Leaders of organisations are under a unique type of pressure and responsibility in the current crisis being experienced all over the world. As our circle of ‘control’ shrinks, people’s sense of ‘belonging’ becomes more and more important.
In this environment, maintaining social connections and relationships with each other becomes paramount. Many of us are now working from home, which means that we have lost that immediacy of in-person connection with our work colleagues that is so important to us as human beings.
Basically, it means that we all have to make it a priority to keep in touch with each other on a regular basis… to remain connected. This happens naturally in the workplace, but when everyone is working from home, it requires an awareness and a will to make this a new habit. There are many ways we can do this, but as leaders of organisations, we are the role models who must model the new way of working in this uncertain environment.
I keep in daily contact with my leadership team and Personal Assistant using MS Teams videoconferencing and the mobile. It’s still business as usual, so sometimes we are in contact several times a day. I also check in using videoconferencing with work teams that are providing services to clients at our various different sites. There is also now a weekly check-in/update email to our whole staff group from me as CEO. This will become a video update in the near future. Our Wellbeing Team is highly active, providing relevant wellbeing resources for all staff to access and will soon release a series of interactive and fun activities to engage and connect our people.
‘Connection is vital because we all have that basic need to feel accepted and to believe that we belong and are valued for who we are’
– Brené Brown