Regular followers of our tips and articles will have seen the insightful article our new colleague Richard Tams wrote last week on the challenges of working remotely from home.

Sticking with the words of Henry Ford, my favourites are:

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

I would argue that this is really what most of us have all been striving to do over the past few weeks , as we struggle to embrace new technology and new routines, with varying degrees of success.

Now that working from home (WFH) has  “come of age” and looks to be a feature of our lives for at least the medium term, I thought it worth asking the question:

How is working from home really working for you, your leaders and your teams?

As if the risk of getting Covid-19 wasn’t enough, you now have to avoid contracting “Zoomitis” or going down with “Groundhog Day Syndrome”.  Some of the better-informed leaders that we talk to tell us they’ve had to completely re-consider how they communicate with their teams and what they can and cannot expect of them. At times like this, we need to be ever more mindful of how we interact with each other.  The inevitable sense of isolation brought on by quarantine will be different for each member of our team depending on their personal circumstances.

Leaders also need to rethink how they motivate and incentivise their teams. One charming example I saw recently was a leader who rewarded a team member with a box of chocolates for having gone the extra mile. That employee then posted a picture of those chocolates on LinkedIn. People will remember that sort of good old-fashioned recognition long after the crisis ends. It will surely instil a greater sense of loyalty and commitment.

Can your team members feel that sort of love? Would you like them to? If not, maybe it’s time to invest in them. In response to the crisis, Clearwater has expanded its offerings to help leaders and teams work together successfully. We are now offering virtual workshops in teamwork and remote team leadership focused on communication….