The pandemic made remote and hybrid work environments more popular than ever before. However, the location of your team isn’t the only thing that changed in the past few years. Remote and hybrid work has sent ripple effects through the workplace, impacting productivity, employee needs, and how these collaborate. As a leader, you will need to adapt to these changes.
There’s a lot going on in the current news cycle. War rages across the world while mass shootings continue to plague the U.S. Politically, media outlets are preparing to cover the 2024 presidential election and some candidates have already thrown their hats into the ring. As for the economy, it looks very much like Schrödinger’s cat: we are in recession and not in recession, both true at the same time. This can be a lot for anyone to keep up with and emotionally handle.
Leadership skills and methods need to change to accommodate the new hybrid model of work, part in-person, and part virtual. Coordinating remote teams is quite different from coordinating office teams. Leaders need to improve some skills and even acquire new ones to stay relevant and effective.
While emotional intelligence isn’t measured as often in the workplace as factors like performance and productivity, it’s important that you don’t overlook it. Strong emotional intelligence is vital for communication, collaboration, and other interpersonal dynamics within a team.
Some managers are afraid of change because they worry about how their employees will react to new processes and different procedures—and for good reason. According to the American Psychological Association, employees reported lower levels of job satisfaction when they recently experienced organizational changes within the past year than those who did not: 71 percent compared to 81 percent.
For almost a year we are going through what psychologists call collective trauma, which makes us live in fear and uncertainty. Hundreds of thousands of people lost someone they loved, millions got sick, and even more lost their job. The majority of those who are lucky enough to still be here and have a job are most probably working from home, doing the same thing every day, locked between four walls, with the same people. All of these are taking a significant toll on their psychical stability and are generating many mental health issues.
When the first wave of COVID-19 forced the world into lockdown, business leaders scrambled to pivot out of necessity. Overnight, they had to make financial adjustments and staffing decisions to keep the business afloat. They had to reassure stakeholders, hone their public message, and implement health and safety measures. If being a great leader was difficult before, now it has become even tougher.
Very often, people think that a full calendar is a proxy for productivity. A daily planner packed with meetings seems to satisfy most managers. However, more often than not, supervisors and team leaders are more productive when they are not spending all day in meetings. Their time is actually better used when they are working with their team, bringing real measurable results.
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance can be difficult in today’s culture that celebrates being always on. In fact, 94 percent of 1,000 professionals surveyed by the Harvard Business Review said they put in 50 or more hours a week at work. What’s more, nearly half that group clocked in more than 65 hours a week.
In today’s always on workplace culture, where employees are rewarded and oftentimes expected to work long hours and communicate continuously, balance can be hard to find. In fact, more and more people are prioritizing work over their personal lives, tipping the scales toward burnout and stress.
