The lock down is on, in many countries around the globe. Most people who can, work from home. Most people who can, manage people who work from home!
For many, WFH was a dream, and even a goal. Many employees envisioned WFH very differently from today’s reality.
The fantasy:
Waking up 30 minutes before work starts
Finding time to attend a yoga class at lunch time
Running errands and domestic chores in between meetings
Walking the dog twice a day,
Picking up the kids from school at 15:30
Generally, being done with work and home by 17:05.
The reality:
Today, the novelty of working from home has worn off.
We’re getting back pain from spending hours on a kitchen chair that’s not designed for this purpose
We’ve ‘met’ our colleagues’ children (when they interrupt a video conference, asking why Pepper Pig’s not showing on TV!)
We’ve seen their kitchen in the background
We’ve even had a glimpse of their pajama bottoms when they got up in the middle of a video conference call.
That was cute.
Many people have been commenting on how they love discovering a more private side to their colleagues and stepping into relationships that feel much more authentic.
Reality has definitely replaced fantasy.
There are a lot of possible challenges associated with remote work, one of the most impacting and long-lasting one is a decline in motivation. This week, screening posts on Social Media and talking to clients I coach, I demotivation is all I hear about. Emotions seem extremely unstable, ranging from extreme gratitude one day to confusion and lethargy the next: “Why do I do what I do?” and “What’s my value in today’s crisis?” are some of the most common questions I hear.
Working from a bedroom, not always comfortably set up, feeling isolated, with a stressful to-do list… and suddenly appears: Procrastination, closely followed by Guilt, which of course calls for Isolation. Sometimes, Distraction also joins the party. And to make matters worse, we’re talking about a lack of motivation that spreads across an entire team and, more often than not, to managers as well!
Here’s a list of things to consider trying in order to improve motivation amongst your team. You obviously don’t need to implement them all. Cherry pick what feels closest to your leadership style, and customise to the specific profiles and needs of your team.
Honesty and authenticity: You’re demotivated? We’re demotivated! Let’s talk!
Fact: Lack of motivation is going to hit everyone at some point. Once we know and accept that, we can get rid of guilt. And by getting rid of guilt, we can open up about it. When I coach leaders, I often ask them how they speak with their team members about demotivation. Often, they don’t! It’s the elephant in the video conference meeting.
When I repeat to them what they’ve just opened up to me about on the topic, and ask them how it sounds. “Understandable”, “Like what a lot of people go through”, “Authentic” are their most common answers. So I invite them to open up with their direct reports about THEIR OWN lack of motivation: how they identify it, how it feels, what they’ve tried to snap out of it… While you’re having a one on one meeting on video conferencing with one of your direct reports, try something like “I have been procrastinating about this because I feel demotivated. Does that ever happen to you?” and see what comes up. Chances are, by turning demotivation from a shameful taboo into a valid work topic, a reality we’re ALL dealing with, leaders can deepen the bonds that unite their team, based on authentic feelings and experiences. So talk about demotivation with your team! Ask them to share their tips to get motivated again. Try to find out when it happens, to whom, so your team can turn into a support system for each other.
Carrot and stick: Clearly identify the carrot. (You won’t even need the stick!)
In today’s context, the factors that lead to demotivation are shared amongst many: Isolation, lack of structure, distractions, emotions, tiredness, lack of exercise, uncertainty about the future… Many of which are inherent to remote work and to a global tragedy. The good news is that factors that lead to high levels of motivation can also be shared amongst many! So find out what they are in your team and for each of your direct reports and use them! During one on one meetings, ask about times when the person was the most motivated. Aim at understanding what played a role in this. Was it a recent big win? Was it recognition? Was it a new role? Was it the start of a new year or quarter? Use this precious information to understand how you should lead this particular person moving forward. It’s possible that new circumstances call for a new leadership approach. It’s leaders’ role to adapt.
Be captivating: The balcony and storytelling.
Invitation to the balcony:
In a time of crisis, and when people feel isolated, it is even more important for leaders to remind employees why they joined the company in the first place! Leaders are the only ones who see the entire context of what’s going on, as below them, people tend to focus on their task and on delivering to the best of their ability. Leaders should share with their employees more often, across more formats, what they perceive, forecast, and what’s important to focus on right now. Leaders, in time of crisis, become the captain of their ship. Every person looks to them for guidance and reassurance. I encourage leaders to become aware of what they know as well as that their team does not know, that could be motivating. We (executive coaches) call it “from the dance floor to the balcony”:
Employees spend their time on the dance floor, where they dance amongst team members and see all the details of what’s being done. They’re ‘in the trenches’.
Leaders are on the balcony. From this high view point, they see the entire venue, the dance floor where employees are dancing, the cloakroom, the bar, the entrance door… They also don’t see details very well. They don’t always know the mood on the dance floor.
In a time of crisis, leaders need to invite their team ‘to the balcony’ often enough to give employees a long-lasting glimpse of what’s going on ‘up there’ which will help to put their own work into a broader context.
Storytelling:
People forget numbers, slides, strategies and clever quotes. But they never forget a good story! Stories are used from birth not only to entertain, but also to communicate complex concepts such as courage, loyalty, kindness… I encourage leaders to do the same at work! You want to talk to your team about resilience? Efficiency? Keeping your eyes on the ball? Giving it all you have? Collaboration? Making the most of an opportunity? Tell them a good story! Understand that I am not advocating we take the puppets out of the closets and treat our teams in a patronising way. I am talking about structuring your message into a memorable, logical thread to make it engaging. Each leader should find the storytelling structure that best suits him or her and stick to it. One of these storytelling structure is the Intentional Change Model. It works for most situation, and it uses 5 simples steps:
Where we want to get: Fast forward to January 2012 for instance. Your company size, impact, revenue, position… Make it appealing and aspirational.
Where we are now: The good and the bad.
How we’re going to get there: The steps, the timeline... To go from your current revenue to your target revenue, explain what the journey’s likely to look like in time and what needs to happen, step by step, for the next step to be in reach.
What will need to be tested: Adopting a lab mentality where even ‘failures’ are valuable if they bring learnings. Here, you’re explaining that it’s not going to be a straight line, there may even be some drawbacks, but what matters is psychological safety and an agile mentality.
Resources at our disposal: HR, training, colleagues, the intranet, Slack, shared know-how, experts… It’s about making your team feel supported and empowered. Sure, they work from home right now, but support functions and programs are still available.
Rites of passage meet snake and ladder: Opportunities for advancement and plenty of recognition.
One of the topics I am passionate about is generational changes. In March alone I was the keynote speaker at 3 events about Managing Millennials. One of the things that is quickly disappearing from societies, once they become more ‘westernised’, are rites of passage. In a rural society, you are more likely to find these rites of passage from childhood to adulthood. (granted, some of them can be violent or physically abusive, so their disappearance is a blessing!). In ‘modern’ society, most of these rites have gone, leaving a lot of fluidity in the way people feel about their age, stage in life, identity, role, responsibilities and reason for being on this planet. The simple question “What is a responsible adult?” will lead to a multitude of answers!
While fluidity is a wonderful thing in many areas, I think that in a time of crisis, people feel an enhanced need to “Know who they are”, “Know where they stand” and “Know their place”. Not in a restrictive way, more in a “You’re here” on a map kind of way! And while teams are working remotely, communication is less frequent, the sense of bonding can be lowered, giving them benchmarks that represent steps they’ve made can be very reassuring. Some of the companies with the best ratings in terms of employees satisfaction (Google, Eventbrite… to name two I worked for) actually use several rites of passage as part of their company culture. Whether it is asking newbies to share with the entire company their favorite song when they join (Eventbrite) or celebrating tenure birthdays in a significant way (Google), rites of passage make people feel welcomed, noticed and valued. They also increase the sense of belonging which, according to Abraham Marslow, ranks number 3 in the Hierarchy of Human Needs. In rural societies, a rite of passage is often related to the person’s age. In the corporate world, leaders have to decide what ‘metrics” they want to celebrate with rites of passage.
Two’s better than one: Pairing up people for support, partnership and accountability
Isolation is the partner in crime of demotivation, and there’s nothing that can be done in the physical world right now. However, today we have a wonderful tool: Free video conferencing! At present, VC is mostly used for meetings. But no one’s stopping you from using it differently and having a continuous VC with a team member, all day long, to recreate the feeling that you’re sitting next to each other. You hear this person type, breathe, move on their chair, get up and get a drink… just like you would in a face to face environment. This simple trick is incredibly powerful to help employees who suffer from isolation. Ask people to pair-up in your team, and encourage them to be on VC with each other all day long (pausing only when they have meetings to attend). This partnership between two people will encourage ongoing communication, collaboration, support and accountability!
100 metre: Few people could physically or mentally run a marathon, but everyone can give you their best sprint!
When people are isolated amidst a context of uncertainty, long term goals mean less to them. They tend to find ‘now and here’ guidance a lot more helpful and reassuring. Some employees even admit that, what is most helpful to them, is to have a quick call with their manager every morning so they decide on their to-do list for the day! So while, as we’ve already discussed:
You take your team upstairs to your balcony once in a while so they understand the big picture
You use storytelling to make your message palatable and memorable
You should also help your direct reports focus on what needs to be done NOW. Ambiguity is the mother of lethargy. Help remove ambiguity by agreeing on a short term basis about challenging goals and immediate recognition and rewards. Shorten the seasonality of OKRs, 360 degree feedback, appraisals.... Maintain during the lock-down a sustained rhythm that comes in short waves, as short as a day!
Compartment and block: Managing time when benchmarks are fading.
One of the main changes about working from home is that time seems to be a lot more fluid, and to disappear! In the office, you just need to look around you to know what time it is:
Smells of coffee? It’s before 11am
People starting to leave their desk? It’s lunch time.
Gathering in the kitchenette? It’s snack-time so probably around 15:30
People discreetly passing by your workstation, avoiding eye contact and carrying their bag? They’re the early leavers, it’s 16:30!…
None of these benchmarks happen when working from home. So how to control and manage time more efficiently when it seems to have become much more volatile? A simple tip is to block chunks of time in your calendar and allocate them to specific tasks from your to-do list. Slice your day into a multitude of 30 minutes units. If you’re not efficient or motivated during a specific time slot, move on to the next task. Don’t focus on what you just failed to achieve, move on to something else! Allocate a new time slot to the task you did not complete today, tomorrow morning for instance, when you’re fresh.
During the lockdown, the fantasy about working from home has become a harsh reality, where demotivation is settling in. Leaders have several ways at their disposal to help their team stay on track: From talking openly about the elephant in the room, to identifying what motivates people and using it, to using storytelling as well as rites of passage to keep people engaged, encouraging people to pair-up, and to work in short burst of energy, and to block time in their calendar to accommodate and plan the execution of each task.