistrust and secondly it suggests that they’re more interested in measuring an individual’s mere presence at work than their productive contribution. That’s a bad idea even in normal times but it makes even less sense now. People’s domestic circumstances


vary enormously and they may need to work at different times, especially if they have children at home. Focus on coaching conversations that help each individual to achieve their best possible performance in what may well be unfamiliar and challenging circumstances. A member of staff from one company told us: “What was hardest to discover is that it’s very easy to feel ‘unproductive’ when working from home; however when you truly add up your time in the office, it’s common to be unproductive in the workplace too – the ‘water cooler’ moments take a few minutes, chatting to your desk-mate.”


4.Employee-driven innovation and improvement


The best ideas happen when we learn, reflect and experiment together, but we just can’t afford to call a halt to innovation and improvement during the crisis. Online suggestion schemes and ideation platforms can be useful, but they work best when people have the opportunity to generate new insights and thinking collaboratively.


There are many ways in which


we can use webinars and other online technologies to create innovation labs and creative spaces that bring people together across the whole organisation – and create a great sense of engagement.


5.Employee voice This is a time of great anxiety for many, feeling that they are out of the loop and worrying that decisions are being made that affect their work and jobs without them having any say. Many organisations will be faced with difficult decisions in the next few weeks, but the real challenge is to minimise long term damage – to competitiveness and workforce engagement alike. Experience from past crises


shows that the best decisions – those that help ensure longer-term sustainability – are made openly and inclusively, enabling everyone to contribute their own knowledge and insights.


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