How to keep your teams motivated in times of crisis

I doubt there are many people in business who’d disagree that this year has been a time of unprecedented crisis in which we have all had to find different and evolving ways of working and communicating.

One of the biggest problems that business has faced as a result of the pandemic is the reality of working remotely from one another – a situation that has brought its fair share of issues for staff both on the ground and in management roles.

What was a refreshing change in March – a period without the early alarm, without being squashed into a packed tube or bus, without feeling chained to a desk, without the constant frustration of a malfunctioning photocopier or erratic tech reliability – quickly became a routine that for some was every bit as humdrum and mundane as the one it had replaced.

For many managers, the seismic shift in working practices and mindsets that collaborating over Zoom, Teams or Google Meet brought triggered uncomfortable feelings of mistrust and loss of control, of an inability to properly manage and of being out of the loop of day to day business life.

For employees, the last eight months or so have stripped away the sense of togetherness, community and camaraderie that gives the work place meaning and creates a sense of place and belonging for every individual.

Together, this melting pot of mixed emotions has had the potential to become mildly (and in some cases excessively) toxic – a petri dish in which morale and motivation have been eroded by loss of focus, purpose or clear goals.

And with that, business leaders have discovered that one of the key pieces of work that needs to be done is to equip managers and their fellow leaders with the tools and skills required to galvanise morale and jump-start renewed motivation.

So, for those businesses that do feel lockdown has set their employees adrift in terms of real engagement and sense of purpose, what can be done to restore the winning culture that is generally the result of good practices around employee wellbeing, value and reward?

Keep talking

One of the big problems employees have reported since the start of lockdown has been loss  of motivation due to a sense of being forgotten, and this is often because normal day-to-day verbal communication within teams has been impossible to achieve in the same way and nothing has replaced it.

In fact, this is a relatively easy to solve. Different teams require different touchpoints and different frequency of communication, but good communication strikes a balance between contact on the employee’s terms and the business need for messaging.

As a minimum, consider setting up a short weekly video conference for your team. And when I say short, I mean short: during lockdown much of your people’s time will have been spent staring into a webcam and talking to clients, customers and fellow team members. No one will thank you for being on yet another unnecessarily long video call.

Keep it to 20 minutes or half an hour if necessary, ensure everyone is given the opportunity to share something, try to keep things relaxed and informal and ensure the meeting doesn’t drag on unnecessarily.

Be clear about goals and expectations

Often a lack of motivation and – or – a lack of productivity can be linked to lack of clarity over an individual’s or team’s goals.

It’s good practice to discuss objectives and the level of out put you require with each member of your team – and your team as a whole, when it comes to shared goals – and follow this up in writing.

Agreeing weekly targets and deliverables and cross-checking – without coming across as Big Brother – can also help staff to maintain focus and stay motivated and on track.

Do more career development – not less

It’s easy, in the middle of a crisis, to forget about personal development, or at least make it less of a priority, yet many people leave organisations due to a perceived lack of career progression – between 43% and 62%, depending on which source you read.

In normal times, performance appraisal and personal development plans (PDPs) tend to be once a year processes. In challenging times, it pays to make at least one of your conversations with an employee each quarter about their career development.

This has the dual benefit of reassuring the individual that they are very much part of a growth strategy as well as keeping them focused on maximising their own progress.

Recognise and reward effort

Small gestures of thanks – particularly public ones – when someone goes above and beyond mean more than you might imagine.

Finding a way to recognise effort – either with an email of thanks or a small gift like a box of chocolates or a cinema or theatre voucher, if that fits with your company’s benefits scheme – underlines the value that individual or team brings to the business and helps to show that you understand how their contribution enhances profitability and performance.

Emphasise culture

The first casualty of crisis can be organisational culture which often disappears almost overnight when the focus shifts to solving a big problem or overcoming a significant challenge.

It’s important to reinforce the culture of the business through your own behaviour and by ensuring working practices continue reflect the importance of how teams work together.

This can be achieved fairly simply during remote working just by ensuring there are continued opportunities for collaborative working where employees are able to reconnect with one another and rediscover – and reaffirm – the culture of the organisation.

These are just a few of the key ways you can avoid morale and motivation becoming the victims of crisis working. If you’d like to know more about how Constantia Consulting can support you and your business to get the most out of your employees, please get in touch for a no-obligation, informal chat.