9 ways to drive your team through this difficult time.

These are challenging times for everyone in the world, with so much uncertainty looming around everyone is looking for exact answers and solutions to their problem, be it related to their health or career.

As we are headed towards one of the worst economic recession, that is bound to leave an adverse effect on the businesses and their workforce.

In my view, the challenge that most organisations will face during this period would be to retain the trust of their retained employees and make sure that they feel secure while they see some of their friends and colleagues lose the job. Such insecurities can dwell deep and hamper the morale of the retained employees and further impact the performance of the organisation. 

So it is of utmost importance that we keep the team motivated during these trying times and maintain the momentum.

Here are a few ways using which you can drive your team. 

1. Have a detailed call with all team members

It could be a con call or a video call over Skype or Hangout, but the whole team must be present to understand the new situation and help brainstorm the way forward. Remember, they will love to venture into a process or structure that they will help create. 

The best way to deal with such a situation is to give complete authority and responsibility to your team members to brainstorm and execute ideas and give the steering in their hands while you sit on the side seat, strategising the way ahead for the journey ahead. 

   2. Delegate as much as you can.

Many times we get too scared thinking what if something goes wrong and that the subordinate will take two hours to complete the work that you can finish in half an hour. This fear doesn't let us delegate any important task to our subordinates and, in turn, hamper their learning and growth, which further leads to job dissatisfaction and lower moral.

So if you are an entrepreneur, ensure that you develop and train your team along the way as this is the right time to let them work on projects where they can take their time to learn and execute, and who knows they might as well surprise you with a marvelous job done in their own unique way that you didn't even think of.  

3. Empower your team

Empowering your team to make decisions will go a long way as they will feel trusted and will also help motivate them to work passionately for the organisation as it would then also be their baby, not just yours. So let them take the day to day decisions related to client work and make them the boss of their work. 

4. Sense of belonging

If there is a tough or strategic decision that you need to take during this period, ensure that you discuss and take your team in confidence first. This will help them see the bigger picture, and they will feel part of the new structure and will be able to contribute better.

5. Set expectations clear

Have a separate call with every department or team member and explain what they are expected to do for the next two to three months period. This clarity will avoid any ambiguity and will help them focus on the tasks that are most important rather than just going around working the old way.

6. Ensure Job roles are clearly specified

Get on a call with your HR and department head and ensure that each team member has their job roles specified as per the new structure. This will help each team member have clear daily jobs and know-how their performance will get evaluated.

7. Trust your team

It becomes much more important during these tough times that you completely trust your team and don't make them get their work reviewed by you. This will not just boost their confidence but will also let you focus on fighting bigger battles.

8. Foster an open environment

It is important that you encourage people to come up with their problems and feel free to approach you whenever they get stuck or need suggestions or help. 

9. Try to see things from your employees perspective

Things are not the same as they were a month or two back, and we all are trying to adjust to this new way of living and working. Hence there are a lot of changes in the way we work as it is bound to get mingled with the housework, child care, and buying essentials. So you need to be compassionate and try to see things from your employees' perspective and give them freedom and space to work at a suitable time. Trust me; this will make them more productive as when you care for your employees; they care for your clients.

I hope we all come out winning at the end of this Pandemic and till then the points above help your team stay strong and together.

These are difficult times for everyone in the world, with so much uncertainty looming around everyone is looking for exact answers and solutions to their problem, be it related to their health or financial security.

As we are headed for a bid economic recession, it is bound to leave an impact on the job market as there will be a lot of job losses and pay cuts.

But as I believe that the biggest problem that businesses will face will be how to retain the best of their staff and make sure that they feel secure while they see some of their friends, colleagues, and spouses losing their job as all this turmoil does impact the overall productivity of effective employees and hence the organisation at large.

The question then is how to ensure that we maintain the momentum and keep the team motivated during these trying times. Here I have figured out a few ways and would like to share with my fellow entrepreneurs and CXO's.

Have a detailed video call with all team members

First and foremost, what we did was had a meeting with all the team members and explained the whole situation. Fortunately, in our case, the problem was not that we were gonna have less work but that we were going to work more and that too while we work from home. As most of our clients have put all their efforts on digital marketing and the content consumption has increased many folds during the lockdown period.

As content consumption has increased online, all the client's wanted to post on daily basis which basically meant that we had to work has doubled in size while we are working from home along with the regular chores at home, we had to match the expectation of our all our clients.

The best way to deal with such situation is give complete authority and resposibilty to your team memebers to brainstorm and execute ideas and give the steering in thier hands while you sit on the side seat and watch whether they are going in the right direction or not.

Many a times we get too scared thinking what if somehing goes wrong that we never delegate any important task to our subordinates and in turn hamper their learning and griowth.

So if you are an entreprenuer enusre hat you develop and train your team along the way rather then just give the tedeous work to them while you make all the strategic and decision making work.

Empowering your team to take tough decision will go a long way as they will feel trusted and will also help motivate them to work passionatley for the organisation as it would then also be their baby not just yours.

Sense of belonging

If their is a tough or stratgic decision that you need to take during this period ensure that you discuss and take your team in confidence first.

This will help them see the bigger picture and they will feel part of the new structure and will be able to contribute better.

Set expectations clear

Have a seperate call with every department or team member and explain what are they expected to for the next two to three months period. This clarity will avoid any ambiguity and will help them focus on task that are most important rather then just going around working the old way.

Ensure Job roles are clearly specified

GEt on a call with your HR and department head and ensure that each team member has a their job roles specified as per the new structure. This will help each team member have clear daily jobs and know how their performnace will get evaluated.

Trust your team

It becomes much more imporatnt during these times that you completely trust your team and don't make them get their work reviwed by you. This will not just boost their confidence but will also let you focus on fighting bigger battles.

Foster an open environment

It is important that you ensourage people be come up with their problems and feel free to approach you whenever they get stuck or need suggestions or help.

Try to see things fro your employees perspective

Things are not the same as they were a month or two back and we all are trying to adjust to this new way of living and working. Hence there are a lot of changes in the way we work as it is bound to get mingled with the house work, child care and in buying essentials. So you need to be compassionate and try to see things from your employees perspective and give them freedom and space to work at their suitable time. Trust me this will make them more productive as when you care for your employees they care about your clients.