The pandemic has left us in a state of flux at work. How can we manage the unknown?

With COVID-19, uncertainty and a state of transition are creating and increasing individual, team, and organisational risk. Feelings of impending change affect recruitment, team development and career ambitions. Catherine Baxendale discusses how leaders can deal with these different levels of risk.

 
As an executive coach working with brilliant people in different sectors – ranging from government, global media, tech and financial companies and professional services across the US, UK and India – I have had the privilege to listen to and explore first-hand how risk and resilience shows up in high-powered, diverse environments. Here are my summary thoughts to share.

 
Organisational risk

In many companies, there is a huge state of flux for all the reasons that have by now been widely described and you will be familiar with. Key people that I work with have also discussed the feelings of impending change that they have to wrestle with and the practical impact those feelings have on recruitment, team development and their own career ambitions in their organisations. We know the organisation of yesterday is not the same as that of today, but what will the organisation of tomorrow look like? This feeling of the unknown can cause and accelerate silo mentality, a focus on self vs others, and short-term investment decisions because people don’t know what to plan for.

 
Team risk

There seems to be a real thirst for new ways to improve team engagement, morale and culture. As we know, many leaders have not met their teams in real life; teams are working across boundaries that seemed unrealistic pre-pandemic and the demands on teams in an always on culture, even regardless of time zones, is taking its toll. Those of us lucky enough to remember luxury business travel know how it really was a special time to unwind, regroup and do some uninterrupted thinking, but that clearly is not much of an option now. Furthermore, business travel allowed people to meet for events and dinners, which enabled team relationships to develop and mature and helped to create a supportive, collaborative, even enjoyable, work environment. Now leaders have come to rely on well-crafted team emails, some Zoom-type team events (which can easily miss the mark), and possibly some meet-ups for coffees or walks on an ad hoc basis. This is clearly leading to some frayed edges.

 
Συνέχεια ανάγνωσης εδώ

 
Πηγή: blogs.lse.ac.uk