How Team Management Styles Have Changed During The Pandemic
Updated: Mar 28, 2022
Since the shift to remote work, the way that people have collaborated and worked in teams has changed immensely. With many employees working in a virtual environment, this challenged many to stay engaged with colleagues and navigate the online working world. Not to mention the additional curveball of changing job positions, company structures, and operations, this has not been an easy period for employees.
However, as more people become acquainted with remote work and how to maximize its potential, many employees and leaders have developed strategies to ensure productivity and solid communication between the members of their teams. Interested in learning new management and team-building techniques? Then this may be the article for you!
Become Acquainted With Online Tools
Especially in an online environment, it is important to establish a sense of connection to coworkers in the workplace. There are many tools that can help facilitate these connections, such as Zoom or Google Meet, which is further elaborated on in our article on workplace collaboration tools. These tools are not only a necessary part of ensuring workplace productivity, but also one that can help sustain social ties between employees.
Act As Support For Your Team
These past 18 months have been a difficult time for everyone, and most people want to feel like they are being listened to. With still some uncertainty in the world, it is even more important to reinforce the idea of being a team, and having support for one other.
There also may be lingering concerns and questions which is also why it is important to build that dialogue between you and your team.
According to Lynette Pettinicchi founder of Lynette Nicole PR, "Practicing empathy will be important for the future of work, especially remotely,", and with a lot of companies maintaining remote work elements, this is a valuable piece of insight. Deloitte resources on leadership styles also suggest team leaders to be open and honest about things going on in the workplace and in society at large. Even if as a leader you do not have definitive answers, showing a bit of vulnerability and honesty with your coworkers can go a long way and help establish a sense of trust and communication.
Ensure An Adjustment Period Is In Place
As several jobs are beginning to move back to in-person operations, it is important for leaders to be considerate of the impacts this may have on this team. Whether the team will be splitting up or reforming as a result of this change, it is important for employees to know that there is support. It is also important to keep in mind that many people may still be skeptical about re-entering the in-person workforce. That is why maintaining and creating team connections could help to ease that transition, along with giving your team all the relevant information they will need to both feel safe and succeed.
According to HBR author Hubert Joly, company and team leaders should implement the following phases: the “Shelter-in-Place” phase, the “Re-Opening” phase, and the “Post-Covid-19” phase, all of which determine specific employee considerations to keep in mind (Joly). Together with these three phases, the hope is to ease the transition back into the in-person workplace, emphasize strong team ties, and ensure support.
Overall Changes
Over the course of this year and last year, there were many changes in leadership styles in order to contend with the changing times. A lot of trends related to this shift in leadership styles are related to providing team members with more support, maintaining an open and honest communication line, and pivoting towards the use of more empathy. Not every employee will be going through the same set of challenges which is why the team foundation needs to be one that is solid and reliable, and act as a place to develop communication and social ties with those in the workplace.
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Citations:
Coleman, A. (2020, July 11). How has lockdown changed your leadership style? Retrieved October 22, 2021 from https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisoncoleman/2020/07/11/how-has-lockdown-changed-your-leadership-style/?sh=2c3bc889f10e
Edmondson, A. & Kerrissey, M. (2020, April 13). What good leadership looks like during this pandemic. Retrieved October 22, 2021 from https://hbr.org/2020/04/what-good-leadership-looks-like-during-this-pandemic
Fallon, N. (2020, October 6). 6 tips for adapting your leadership style in the post-covid world. Retrieved October 22, 2021 from https://www.uschamber.com/co/grow/thrive/rethinking-leadership-post-pandemic
Joly, H. (2020, May 8). Lead your team into a post-pandemic world. Retrieved October 22, 2021 from https://hbr.org/2020/05/lead-your-team-into-a-post-pandemic-world
Silverthorne, S. (2020, October 6). 18 tips managers can use to lead through covid's rising waters. Retrieved October 22, 2021 from https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/18-tips-managers-can-use-to-navigate-covid-s-rising-waters
Vossen, I. & Weiss, S. (2020, July). Leadership styles of the future: how covid-19 is shaping leadership beyond the crisis. Retrieved October 22, 2021 from https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/de/Documents/human-capital-consulting/COVID19_Leadership_Styles.pdf