The 3Cs to Inspire your Virtual Teams

The 3 Cs to Inspire your Virtual Teams

As ardent corporate citizens, all of us are pleasantly surprised to observe the overnight acceptance to a virtual work mode across the globe!

One can’t help but recall the various times businesses in the past questioned the necessity of offering flexibility. ‘Necessity is the mother of all invention’ and in our COVID struck world, a new normal has set in to stay (for the most part) when it comes to working from home.

Culture of Connectedness

With culture being a function of what an associate experiences in the organisation on a day to day basis, the key is to sustain the level of engagement virtually as well. We need to stay socially connected and only physically distant.

A rhythm of daily meetings, check-ins and weekly fun team connects; lay the ground to ensure there is open, transparent and clear two-way communication channels between managers and team members. Trust and transparency are the result of a well-connected ecosystem.

Culture of Care: Different strokes for different folks’

As a people manager, one knows that no two team members are ever the same. Coming up with your plan of engaging and recognising each associate in the way they would prefer is essential. While it’s simple to say, some ways to do this is to keep some time aside to have non-work related conversations like checking in on how they are feeling on a given day and enquiring if their home ecosystem is challenging and how may they seek your support. Working from home involves being accepting of one’s personal space while on video calls, being inclusive of virtual working styles and most importantly being flexible and agile to their needs.

Change is constant!

For those of us who are more social by nature and/or for whom ‘seeing is believing’; it can be challenging to manage teams virtually.

We have evolved and will continue to basis out circumstances. That is where having a hold on our own approach towards change and then enabling our teams through it is key. One could also feel overwhelmed with the questions coming from associates on the current situation and when will we regain our ‘normal’ state. In testing times such as this, it is important to ‘wear your own oxygen mask’ before helping others.

A simple exercise could do the trick both to manage self and others:

Draw out 2 concentric circles, in the inner one list out the things you have direct control over, in the outer one the things that are outside your locus of control. Now focus on the inner circle as best as you can and take your team along since we are in it together.

The definite outcome of change is to make one ‘evolve’, so let’s view this time of virtual working as an opportunity to develop our leadership style, mettle, and grit!