How to Help Your Teams Build Resilience
by Susan Peppercorn
To make it through the current pandemic and return to a new sense of normalcy, your teams will need to be
resilient. The good news is that leaders can help create the conditions that make this possible, even when employees are working remotely. Based on research reported in the Harvard Business Review, the key to building resilience is to focus on two areas, people and perspective.
The People Factor
Several people-related factors predict whether employees will be resilient: Confidence in their abilities, social and family support, and the capacity to establish work routines. Managers may have a sense of how their employees fare in these areas, but some factors may have been weakened by the pandemic. Strategies to empower the people-centric aspects of your employees’ resilience include:
1. Conducting resiliency checkups: Leaders should regularly check in individually with their reports and ask them questions such as:
- How comfortable are you working virtually?
- Are you able to plan your workdays efficiently? If not, what’s getting in the way?
- What help do you need from us to meet your work or family commitments?
Be prepared to offer assistance if your employee asks for it, such as redistributing workloads or providing additional support for those at risk of being overwhelmed.
2. Conveying empathy and encouragement: The challenges your reports are facing due to working from home may shake their confidence, but you can boost it by actively expressing your faith in their abilities. Give your reports your time, show concern, and make accommodations for individuals who are at high risk because they have underlying health conditions. It’s especially important to demonstrate that you genuinely care about your teammates as not just employees but people.
3. Offering time management advice: Working from home requires adjustments to technology and new routines. It may also test your people’s ability to focus. Think about how you can help your reports adjust. Offering workshops on personal productivity strategies that include things such as office setup, time boxing, task prioritization and schedule planning, can help encourage disciplined work habits.
4. Encouraging coaching conversations: Research indicates that one of the most effective ways to increase resilience at work is through one-on-one conversations. As a manager, you might schedule individual discussions with each direct report. If you feel that these might be too time-consuming or the power differential between you and your reports may make these discussions unequal, encourage your team members to have guided conversations among themselves regularly. You might go as far as assigning pairs or asking them to pair up and requiring regularly scheduled video chats. These can be a great opportunity for your team members to discuss successful experiences, problems and how they’re tackling them, and what they’ve learned during the crisis that they can apply now and when things get back to normal. This last step is essential. Employees need to be reminded that they have the strengths to weather the storm—and envision who they will be after the hardship has passed.
The Perspective Factor
Neuroscience suggests that the fear and anxiety we experience because of COVID-19 narrows our perspective, making it challenging to envision creative solutions to problems. Accepting things as they are and planning for worst-case scenarios is vital to building resilience. Strategies for helping your employees broaden their perspective include:
1. Asking questions: There are questions leaders can ask to help teams members face reality and come to acceptance. They include:
- What plans do you have in place for working remotely longer than anticipated?
- Who on your team or in your organization or network might be able to help you?
2. Helping team members utilize their strengths: An analysis by Gallup revealed that people who use their strengths are six times more likely to be engaged at work, 8% more productive and 15% less likely to quit their jobs. Another thing leaders can do is help their direct reports recognize unique talents or skills that might be especially useful during the crisis. For example, if some or all of your team are telecommuting, do you have employees who excel at dealing with technology or distractions? You could have these individuals provide virtual training to others. As each member sees how his or her unique skills contribute to the good of the team, the group’s confidence and social support will grow.
Any crisis is also an opportunity to build resilience in your teammates. If you successfully implement the strategies offered here; you may find that they not only bounce back from these difficult times but emerge much stronger as people and as an organization.
To learn more about how ClearRock can help equip your team for the road ahead, check out our Change Readiness workshops and the new Resilience Series: Leading in Crisis and Team Building through Change.
