If you’re interested in sharing your opinion on any cultural, political or personal topic, create an account here and check out our how-to post to learn more.

____

The COVID-19 global pandemic has changed how we do business seemingly overnight. With many companies shifting to remote work, it’s more imperative than ever to ensure that human connectivity doesn’t get lost. As we manage through daily operations amidst this crisis, the responsibility of leaders is at an all-time high. Some of us are working at home for the first time. While others, who are already accustomed to working from home, may still be experiencing something new if they have children that are home as well. The impact of COVID-19 has caused changes for everyone that have to be considered by all leaders.

Rather than focusing on productivity, leaders will have to focus on the employee’s personal well-being and use that as the anchor for performance. Understanding how each employee is adapting to their situation, how they are feeling and what they need to be successful will be critical to maintaining the employee’s effectiveness. This means leaders must demonstrate a higher level of engagement with employees in order to be effective in their roles.

But as a leader, what’s the most effective way to drive increased engagement while still achieving business results amidst this crisis? The answer is simple: technology.

There are apps for relationships, health and finance to make the process of improving in these areas easier and less cumbersome. Leadership is at the next intersection of our technological journey. By leveraging technology, we can build the A.R.C. of Leadership by encompassing the areas that are most vulnerable in a remote working environment — accountability, recognition and clarity.

Leadership fails on all levels that lack the framework for accountability. Tools like Small Improvements, provide a platform to set goals and objectives, provide and document feedback, and track all one-to-one meetings. It also offers built-in accountability through electronic reminders, which can be helpful in keeping everyone on track to ensure that all behaviors are laddering up to the greater strategic goal. We should consider meeting virtually with employees multiple times a day just to check-in. It may sound excessive, but remember we don’t have the luxury of casually walking by someone’s desk or office to check-in, so it may be necessary.

Recognition is essential to creating an environment where people feel valued. Many employees claim that they aren’t appreciated because their companies lack a reliable, dynamic methodology to distribute recognition consistently. The Workhuman Cloud technology helps us to bridge this gap. It gives us five different areas to recognize our employees — socially, performance, years of service, major life events and community celebrations. It provides a unique opportunity to appreciate 100% of the person, not just their contributions at work. Workhuman understands what all good leaders understand — people are more than just their jobs and should be recognized accordingly. This is especially important as we continue to navigate our current crisis.

Clarity of purpose and action is the heartbeat of company culture. If a company suffers from bad culture, then both their purpose and actions are vague and misaligned. Platforms like CultureAmp allow us to diagnose the root of the misalignment through the voice of the people. Their data-first approach is engineered with precision and has proven to be extremely effective for some of the world’s most innovative brands. Creating this type of feedback loop where the employee’s voice is both heard and actioned strengthens the trust an employee has in the company. A strong sense of trust is critical in providing stability in times of uncertainty.

The companies that best leverage technology as a means to encourage human connectivity have the greatest opportunity to live in perpetuity. The use of technology helps to create a systematic approach to leadership, which lays the foundation for building the A.R.C.

Regardless of whether you have access to the aforementioned tools or not, it is important to leverage whatever means you do have to implement the frameworks for accountability, recognition and clarity. They make us more agile as leaders and allow us to take a dynamic approach when finding the most effective ways to keep employees engaged at a high level.

Monte Williams

Writing since February 2022 · 1 story contributed