CORONAVIRUS THE “WORLD’S LARGEST

WORK-FROM-HOME EXPERIMENT”

Ensure Success with these Best Practices

Time Magazine recently called coronavirus the “World’s Largest Work-From-Home Experiment” and that’s exactly what it’s shaping up to be for many business owners and leaders who have never before had remote workers. This is the time to put Remote Team Management Best Practices in place to ensure success.  In my next 3 blogs I’ll be sharing:

1. Productivity Improvement –Tips and tricks to address stress, distraction and collaboration (…read more)
2. Team Motivation and Engagement – Team building games and practices to inspire and motivate
3. What to do if things aren’t working out – signs of remote team dysfunction and how to deal with it

Read the first one now and be on the lookout for the next 2, to keep your business running in these fast changing times.

We’ll get through this together, Angela

Get your REMOTE TEAM and PEOPLE MANAGEMENT QUESTIONS ANSWERED

If you have questions about your remote teams, I hold FREE Virtual Office Hours in My Zoom Room on Tuesdays and Thursdays during these interesting times. Stop by with whatever team management questions you have, and I’ll provide answers.

Stop By My Zoom Room! The door will be open on:
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00-12:30 Pacific Time.

Tuesday’s Link:  https://zoom.us/j/590537679

Thursday’s Link: https://zoom.us/j/561968155

Join me for answers.  Angela

                          Angela

What I am realising is that this “new normal” will require me to step up as a business owner, as a woman and as a leader 

Last week I walked into a grocery store and for the first time ever, shelves and whole aisles were empty.  I felt fear.

Then one by one my clients called or emailed me to let me know that they were putting their hiring requirements and their team improvement projects on hold.  So, one by one my income disappeared, and I felt a whole lot more fear – the gut wrenching, mind flying in a million directions at once, panic kind of fear. 

My mind was frantically racing to figure out what to do and how to tell my team.  And as my mind raced, I was also frozen and unable to choose a way forward.    

Things shifted for me last Thursday when I did my yoga and a guided meditation to calm the fear.  As soon as I finished, I felt a profound sense of relief and relaxation.  Since then I’ve practiced that meditation daily and the relief I’ve felt has given me the space to stop and reflect on who I want to be and how I want to show up now and going forward in this “new normal”.

Are you going to let your fears dictate your path? Or are you going to RISE UP and lead others through this storm? 

Social distancing, business shutdowns and a mass movement to virtual work along with self-isolation and the shutdown of non-essential services have all of a sudden given us time.  Way more time than most of us have ever experienced outside of the occasional vacation.  And because this is so new, most of us do not know how to fill that time, so we turn to social media and TV.  Which of course doesn’t help, because it’s filled with reports of more and more cases of infection, death and other sensational stories of the pandemic which only has one result: MORE FEAR.  Yet other than taking the precautions the scientific and medical communities have offered, there really is very little we can do.

In this time of uncertainty, I’ve been getting a great deal of comfort from the simple prayer shared at every 12-step program out there (thanks for the reminder Kenn)

“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things that I can; and

the wisdom to know the difference.”

We have an incredible opportunity to change the things that we can right now.  And what we can change is how we react.  Are you going to rise up and lead others through this storm or are you going to drop into the fear and join the panic?   

Take the time to stop and reflect on how you want to show up

For me that means that I stop hiding, and I show people all of me.

When I read that sentence it sounds so simple, but for me it’s been a lifelong learning because of my family’s background.  You see, I am the child of refugees.  My father was 12 and my mother was 7 when WWII ended.  The war had taken their homes, all their belongings, their communities, their friends and many from their families.  What was left of their families moved through a series of refugee camps over a 2-year period before they could be resettled in Germany.  The war, that experience and the collective hatred of Germans made a profound impact on my parents.  They saw first-hand what would happen if they drew attention to themselves and stood out.

To keep my brother and I safe when we were growing up, we had a lot of family rules and they all had one message: “hide” “don’t draw attention to yourself” “blend in” “stay quiet” because if you stand out you die.

That’s some powerful programing! 

My parents went through great uncertainty and immense fear.  That fear was passed to the next generation because it wasn’t healed.  And here we are in an unparalleled time filled with fear on a global scale. My question to you is how are you going to show up? And what are you teaching your children, your team, your vendors, your customers, potential customers and your community?

We have an opportunity to heal the fear, rise above it and lead when everyone around us is falling apart and it starts with self-care and introspection.

I’ve been called to create an online learning program that will help you do just that.  Thriving Through Change will have 3 main focuses:

1. Self-care practices – To reduce fear and get you centered in your own power, I will be sharing what’s worked for me. You’ll learn simple yoga, breathing, meditation and visualization practices to stay in your power.
2. Conscious Culture Creation – We all walk around with our own powerful programing learned from the generations that came before us. That programing affects everything that we do, including how we show up in our business and the company culture we create. I will be sharing processes to uncover your own programing so you can create your company culture consciously.
3. Business Planning – history has shown us that economic downturns are followed by economic upswings. I will be showing you how to prepare yourself, your business and your team for that upswing.

Stay tuned for more information in the coming days.

FREE RESOURCES:

In the meantime, here are 2 free webinars you can access to help you navigate the “new normal”.

I’ll leave you with a little inspiration:

“When the world became fearsome, we came together. When the world called us to explore its edges, we journeyed together. Whatever we did, we did it together. For as long as we’ve been around as humans, as wandering bands of nomads or cave dwellers, we have sat together and shared experiences.  We’ve painted images on rock walls, recounted dreams and visions, told stories of the day, and generally felt comforted to be in the world together.” – Margaret Wheatley

We will get through this together.  Angela

                          Angela

If your answer is some version of the second road, then congrats, you’re doing amazing.

But if you’re like the rest of us Business Owners, you’ve experienced Speedbumps to Business Growth.  Your leadership skills are the key to smoothing out those speedbumps and speed up your growth.  Here’s how… 

Statistics show that 30% to 50% of all new businesses fail during the first 2 years.  The typical reasons a business goes under is because of one or more of the following: 1) not enough clients; 2) not enough money; 2) a bad team.

The first 2 reasons are  pretty self explanatory.  When an Entrepreneur can’t figure out how to find and get new clients consistently, then the business never really gets off the ground because there isn’t a steady flow of cash.  The third reason is a bit trickier though,  because businesses can limp along with a dysfunctional team for many years. In fact, in the 25 years that I’ve worked with 100s of businesses, I’ve never once met one that had a perfectly functioning team.

Here are some of the signs or symptoms of dysfunction in a team:

The Impact on the Business

Severity and frequency determine the degree of dysfunction

If your business experiences these symptoms regularly, then you’ve already noticed how it’s affected your bottom line as customers are impacted and you pay for costly mistakes.  What you may not have thought of are the opportunity costs due to the damage that it’s doing to  your reputation.

If you want to reduce these Speedbumps to Your Business Growth you’ll want to improve your team and positively affect the symptoms of dysfunction in your business.

Here are some simple proven techniques and strategies you can implement to improve your team.  After 25 years of  helping my client build better teams,  I’ve found that positive changes happen more quickly if you apply small simple changes consistently rather than try to implement a large change project all at once.  So try these techniques.

1.  Don’t Let It Slide:

The moment you become aware of a mistake, missed deadlines, communication breakdowns or any other people issue, say something.

It’s in our human nature to avoid conflict.  This often means we see an issue and in our heads we say something like, “she just started, she’ll get it” or “he’s such a good employee, I don’t want to put him off” or some other ‘kind’ excuse why you shouldn’t say something.  Each time you avoid the conversation, it sets up a pattern of behavior that doesn’t serve you or your employee.  And it isn’t kind either, because resentment builds in your higher performing employees and eventually it’s the last straw and someone explodes.  This leaves the whole team feeling uneasy, uncomfortable or anxious.  None of which contributes to good work and good customer care.

Instead notice the behavior, pull the person(s) aside and let them know that “this isn’t how we do things here”. Then follow it up with a clear statement of your expectations by saying, “try this instead”. Then lay out your expectations and let them do it.  And recognize that it takes time and consistent repetition before everyone gets it.  Keep that in mind and practice patience when you have to repeat yourself a few times.

2.  Acknowledge Exceptional Performance

As children we all loved getting gold stars.  As adults we still love being acknowledged for our accomplishments.  Take every opportunity to do that with your team and watch how your team’s performance improves in a few short weeks.

3.  Conflict as Growth Opportunities:

When a group of people interact, there will always be disagreements.  How your company deals with disagreements will determine if it will become conflict.  Face it we all grew up in imperfect families and in those families we learned how to handle anger.  Some families were silent seethers, others screamed and yelled, others buried their anger and never expressed it (well at least not consciously), and still others were passive aggressive.  Companies also adopt these same behaviors.

Instead write, communicate and implement a “how we do it here” conflict resolution process.  Then remind them if they forget and reward them when they do it well until it becomes a part of your company culture.

4.  Tie People Performance to Financial Performance:

Every person in your company contributes to the smooth running of your company or not.  How well they understand what actions contribute most determines your teams’ performance and ultimately, your financial performance.

Whether your team deals directly with your customers or they provide support from behind the scenes each has 3-5 things they can concentrate on to improve their performance.  Have them identify theirs then measure the results.

If you consistently implement just one of these hacks, you’ll notice a difference in the performance of your team in as little as a few short weeks.  Research shows that we humans create a habit in 40 days.  So if you do any of the hacks consistently for 40 days you’ve created a business habit that becomes a consistent part of your company culture and sets your business up for years of success.

Try it and let me know your results in the comments below and if you need help implementing these Hacks, check out my 1 hour Seminar Training Series here.

If you want the other 6 hacks, download it for free here

                          Angela