External crises are a natural part of high-performing organizations in competitive industries. When
those situations arise, the best-prepared organizations know their current
approach does not fully meet the demands of the current reality. To meet these
demands, they must effectively focus their efforts before rapidly moving to
act.
For example, when economic buyers are holding oin to cash and not releasing orders that you have won and moved to a Design Win you have to take other measures to drive cash. People will panic when the order books slow and you need to be able to deliberately and intentionally manage the crisis. This is a situation we dind ourselves in today at Jenfab Cleaning Solutions.
U.S. SpecialOperationsForces have a philosophy, “slow is smooth and smooth is fast.” Members of theseforces often find themselves in situations where quickly moving is imperative.
Survival depends on quick decision making and on-the-spot execution. But even
in the direst of circumstances, they recognize that rushing without purpose and
intent can be fatal. These same principles apply to crises, where teams and
organizations need to take a deliberate approach to coordinate their actions
and move in unison toward an objective to respond effectively to threats and
risks. In short, “slowness” at the micro level translates into smoothness at
the macro level—representing acceleration, efficiency, and overall improved
performance.
I am a fan of design thinking having spent some time at the Stanford D School. Design thinking is an
umbrella term encompassing the logics, practices and tools of design that uses the designer’s empathetic sensibility and methods to match people’s needs. It is humancentric. Leadership is human centric.Design thinking is for solving all kinds of problems but in particular “wicked” problems. Maintaining the continuity of business activities amidst the disruption caused by a crisis like COVID-19 represents a wicked problem.
There is a dominant logic that can be used in times of greater certainty and stability. If we can
understand how to react to the realities of a crisis we can likely solve the less urgent issues we face in leading teams day to day.
Wicked problems are areally big life ambush. There are not always immediate action drills that will
solve this. It absolutely will help. In military speak this is similar to the comparison of solving the wicked overarching problem of dealing with an ever evolving enemy like the Taliban with unorthodox techniques compared to a Ranger squad caught in an ambush that will immediately execute an immediate action drill. This is like when the Filtration group (when I was at Universal AIr Filter) saw all their automotive business orders not only stop but actually go into the negative as existing orders were canceled.
Before you react to acrisis or problem ask yourself are you trying to solve the right problem? Many
companies large and small do not have unlimited resources to solve specific
issues their teams may face in a crisis so you have to start by really
understanding and scoping your problem set or design challenge. You have to
design for maximum impact and make sure that your problem set or design
challenge is not too broad or narrow in scope. In a crisis, organizations are
forced to think beyond tried and tested ways of thinking and doing things.
Designers may conceive of plans that do not yet exist. Designers are prone to
be disrupters that drive innovation.
Designers are alwaysREFRAMEing points of view to get a the real problem in order to meet people’s
needs. Accordingly, I like to use an iterative reframing process to work through
problem solving and especially Wicked Problems like crisis. We developed this
based on research, best practices, and my real experiences successfully leading
teams and organizations through crises. The outer loop represents the design
thinking steps necessary that guide how you go about understanding the problem
you are trying to solve and the design of a solution, and the inner loop
reflects the associated fundamental actions leaders must take to lead during a
crisis, facilitate the design thinking process and emerge on the other side
having made the world a better place than it was the day before.
To live out the “slow issmooth and smooth is fast” mantra in a crisis, you first need to define the
current reality, both the internal reality of your team and organization and
the external reality of the environment in which you are now operating. This
will be an ongoing process because, while your organizational values may be
steadfast, it’s likely your objectives and priorities may have to continue to
change.
STEP 1: RECOGNIZE YOURCURRENT REALITY: Get the Facts
This is where you beginto observe and understand the problem space. What's the bigger picture here?
EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
The goal here is to understand what's happening in the environment, and how it is affecting the
business and individual team members. Identify reliable sources. Are these credible? How do you know? Potential sources include:
· Foreign,federal, state, & localgovernment policies/directives
· Medical authorities
· Transportation authorities
· Industry groups
· Financial resources
Recognize assumptions
· Don’t automatically dismiss differingperspectives, even if they’re at odds to your own. If you have positioned
psychological safety appropriately, the team will know that everyone's voice is
mission critical and we want their input.
· Have conversations with people who donot hold the same beliefs as you. Everyone should challenge the process.
· Read news from respected sources thathave different beliefs than you. Check out allsides.com
· Try to argue from theother side: can you think of any valid reasons why someone might disagree with
your belief?
Leverage collective wisdom
· Model truth telling – explicitly tellothers where the limitations of your understanding runs out to encourage them
to do the same. What is rumor and what is fact?
· Ask peoplefor input before sharingyour own and do so by name, starting with the most junior people on the team
· Otherwise junior folks may adjusttheir messages to coincide with the more senior people creating an echo chamber
· Question definitive statements notbacked up by data explicitly to avoid bias and subjectivity
· Respond to bad or goodnews with appreciation all the same, so that messengers will not withhold
information from you out of a fear they will professionally suffer
It's important to do some context mapping here. Visualization techniques can help here:
INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
Leverage network influencers.
· Think 360 degrees: Can you identify agood source of information above you?
· Across different functions?
· Among your peers?
· Among the people below you?
· If you are unsure who isa network influencer, ask people the simple question, “Who do you go to for
help?”
Listen to your people’sneeds and desires and when possible, try to fulfill them. Are you actively
listening? Do you follow the “2 ears, 1 mouth” rule? Do you keep a tracker of
how often you speak compared to everyone else? Do your people feel safe enough
to directly and publicly disagree with you? If yes, how can you confirm this belief?
What tactics do you use to step back from your own and others’ feelings to
analyze them all in an objective manner?
What do your team members consider critical?
STEP 2Evaluate the level of impact solving a specific problem (for example meeting staffing neeeds) may have for your organization and the impact it will have for your
team members.
You will likely find that you have many challenges to solve. Take a real hard look at how you
have scoped your design challenge / prolem statement. Think about "Everyday Impact"
Frame for ultimate impact
· Start by taking a first stab atwriting your design challenge. It should be short and easy to remember, a single
sentence that conveys what you wantto do. We often phrase these as questions
which set you up and your team upto be solution-oriented and generate lots of
ideas along the way.
· Properly framed design challengesdrive toward ultimate impact, allow for a variety of solutions and take into
account constraints and context. Now try articulating it again with those
factors in mind.
· ANother common pitfall when scoping adesign challenge is goign either too narrow or too broad. A narrowly scoped
challenge won't offer enough room to explore creative solutions. A broadly
scoped challenge won't give you any idea where to start.
· Now that you've run yourchallenge through these filters, do it again. It may seem repetitive, but the
right question is the key to arriving at a good solution. A quick test we often
run on a design challenge is to see if we can come up with five possible
solutions in just a few minutes. The more ideas the better. If so , you're on
the right track.
For example:
My daughter teaches children with disabilities in the southeast side of Chicago. Tough environment
and tough on children.
1. Start with the problem of"Improving the lives of children." First frame it as a design
question: "How might we improve the lives of children?"
2. Now state the ultimate impact you aretrying to have:We want very young children in low-income communities to
thrive.
3. What are some possible solutions tothe problem? Think broadly. It's fine to start a project with a hunch or two, but make sure you allow for some surprising outcomes: Better nutrition, parents
engaging with young kids to spur brain development, better education around
parenting, early childhood education centers, better access to neonatla care
and vaccines.
4. Finally erite down some of the contextand constraints you are facing. They could be geographic, technological, time-based or have to do with the population you're trying to reach. Because
children aren't in control of their circumstances, we wanted to address our
solution to their parents. We want a solution that could work across different
regions.
5. Now tweak your original question:"How might parents in low-income communities ensure children thrive in their first five years.
Before you begin planning make sure you really understand the challenge you are trying to solve.
Broaden the context -reframe reality and consider the emotional impact your team is feeling.
· What't the bigger picture here?
· How can we help others understandwhat's happening in the environment and how it is affecting the business
· How can we educate others about thebroader context?
· How can we get people to see thatwe're not any worse off than others in our space and others before us?
· How do we give people time and spaceto discuss their thoughts and gain perspective?
· What can we do to framewhat is happening and what is being done in ways that give people hope?
Assemble your team. Remember there may be no known solution so think creatively about the resources you put on a team.
• Who’s on the team? Consider assembling a cast of multidisciplinary individuals with varying skills
who possess the knowledge and expertise necessary to accomplish the task. For
example, at the Pumps & Pipes collaboration meetings in Houston you had
three really different groups of folks collaborating:
1.ExxonMobil who use pipes and pumps tomove oil around a refinery
2.Methodist heart hospital - the heartis a pump and arteries are pipes
3.Nasa scientists who pump rocket fuel
• What will they accomplish? Spell out the uniting shared mission and a specific agenda
• Who will do what?Identify clear roles and responsibilities to reduce/eliminate redundancy,
increase efficiency, and ensure accountability
• How will they do it?Define the task force’s strategy in relation to activities for execution,
meaning the tasks serve your overall strategy
• When willthey meet? Ifit’s not scheduled, then it’s not a priority. Classic four disciplines of
execution - get out of the whirlwind. Check out Covey's quick video on the
whirlwind at Youtube: https://youtu.be/94w1Tt5IpS4
STEP 3 DEVELOP A Focusedand PRIORITIZED PLAN ...after free flowing ideation
Take the time totease out the diversity of ideas. See the team room for some tools to do this.
As you form the team you will go through the phases of team development
It takes time toget the team through the groan zone. SLow is smooth and smooth is fast.
The following steps provide a simple and pragmatic approach to identify the critical actions that
are needed to effectively respond to the crisis. Note, specificity is the key:
the more specific your definition, the clearer the next steps and the more actionable
the game plan.
Stop: What specificactions needs to stop?
Start: What specificactions makes most sense to execute on?
Continue:What specificactions continue to show positive results?
AssumptionsCheck
TheStop/Start/Continueactivity will generate a list of priorities. The Assumption Check exercise will
provide a guide for you to identify and evaluate potential assumptions underlying those identified priorities
WHAT IS ANASSUMPTIONSCHECK?
Given theCOVID-19 crisisand subsequent shift to remote work, it’s crucial to pressure-test your plans, priorities, and operations before springing into action. An overnight change in
strategy stresses dispersed, remote workforces—which may lead to both chaos and
misinformation. A bias towards action is often the jerk reaction to uncertainty. That does not mean you should not have a bias for action, but do an assumptions check.
An assumption check isan exercise designed to mitigate the risk of jumping into action without first
understanding your current reality. It serves as a forcing function for organizations and teams to identify assumptions, weigh their criticality, decide if there is information that can make them valid, and, most importantly, determine if the evaluated plan or operation should be retained, reworked, or rejected. An assumptions check will allow stakeholders to identify and evaluate
the critical assumptions supporting their plans and drive a productive discussion on action items for a path ahead.
WHY ARE CRITICALASSUMPTIONS IMPORTANT?
An assumption is aplausible statement accepted as accurate or as certain to happen without
question or proof, to continue planning or operations. Given resource and time
constraints, assumptions—such as rules of thumb and educated guesses—are
necessary for organizations to operate as effectively as possible.
Nevertheless, they are not necessarily valid. The most carefully and
thoughtfully developed plans can fail when they rely upon too many unstated or
unexamined assumptions. This happens often enough in product design. That is
why you prototype and continuously iterate. Sometimes you do not know what
assumptions to check. This is where I would say
Take the shot! We will not get it right every time but we will course correct as necessary.
TEAM EXERCISE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
• Is there informationthat could clarify this assumption’s validity? If so, how hard would it be to
acquire?
• Do people agree withthe criticality score?
• What circumstances orchanges in the operating environment might undermine this assumption?
• Could the assumptionhave been true in the past but now is not, or less so?
• What other plans orprocesses do we need to pressure-test? How are they related to this process?
How could they affect it?
ASSUMPTIONS CHECK – STEP BY STEP
STEP 1 •Begin a teamvideo chat. • Summarize the strategy, plan, or operational process being
pressure tested. Use visual aides if possible. • Ask if anyone has questions or
needs clarification before moving to step 2.
STEP 2 • Ask participants to type up as many assumptions as they can in 3 minutes. • Remind participants that all assumptions should be associated with what you covered in step 1 (the
more specific the better).
STEP 3 After participants finish their list, ask them to provide a criticality score next to
each assumption Note the score is on a scale of 1-5 (1=unimportant to
5=extremely important).
STEP 4 • Ask participantsto share their name, function, and the assumptions they scored as a 4 or 5 (one at a time). If the group is large, ask participants to post it in the chat.
Depending on the size of the group, think through what reporting approach best
respects time. • Example: “This is Joe from supply chain. One assumption is
that we can continue to sell filters to consumers. Criticality 5.”
STEP 5 •Once everyone speaks or posts in the channel, ask the group to take 5 minutes to read what
everyone has written or reflect on what was said.
STEP 6 •Open the floorfor a discussion (see recommended tools in Team Ready Room. • Identify themes that emerge. • Prioritize mitigating the most significant risks first
(assumptions that score 4 or higher). • Capture all results and send a brief
summary to all who participated along with next steps, if any, for what you plan
to do to address the assumptions.
Rank Priorities
Rank priorities that emerge from the Stop/Start/Continue exercise from the most important to the
least important so that you can effectively assign theresources those
priorities require to succeed.
When possible and the team is together and you have the time I like to vote in three categories:
You can do this with disparate teams if you take advantage of technology and ensure everyone can see what is happening. They jus tneed to tell you where to put their dots.
Another easy concept is 100 Pennies - similar to a compare analysis (see Team Ready Room)
1. Write down your listof priorities in the left-hand column
2. Imagine that you have100 pennies and that each penny represents an equally-sized reflection of your preference. Allocate those pennies as you see fit across the set of priorities.
The more pennies allocated towards a priority signals the importance of the
priority. If a certain priority is unimportant to you, do not hesitate to give
it few or no pennies. Please mark your allocations in the “Penny Allocation”
column on the right—e.g., “Seven Pennies”
3. Priorities can quickly become outdated and out-of-sync with the changing face of the Current Reality (Step One). Return to this exercise frequently and assess if your priority
allocation matches the reality you face or if it needs recalibration
Visualize Your Network -Relationship Mapping
In complex corporate sales I like to use political relationship mapping tools to understand the
relationships within an organization to understand influence on decision
making. This technique can be used to understand the various peopleon the team
and the way they interact. Here's a video of how we used CRM tools like
Salesforce to do this when I was at Universal Air Filter.
Design thinking is human centric. Don't discount understanding relationships. When thinking about accomplishing tasks, we often focus on the materials, needs, and deliverables instead of relationships. This activityhelps you identify people who can help you achieve those tasks.
Instructions
1. At the center of the worksheet, write the name of an initiative you need to accomplish to support
one of your priorities.
2. Write the names of individuals, functions, or organizations that you need to work with to
accomplish the initiative (you need their resources, information, approval,
social capital, or support). • The more important the relationship, the closer
you should put them to the center
3. Draw aline to represent the connections
• Draw a solid line that represents strong, reliable relationships
• Draw a dotted line that represents relationships that need to be further cultivated
• If there is no existingrelationship, then don’t draw any line
• Use the network map toidentify connections you need to establish or strengthen
STEP 3 - Creating simple rules
What is the criticalthing that must happen?
What is the specificbarrier that might hold us back?
What specific action willwe take to address the barrier?
How can I craft the ruleso that it is specific, actionable and memorable?
In crisis,people need specific rules that enable them to make timely decisions, take appropriate
actions, and communicate effectively in a rapidly changing situation. Below is
a description of the benefits and the common characteristics found across
nearly all simple rules.
To illustrate these concepts, an effective simple rule used bymountain climbers on Mount Evereststates, if a mountain climber has not reached the summit by 2:00 PM on any given day, they must turn back. This simple rule has savedcountless liveswhile many climbers who chose to ignore the rule have paid the ultimate price
For example a supplychain simple rule is the Min / Max on inventory to be stocked so long lead time
items do not paralyze execution.
Managing cash flow may have a constraint on minimum cash available to make payroll
STEP 3: CREATE SIMPLE RULES
BENEFITS OF SIMPLE RULES
· Simplify choices when time runs short and risks run high
· To overcome external noise and ”paralysis by analysis,” simplerules will hone focus in on making
quick, reasonably accurate decisions
· The two-o-clock cutoffcan separate life and death. The simplerule thus makes the choice into a stark binary and simplifies the decision for the climbers O Guard against
emotionally-charged decision making
· Under crisis, emotionscloud judgment. Simple rules stripemotions from the process. Simple rules
should be: Understandable, Memorable, and Actionable
· Climbing Everestinvolves enthusiasm, effort and passion– all ofwhich can influence climbers’
commitment to ascent. Two o’clock rule is meant to limit one’s ego and increase
one’s objectivity
· Enable coordinationbetween disconnected teams
· Crisis increases the importance of coordinated action between people to achieve shared goal. If
everyone operates from the same simple rules, then even if they’re dispersed, they will still be coordinated toward their collective goal
· Everest climbers frequentlylose communication with one another.Regardless of connectivity, simple rules ensure they all turnaround if they have yet to reach the marked point
· Allow leaders todirect action indirectly
· Crises don’t occur when it’s convenient. As such, leaders should provide simple rules that their
teams can lean on in the leader’s absence. In the event the crisis occurs and
the leader is not present, the team can still function
· Climbers can act onthe two o’clock rule whether a leader or guide is present
CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE SIMPLE RULES
· Limited application
· Applying a specific rule too broadly decreases its insight and frustrates those who attempt to
interpret its intent
· The two o’clock rule is applied to a single, specific activity,i.e., climbing Everest
Context dependent
· Simple rules are not one-size-fit-all guidelines, but rather customized to the people using them and
the contexts in which they’re employed
· The two o’clock rule applies specifically to Everest mountaineers and would make little sense in
other contexts
Guidance not a prescription
· Simple rules provide concrete guidance while conferring the latitude to exercise creativity
· The two o’clock rule provides guidelines on when to abandon the ascent, but afford climbers the
freedom to determine their own route and when to start
· Limited number
· Organizations should only have a handful of simple rules. Too many simple rules defeat themselves by overprescribing guidance, which limits instead of empowering teams
· “If you are not on top by two o’clock, it’s time to turnaround.” Full stop. Further prefaces and
specifications of this Mount Everest simple rule run the risk of erasing its simplicity and confusing the climbers
Simple Rules: Types
Despite their variety,simple rules fall into two broadc ategories:
1. Decision Rules: improve decision making by “structuring choices and centering on what to do and what not to do.”
2. Action Rules: focus on “how to improve and get the job done.”
DIFFERENT TYPES OF SIMPLE RULES
· Decision / BoundaryRules
· What to do: These rules frame decisions as mutually exclusive alternatives, like a judge
determining whether the accused is guilty or not. They limit the number of
choices and enable people to pursue the most promising course of action,
especially with scarce resources (time, money, staffing, etc.)
An example of this would be approval limits on spending capital resources without seeking approval from a higher authority.
· Prioritization rules
· What is most importantto do: These rules rank alternatives. Forinstance, medical triage simple rules tell emergency workers, when faced with a resource-scarce situation, who goes
to the hospital and who is left behind. These rules ensure resources are
deployed where they have the highest impact
· Stopping rules What to stop doing: These rules establishstopping points to prevent people from the pit of the “sunken cost fallacy,” which is the general tendency for people to continue a course of action they’ve invested their resources in out of a desire
to see it to completion.– Mount Everest two o’clock rule is a case in point
· Action Rules
· How-to rules. What are the basics: These rules guide the basicsof executing tasks without being overly prescriptive, particularly when there is extreme pressure and severe time
constraints. For example, fire departments use step-by-step rules for how to deal
with out-of-control fires 10 Standard Orders and 18 Watch Out Situations
· Coordination rules.How to do it collectively: These rules provide guidelines on how players should
interact in a complex system to enable collective behavior. The success of the cave
rescue for the Thai youth soccer players in 2018 showcases a successful
coordinated action that overcame an almost impossible challenge
· Timing rules When to do: These rules guide when to take actions.Pixar’s rules regarding releasing
one new movie every year following its first full-length movie Toy Story in
order to secure a mass audience as well as slotting the prime Thanksgiving
release date for its future films were crucial in setting the rhythm of key
strategies and ultimately establishing a viable business
Value of simple rules work in crisis
· Simplify choices when time is short and risk is high
· Improve judgement when emotions are high
· Enable coordination between disconnected teams
· De-centralizes command and allows leaders to direct action indirectly
STEP 4 - Align thestakeholders 360 Communication - Move out of the gron zone
Essential Ingredients
Crisis will happen in life of most organizations. It’s not so much a matter of if, but when. Use this
checklist as a starting point for how to remain focused on business results and
lesson the hurdle of remote transitions by building the right type of
infrastructure, establishing a disciplined operating rhythm, and demonstrating
behaviors that, together, create a competitive advantage for your team and
organization.
Just like you have tomove off the X in an ambush, you have to move the team throught the Groan zone with courageous patience
INFRASTRUCTURE
· Analyze IT tools and home kits
· Bandwidth,reliability, and security are foundational to the success of your communication
· Apply the right technology for your team
· Keep things simple
· Pick the platform that works best for your team and stick with it. Email does not always work when the shop floor has not access to work email. Many do not have home computers. We have had success with an app called Discord
· Ensure compatibility across different devices
· Don’t artificially inhibit your team’s productivity by picking aplatform that can’t be used across
a variety of devices
· Have a backup plan for communication
· Have a backup communication system in case the primary system is unavailable or doesn’t work
as planned
· It’s also important to include a mix of traditionalc ommunications, as mobile networks and cell towers can be unavailable during a disaster - think of the recent hurricane that hit
the Florida coast.
STEP 6 Mobilize -Prototype and Test
In this stage you are simply iterating to mobilize a final solution. Test functional prototypes as
best you can, amend the solution to get closer to finished prototypes that can
be implemented.
STEP 7 "Bring it Home" - EMPOWERED EXECUTION
Now it's time to executeon commitments. You want to give fthe team room to do their thing. At the same time, it is reasonable to expect updates to make sure things are happening as
they are expected to. Remember my theorey of the transparent man? Don't assume a
brilliant absent minded professor will remember to update you.
Doverai no proverai.Trust but verify. Remember that vision without execution is hallucination
In 4 Disciplines of execution speak, you need a cadence of accountability and a visusal scorecard
that tells us if we are winning.
OPERATING RHYTHM -different forums for various levels of execution:
· Operations update
· Purpose: exchange information on changes in the operating environment, create feedback loops on
efficacy of plan execution, articulate decisions made by leadership (and the
“why” behind them), build the situational awareness that powers execution in
context
· Occurrence: high frequency but not too high. I had a team taking 2 hours every day for a Production meeting. We now have this down to one 2 hour session per week.
· Inputs: organizational priorities; progress, challenges, and risks in execution; market and environmental data; leadership messages; “hot topics”; functional updates
· Outputs: progress on operational execution (key tracking metrics),decisions that need to be made
· Attendance: all stakeholders executing on goals and priorities
· Decision Forum
· Purpose: bringtogether stakeholders in a given decision to analyze and provide inputs to the
decision maker as he/she conducts analysis of the available options available
(Phase 1), and then to provide their support to execution (Phase 2) once the
decision is made
We host phase gate decision meetings once per quarter to vote on innovation portfolio progression
· Inputs: stakeholder expertise and information
· Outputs: decisions and cross-functional commitment to execute on them
· Occurrence: driven by the number of decisions to be made
· Attendance:decisionmaker, stakeholders in the decision to be made (this will vary by
decision)
· Leadership Review
· Purpose: adjust strategy and execution
· Inputs: operations update can identify strategies that are not working,or if gaps emerge between
strategy and execution
· Outputs: changes to strategy and execution to be vetted and aligned in the Quarterly Summit
· Occurrence: low frequency, as needed
· Attendance: senior leadership team and relevant functionale xperts
· Quarterly Summit
· Purpose: evaluate the alignment of resources against strategic goals, and the progress of operational execution against those goals
· Inputs: decisions and concerns
· Outputs: adjustments to goals highlighted in the operations update, metrics tracked, and agenda items discussed
· Occurrence: quarterly
· Attendance: senior leadership team and relevant functional experts
· Daily Stand Up
· Purpose: align team on priorities and current issues
· Inputs: leader states her/his current issues. Team members state their current priorities and
issues/impediments
· Outputs: alignment ofteam on work to be done, priorities, andguidance for issue resolution
· Occurrence: daily 15-30 minutes
· Attendance: all teammembers
BEHAVIORS
· Establish comms hygiene in writing
· Set clear expectations and enforce those expectations
· Bad habits can severely decrease productivity in a remote environment
· Be on video whenever possible if you are talking
· This helps to connect to the team, increasing trust and empathy.It also gives you a chance to read
the nonverbal cues of your team. Additionally, video conferencing helps with
reducing the sense of isolation
· Establish rules ofengagement
· Define what communications go in what channel to avoid sloppiness. For example, using
video conferencing for regular check-ins and IM when something is urgent
· Be disciplined with the mute button (and turn off arrival/departure sounds)
· It helps with keeping the team focused by minimizing the numberof distractions that take place in a virtual environment
· Make time to be human
· Call people by namea nd take a moment to offergratitude/congratulations, or publicly address some celebratory event (like a birthday or anniversary)
· This helps to make those small, human connections that people crave, but are often lost in a remote environment
· Establish structured1:1s with each member of your team at least every other week
• In times of crisis, increase that cadence for building and promoting morale and engagement
· Do not “discipline”someone in a group meeting for poor performance– easy to do when you’re not
face-to-face
· This will destroy all psychological safety and taint future information
· Be authentic and transparent
· Your willingness to be open and honest about your state of mind or mistakes you’ve made will lead your team to do the same, enabling teams to operate with an effective level of trust
· Provide opportunities for social interaction
· Leverage virtual happy hours to reduce sense of isolation and encourage a sense of belonging
· Offer encouragement and emotional support
· Acknowledge the crisis-related stress, listen to your team’s concerns, and empathize with their
challenges
· Continually monitor stress and engagement levels. Make their well-being a priority and communicate it to the team. Ask these two questions frequently enough: What’s your stress
level on a scale on 0-10?What’s your overall engagement level on the same
scale?
· Model what’s right
· Remote teams is still something relatively new and each team has its own unique culture
· This culture will be largely influenced by what you do. The team will watch to see if you have good
comms hygiene and if you are making the effort to connect on a human level and
they will follow your lead—for better or for worse
· Be physically and mentally present—this is not a choice, it’s a necessity
· It allows to connect meaningfully with people while helping them to stay motivated and encouraged. Additionally, not being fully present signals to your team that it’s ok to be
preoccupied with other activities or allow your mind to drift to other things
· Model optimism and show hopefulness and confidence in the future
· This would help yourteam find purpose and meaning in work