Every day, we watch, read, and live all the complexity that surrounds returning to the office. From each of you, we hear your fatigue, anxiety, and acknowledgement of your team’s immense strain.
What can you do?
You might find it helpful to consider what is on your employees’ minds and what is in your control to improve your employees’ experience today.
Take a piece of paper and jot down all you have heard or observed from your employees on one side. On the other side, write down any things you can do or try now that could help them feel better today.
Here’s an illustration of what that exercise might look like.
| My Employees’ Sentiments | My Management Ideas |
| Everything feels more like a black box now, where do I fit in? | Provide context about their place in hierarchy, their peers, etc. Give positive feedback about their current contributions. Let each know what is required to progress. |
| Everything keeps changing, where are we going? | Give a time for when you will know more. Share why decisions are made. Provide forums for them to ask tough questions. |
| It’s hard these days to know what is in my control. | Give them the pen on plans, hours, and workflow charts. Where you can, provide multiple options for them to make decisions on next steps. Ask the team to decide how and when meetings should take place among you. |
| It’s been so long since we’ve been together, do I still belong here? | Create familiar community outlets. Dedicate time for socializing. Set up buddy systems or peer mentoring networks so it’s not just you checking in. |
Then try out some of your ideas and see what happens. Or take it up a notch and share your ideas with another management peer to test and improve on your ideas together.
We hope this helps!
As always, reach out if we can be helpful to you as you continue on the path of igniting exceptional performance at your company.
The HAVEN Team
