Uncertainty sucks.
Usually, if life goes awry, we take steps to regain control. When marriages break down, there’s counseling or divorce. When you get burned out at your job, you look for a new one. When your cats are throwing up, you take them to the vet!
That’s what makes this current situation completely unprecedented. There’s no way to regain control of a global pandemic. Because we’re not in charge.
And your people are probably burnt out. They’re fielding Zoom questions from their kids, getting claustrophobic in the house, worrying about their parents getting sick, yelling at their dogs to calm down. And as a result, they are slowly slipping away from the team.
When they don’t feel appreciated, they lose motivation, forget the mission, (possibly start drinking) and give in to distraction.
Culture has always been a complicated beast. You probably know by now that unless you’re matching behavior with belief, even all the beer and yoga in Boulder won’t save you. And you should definitely know now that Zoom happy hours have their limits.
So how do you build a culture when at least half your people–IT, HR, marketing, and accounting at a minimum–are working from home? You bring them back into the action. You get creative with lifestyle solutions. You make them feel less alone.
Here are four steps to do just that:
Ask Good Questions in a Small, Safe Space
In American culture, small talk doesn’t generally include sharing celebrations or struggles. And now, since most conversations are group conversations, people share even less.
If you really want to know what issues your employees might be having, schedule 1:1s, dig deeper, ask hard questions and ask follow-up questions that match the mood, vulnerability, and personality of your team.
Examples are:
- Are you getting what you need?
- Are you getting what you want?
- What do you want?
- What is the hardest part of your day?
- How could you have less stress?
- What’s not working for you?
- Take a lot of notes. Refer to them often.
Listen. No. Really Listen.
Listening is a skill they don’t teach in school. Teachers might urge you to listen to instructions… but for everyday conversation, there’s no curriculum. Most people don’t listen well. And the rest of us think we’re listening when we’re usually doing these things:
- Judging ourselves.
- Thinking of how we should respond.
- Trying to make a good impression.
- Thinking of how to connect.
- Fixated on forcing a particular outcome.
- On the defense.
- Making the speaker wrong.
- Making ourselves wrong.
- Gaining evidence on how we are right.
- Trying to protect yourself.
- Feeling self-conscious about how we look.
- Trying to fix a perceived problem.
If we can truly receive, we must listen to not only the most important people, the highest paid people, or the loudest people, but everyone, at every level of the organization. When we don’t, we miss some BIG stuff.
Execute in Response to Feedback
It’s time to get creative and generous.
Maybe half the product marketing team has kids in home-school and starting at 9:00 is a daily issue. So change the schedule.
Maybe your director of operations is a widow struggling to make dinner every night for her four kids and mother-in-law. So, find a meal delivery service and pay for it.
Maybe your administrative assistant just had surgery. So send him some flowers.
Think of ways that you can make your employees feel appreciated, valued, and served. And do it fast.
Admit You’re Having a Hard Time, Too
This shit is hard. Your employees are tired of “making the best of it”, haven’t seen their coworkers in months, and are likely financially strained. They may not like what their job has become. And they may feel very alone.
So be sure and go first. Don’t ignore your own problems. Talk about them–just a little. Be honest about your own situation.
The more human and authentic you are with your team, the safer they will feel talking about the real issues. Fear of being fired will dissipate. Make sure they know you’re all in this together. After all, you are.
While this is not complicated stuff, the changing of habits is hard stuff. I get it. And, we know that culture eats strategy for lunch. We know that a little bit of humanity goes a long way toward happy teams. I challenge you to ask thoughtful questions in a safe space, start listening in a new way, make actual changes in response to feedback and admit your own struggles.
It’s just four things. Can you get started by the end of April?
