Let’s cut through all of the clutter.
“Social distancing” is about minimizing and avoiding physical contact with others, and it will reduce the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.
While maintaining physical distance can keep more people from contracting COVID-19, “extreme social distancing” in the absence of “virtual connecting” can put the overall health, wellbeing, and productivity of people at risk, impacting organizational effectiveness and performance.
Virtual connecting is not just about the technology we leverage to connect remotely. Remote working is nothing new, and has been around for a long time. Virtual connecting is also, and more importantly, how we intentionally connect with others at a human level, acknowledging, empathizing with, and delivering the essentials people need to be productive and fulfilled.
How people feel during and after a virtual meeting is paramount. Was there a genuine invitation and space provided to truly connect and share?
One of the biggest drivers of performance at work is organizational climate. Simply defined, organizational climate is “how it feels to work where I work,” and while the “where” and “how” people work is evolving, climate will remain a primary driver of engagement and productivity.
Why? It comes back to neuroscience and how our brains work. We feel, think and do. What we feel impacts what we think, and what we think impacts what we do.
So as we lead our teams through business-as-usual and unusual times, we must not forget that people need to feel informed, cared for, connected, included, involved, safe, trusted, and a sense of community.
Fostering a healthy climate for others is perhaps the most important responsibility you have as a leader, with your behaviors being the primary driver.
It is not easy to be this “climate creator” under normal circumstances, as it requires continuous focus and intentionality. So, shaping climate remotely may seem daunting. The good news is that the behaviors required are not difficult. As leaders we just have to make the choice to put them into action.
During this pandemic we are bombarded with the phrase “now more than ever” as people emphasize the relative importance of an action BC (before COVID-19) versus DC (during COVID-19).
Well, creating a healthy climate for your team is important now more than ever. Your team will not soon forget how you made them feel during these unprecedented times, and if and how you were diligent and intentional about the climate you created for them. Leaders fail when they do not lead.
Here are a few practical actions leaders can take:
• Take care of your whole self. Put the proverbial oxygen mask on first, so that you may take care of others.
• Be transparent and clear on everything you can. While there are many questions for which you do not have the answer, focus on the things you do have clarity on — priorities, caring for the customer, values, deliverables, etc.
• Create a safe virtual climate for your team in which they can speak up, share, ask questions, raise concerns and problems, and ask for help.
• Trust your people.
• Maintain the safety and well-being of your people as your No. 1 priority.
• Make sure that nobody on your team feels left out, isolated, disconnected, or lonely.
Bottom line: Business and people leaders must practice creating a healthy climate of connection for their employees and customers with the same level of intentionality, discipline and rigor they are practicing and reinforcing social distancing.
Scott Willett is a principal at Pennington Human Dynamics Inc., an international organizational effectiveness consulting firm.
