1. Stay calm & make sure you have your own support
At the moment things are changing quickly and there can be a lack of clarity. Your team needs you to be calm, clear and decisive.
Although you may be feeling anxious and want to be authentic with your team, use an external sounding board if you feel overwhelmed by your own emotions.
Your Employee Assistance Provider, is a great resource and is available by phone and video on short notice. We recommend establishing a relationship with your EAP now and checking in with them regularly.
2. Be clear on your team’s purpose and specify new norm’s around working remotely
Check-in on the guiding purpose for your team. Has this changed in the current climate?
Make sure everyone on the team is clear on what the current purpose is. A clear and compelling purpose motivates and directs your team towards a common goal.
Once everyone is clear about the team’s purpose work with your team to create new norms around working remotely. Thinking about the clear and compelling purpose you have articulated, what are the few things that you must or must not do to support you to deliver that purpose.
Remote team working norms might include having a daily check-in by videoconference with your whole team or quick daily one-on-ones with a team buddy.
We are also seeing an increase of teams practicing mindfulness together to help build their emotional resilience and Nexus Psychology are now offering live guided meditation sessions by videoconference.
3. Advise your team members to seek external support
It’s natural for people to be feeling anxious and to want to discuss their feelings however remember that it’s not your role as a team leader to provide counselling. Repetitive discussion about what is going on can be emotionally exhausting, create unnecessary anxiety and will likely impact people’s ability to concentrate.
Be compassionate and listen to your team’s concerns and point them towards talking to their EAP for an appropriate space to discuss anxieties in relation to the current climate.
