One of the lasting influences of the COVID pandemic that I am often asked about is should employees still be able to work from home.
Since the end of the restrictions many businesses have continued to offer a hybrid blended working policy and for me this is a good thing. I have always been an advocate of flexible and/or remote working because it allows employees autonomy and flexibility both of which have a positive impact on engagement and employee wellbeing.
However, it is important to highlight the need for a change in communication strategies to address some of the issues of this type of arrangement.
Firstly, and fundamentally human beings like to feel connected, which is perhaps why connection is one of my core values.
One of the challenges of blended working is to ensure that employees can continue to feel connected to, and supported by, their colleagues.
With online meetings there is a potential danger that people are not actively listening and engaging in the meetings. With the temptation of split screens and the pressures of getting work done there is a chance that people are subversively checking emails or doing other work during meetings. This can break the connection as people are distracted and not giving their full attention to each other.
With hybrid working means that there is less chance for the informal conversations that would normally happen. It also increases the chance that some employees may go for extended periods without seeing some of their colleagues. Both of these changes can impact on the connection between employees.
Using technology to help
Whilst many organisations have made use of technology with things like MS Teams and Slack and their instant messaging facilities for some of the more informal conversations these things are not without their limitations too.
For example, when everyone is working in the same office it easy to look up and see if the person you want to ask a question of looks busy. However, this is more complex when you have some employees working from home and so the instant message (or even email) can serve as an interruption.
Instant messages can also create an indirect and perhaps even instinctual response within people to respond instantly. This increased level of interruptions in your employee’s day can be both frustrating for them and also impacts on their productivity and profitability. In fact research has shown that when someone is interrupted it will take them 7 times longer to get back to the same place in the task after being interrupted than it did to get to the same point in the first place.
To address this, I would suggest you encourage your team to change their ‘status’ to clearly indicate the times they are busy. This will require a habit to be formed by gentle reminders to people to do it, but it will be worth the effort in the long run.
Team meetings
In order to encourage and make space for the informal conversations and to ensure that all your team get together on a regular basis I would suggest that accountants hold a monthly team meeting in person. Most firms are already doing meetings but ensuring that everyone is in the same physical space will foster the connection.
To enhance this, start the meeting by ‘checking in’ with each employee about how they are feeling and share anything that they want to about what they are working on at that time. If you add in the chance for a coffee or even lunch and some informal and personal conversations to take place this is also useful.
Other things you can do
Understand and adjust your communication style to match the different individual styles of your employees. Some people will prefer a conversation, others will want a more in depth written email or report, some will want to listen to what you have to say and have time to reflect on it, and some will just want simple, clear and direct instructions. If you are not sure of the communication styles of your team then you may want to look at DiSC profiling [insert hyperlink to page on site].
If you are not comfortable or confident with handling interactions where employees can share their feelings, then you might want to consider engaging the help of someone external to help in this area. For example, there are companies that offer HR support that also offer to their customers teams the opportunity to talk to a wellbeing person. In my experience working with my client’s teams this will give them a safe space to be open and honest about their feelings, anxieties and frustrations and opportunity to work through them.
So ask yourself…
How connected are your team to each other and to you?
What changes could you make to your communication processes to improve this?
For help with developing your communication processes or building a stronger connection with your team email me joanne@smartsupportforbusiness.co.uk or call me on 0114 221 9054 and ask me about my coaching support programmes.
