Leading in Uncertain Times – Covid 19 #5

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1.     Team clarity on the values of the organisation and the behaviours they have committed to, that demonstrate those values. While the values won’t have changed, maybe you will have found it useful to tweak some of the behaviours the team commits to. How does your team rate?

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1.     All team members have clear (S.M.A.R.T.) goals. Those goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Trackable. A couple of points to note on SMART goals.  Regarding the R of relevant. Have the goals been reviewed to ensure they are relevant in the context of the remote working environment? as well as what the organisation needs of them at this time? And about the M of measurable. Effective goals will have BOTH a quantitative measure and a qualitative measure. The quantitative ensures the deliverables occur. The qualitative should ensure the deliverables are delivered in a sustainable way.  With greater remote working, you may have needed to review the goals of some or all of the team members. If the goals were not reviewed, perhaps the measures, in particular the qualitative measures may have needed to be reviewed.  How does your team rate?

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1.     Ongoing Monitoring and Coaching is the next element of sound practice in leading and managing performance. 

This is the regular one-to-one and team catch ups to discuss the team or individual plan, how they are progressing towards that plan, the relevance of that plan, reviewing the plan as needed and, problem solving any issues.  For these sessions to be effective the leader will be skilled as a facilitator and coach.  With the increase in remote working, I expect how this is being done to have changed significantly.  The opportunities for casual interactions, guidance, support, encouragement and problem solving is markedly changed with remote work. This is all done with electronic media in the remote environment.  A response from leaders and teams in many places is the daily (or frequency as appropriate) team meetings by video or phone as well as one-to-one meetings between leaders and team members.  Ongoing contact throughout the workday by phone and video between leaders and team members as well as between team members is encouraged. 

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The higher the ratings on the above four things, the stronger the team performance will be and the less under-performance issues you are likely to experience.

If underperformance issues are emerging beyond the usual small percentage of people, it is likely that investing in the above will yield the greatest result.  Given the interactive challenges of remote working, any action on 1 and 2 may be impractical for now, as these discussions are best held with people physically present. This leaves discussing goals and the ongoing monitoring and coaching as the vehicles available to you to enhance the performance of the team.

It would be far too glib to suggest the above paragraph provides the solutions you need to address this. So, if you having an issue in this regard and are looking for solutions, please feel free to contact me through this channel and we can discuss possible solutions.