Gather, Grow, & Go Virtually
The outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic has led many companies to institute work from home (WFH) policies and ban work-related travel. This has dramatically altered how teams collaborate and work together. At G3 we are committed to you and your team’s ability to navigate this unfolding dynamic by facilitating new virtual experiences. We have embraced the invitation to tackle the challenges of adapting, virtually, to a new way of working. Through interactive and customizable virtual programming, we will work together to improve your team’s alignment, engagement, effectiveness and performance.
Several clients have reached out since the outbreak to look for guidance on how to lead and cultivate their team in a completely virtual environment. In response, G3 has created the 7 Essential Elements in Creating an Agile Workforce that we want to share with you.
How do you create an agile workforce? What is agility? Why is it important? Welcome to our new reality. In order for teams and organizations to succeed within this new reality, leaders and employees must become more agile. But agility is not something organizations can incentivize or coerce. Agility must be unleashed and empowered – and this is easier said than done. Commit yourself, and then create an environment for your team to follow:
1. Chalk the field: The best solutions are created when the big picture is known and understood by everyone.
2. Define Goals: Create small, measurable goals that can be accomplished.
3. Clear Communication: Know your communication style and be ready to “flex” when communicating with different styles.
4. Focus Your Purpose: Ensure team alignment on purpose and “your why” and communicate the values that guide daily work.
5. Listen: Virtual connection can be challenging. How do you hold yourself accountable? What is being said or not being said? What needs to be said?
6. Ask More Questions: Check for understanding. Come from a place of curiosity.
7. Create a Safe Space: Engage and invite people into the conversation (people are vulnerable and afraid right now). Recognize and acknowledge ideas and contributions. Reinforce the behavior you want to see.
Engagement 1
Be you. Honor and acknowledge the circumstances. You have the capacity to create and lead change. Commit to being a good leader, it can and will greatly impact the success of your team, your organization, and yourself in this time of adversity.
• To be an effective leader, you must understand your own motivations, strengths, and weaknesses.
• Great leaders connect with their team by facilitating open communication, encouraging employee growth and development, and giving and receiving feedback.
Anyone can sit in a corner office and delegate tasks, but there is more to effective leadership than that, especially now. Effective leaders have major impacts on not only the team members they manage, but also their company as a whole. Employees who work under great leaders tend to be happier, more productive, and more connected to their organization – and this has a ripple effect that reaches your business’s bottom line. Learn tools and strategies to do this in a virtual world.
Engagement 2
Who are we as a team? What are our best practices? How do we leverage them? What do we need to change? Where do we need to pivot? What can and should we do differently? Let’s be honest. Let’s have that courageous conversation. Let’s make a difference.
Sometimes multiple short meaningful conversations work better by providing breaks from pressure and stress and offering everyone opportunities for self-reflection. One of the most important elements of effective leadership is creating an open line of communication with your team members. This is more critical than ever. The only way to avoid the pitfalls is to be extremely clear and disciplined about how the team will communicate. We will create a charter that establishes norms of behavior when participating in virtual meetings and conversations. Take the steps to:
1. Commit to a communication charter
2. Leverage the best communication technologies
3. Build a team with rhythm
4. Agree on a shared language
Engagement 3
Now what? Now where do we go? How do we engage and continue to influence the team? How do we leverage best practices? Where do we need to pivot/shift? Create the environment to engage your team and continue to build a high performing team.
1. Create a “virtual water cooler”
2. Clarify and track commitments
3. Foster shared leadership
4. Build in 1:1 conversations and strategic leadership meetings
We are committed to supporting you, your team, and your organization. We want to curate a team experience that will help ground, support, align, and create growth opportunities in this time of uncertainty. We believe in you. We believe in your team. This is your defining moment to “lean in” and claim your leadership legacy.
