Management Initiatives for post-COVID Times
Part Two
There are some signs that indicate we may finally be putting COVID behind us. Let’s hope so.
That said, some changes brought about by the pandemic won’t be fading anytime soon – if ever. One of these is the ubiquity of remote work.
As we posited in Part One of this blog, remote work is now a well-established part of the new workplace. With it comes new challenges for company leaders, one of which is finding the right management balance for the new mix of remote and in-office workers interacting with remote and in-office managers.
Adding to the first set of suggestions and reminders provided in Part One, here's another set of 10 recommendations to help guide managers on the road ahead.
Hold regular 1:1 – aka “Cadence” – calls. Like guardrails on a highway, keep things on track by holding regular 1:1 calls with all your remote reports. These cadence calls are more of an opportunity to evaluate and discuss the convergence of strategic and big projects, and to conduct personal check-ins. Cadence calls are not ideal for reviewing remote work in detail. Tactical cadence calls are a death sentence.
Guideline: Synchronizing activities with in-office and remote personnel is very important, as is assessing progress against goals and scrutinizing results. Pipeline analyses are an all-important current and post-COVID activity for remote and in-office salesforces. Accuracy of stage and forecast will increasingly become an issue as we evolve in both stages and the heightened analysis and pressure to make higher ARR or sales post-COVID.
Have additional weekly or bi-monthly 1:1 calls of 30-60 minutes in duration. This allows enough time for individual coaching, providing insights and feedback, discussing plans, operational concerns, clearing any project obstacles, and generally helping remote workers to grow. The sequence is (1) feedback, (2) strategic concerns, then (3) tactical issues.
Guideline: In the post-COVID timeframe, try to coordinate these calls with similar in-office meetings with team members.
Check on workloads. A regular part of remote work management is checking-in on the number of work hours of all your reports. It may seem counter-intuitive, but working remotely actually makes it much easier to overwork.
Guideline: Make it a standard part of your cadence calls and 1:1s, especially as in-office work escalates. Remote workers trying to keep pace with in-office workers is sometimes the basis of overwork.
Publish an agenda prior to Zoom meetings and phone calls. People are simply better prepared with an agenda. This is an important management discipline that is often overlooked or forgotten.
Guideline: Try to reduce the length and frequency of Zoom meetings and phone calls based on preferences of the team.
Separate sensitive convo’s. Don’t avoid having Zoom meetings and phone calls that cover personnel matters, such as job appraisals and performance evaluations. Just make sure that these personal sessions are pre-identified and don't rush these communications. In the fullness of time, these meetings are remembered and should be as beneficial and rewarding as in-person meetings.
Guideline: Try to avoid comparisons between in-person and remote discussions about personnel matters. It’s one more on-going complication in the HR domain.
Slacks, instant messages and DM’s are not replacements for 1:1s. It’s imperative that personnel issues must be conveyed and discussed personally.
Guideline: For some, phone calls have emerged as the preferred way to communicate personnel issues.
Give overworked personnel a break. Granting a break is an important activity for managers. It expands the trust bonds with remote workers. Avoid – at all costs – burning out your team members.
Guideline: Try to track overwork among remote vs. in-office workers.
Plan regular fun! Organize fun activities, intermittently, for both remote and in-office workers. When the weather permits, try to find outdoor ways to get the team together.
Guideline: Trade-off between a remote activity – such as, virtual wine tasting or virtual Halloween – and in-office fun that can be “broadcast” virtually.
SWAG matters. SWAG is a shared value: Sweatshirts with hoodies never lose their cache. With summer coming, consider a new round of polos and t-shirts with new designs.
Guideline: If the company does not already have one, it is recommended that you add a line in your P&L for “morale” and include SWAG in it. For seed stage companies this may be in the range of $1,000 to 2,000 for the year.
Purchase office equipment – permanently – for permanent remote workers. This is going to be a growing issue as in-office work expands. But it’s a non-issue for the all-new group of product managers, developers and others who were hired in Argentina, the Philippines and other locales. (Kudos especially to companies hiring Ukrainians.)
Guideline: To get ahead of this issue, budget for a purchase of mobile phones, other office equipment and printers with scanning capabilities and other cool features for remote workers.
As we stated in our previous post, your mileage may vary with these efforts. But it’s important that boards, startup leadership and managers understand that we are in a transition period. The 100% remote work model is decreasing as in-office work is increasing in proportion.
You’ll undoubtedly need to make frequent adjustments as you strive to be attendant to the varying needs of remote workers and in-office personnel. New circumstances demand new approaches. So, being amenable to change is a big part of intelligently managing all of your employees.
That said, the core tenets of good people management – like honesty, common sense, and being respectful – still matter a great deal in the workplace. It may be a challenge to find your right balance between ‘old school’ and new, but making the effort will be well worth it.
Author’s note: As always, we’d love to get your feedback on this or any of our topics. Please let us know what you think.