Working remotely or with a hybrid work schedule is part of the normal post-COVID. The way leaders may interact with teams may have changed, but the fundamentals of strategic leadership have not. It’s crucial for the coming new year that leaders find ways to motivate, empower, and re-engage their teams all the while restructuring or maintaining their work culture.
The global pandemic sent workforces around the world into home offices. With the end of the ordeal nowhere in sight, some workers have returned to their offices while others have remained home, creating hybrid teams. Leaders and managers have to continue delivering top-notch leadership under these unprecedented conditions.
The way we worked may have changed, but not leadership strategy.
How Leadership Coaching is tied to Hybrid Team Performance
A successful leader asserts their position by being able to help their teams assess where they are currently and understand where they want to be while identifying the gap between the realities and setting up an action plan to complete goals.
Hybrid work and remote work has brought about issues due to its nature that include:
- Reduced situational awareness
- Isolation
- Misunderstandings due to poor communication
- Lack of socialization which then leads to less relationship building
- Disconnect between remote and in-office teams
Read on to understand how executive coaching can help the leaders with some of these brought on challenges.
Showing your human – it’s not as bad as you might think
If it is coming from a genuine, honest place – vulnerability in front of your team might help building trust and cementing employee loyalty. Executive coaches should advise leaders to navigate the troubled waters of hybrid team cooperation together with their teams instead of acting as an all-knowing source of direction and wisdom.
Taking on an equal problem-solving sphere, leaders facilitate a more effective clearing of hurdles – they empower their employees to pitch in on equal footing.
Brushing up your communication skills
Having remote and/or hybrid teams, communication should be strengthened and emphasized. Revisit, redistribute, revamp communication policies and procedures to confirm your workforce is on the same page. It allows the organization to give an equal opportunity of knowledge and information.
Communication has always been the main ingredient of effective leadership. Open and unfiltered communication for teams, leaders can address the issue of schisms between on-site and remote teams.
Revamp Rewards and Redefine Motivation
Motivating employees is not always clearcut. While there will be individuals that will become motivated by assuming ownership of projects and tasks, others may respond better with rewards.
A potential solution that may work although considered old are monetary rewards. In the context of strategic leadership , it may be less effective.
Successful executive coaches redefine employee rewards by advocating rewards that revolve around values. People value spending meaningful time with their local communities, families, and friends more than ever. Social gatherings and various indoor and outdoor activities make attractive rewards that may contribute to team building and a strong organizational culture.
Career Development Opportunities help Reengage
Coaching and mentoring should be a top priority for this new year. Strategic leaders understand that offering opportunities for growth to their teams will motivate them while fulfilling potential organizational growth in the future.
In the past, organizations might have budgeted for an in-person development program, but with remote and hybrid teams now considered a normal work culture and system, creating a remote development program might cover the essential need in a hybrid environment.
The way we work and lead our workforce will continue to change. As always, organizations that can adapt to these changes quickly and seamlessly will be the ones to profit and survive into the future.
Are you interested in getting an executive coach? Look no further.
