Patience and understanding through change
People react very differently to change. Some embrace it and are energised by the new and exciting. Others are anxious about not knowing how things are going to be and lots of people will swing between the two. You and your team will all be reacting to the new way of working in different ways and at different times.
Take a look at the Kubler Ross change curve, where are you sitting on that curve? Where are each of your team members? What about other colleagues? Understanding that people could be reacting to this change differently to you and therefore behaving differently around it is a big step to making this work for everyone.
Then think about why people are where they are on the curve. They may process change faster or more slowly than you do. Or it might be situational - you might be skipping around the suburbs excited about setting up your home office area and wondering what sort of stationery you can buy but your team might be worrying about how they are going to work at home while the kids are off school, or the only workspace in their flatshare is sitting on their bed or how they stop their addict brother from nicking the company laptop they have brought home.
Everyone has their own stuff going on which might mean remote working is harder for some than others. Find out. Ask your team and colleagues if there is anything they are worried about that will make this new reality hard for them. You won’t necessarily be able to fix it for them but understanding their position will help you to understand their behaviour, even when it isn’t necessarily what you would expect. Which leads me onto patience.
When everything is new, mistakes may happen, things may get missed, behaviours may be exaggerated because people are outside their comfort zone. Nobody does something new perfectly the first time. Mass working at home is very new.
So ask yourself some questions when something goes wrong. What can you learn from this? What could you do differently next time? What support can you put in place around this? Who else would benefit from knowing what you have now learnt? Be patient. With your team, with your manager, with your colleagues, with yourself.
It’s easy to nod and agree about the importance of understanding and patience. This is not rocket science. The part that I see people struggle with when I am coaching is remembering to apply understanding and patience in the moment rather than with hindsight. Particularly when they are wrapped up in the event and seeing everything through their own prism, their own perspective. We all have our own stresses and pressure triggers. Managing to take a breath and ask ‘what lies behind this behaviour’ is more critical than ever. Only then can you really support your colleagues, and yourself, through change.
You can do it
If you can start managing and leading in this whole new world having thought about the questions above you will be ahead of the game in terms of doing a great job supporting your colleagues through this period.