The lockdown period will allow some of us to wear a new badge: navigate in gray zones/troubled waters/by sight... Call it what you want but you understand the principle: it's shitty, but you must participate as much as possible in the war effort within the company, without any visibility and while keeping a smile 😷🤔. Like the State, businesses are also at war against COVID-19, and the term “war room” has never been more relevant in a company. This time it's not about merger/acquisition/sale, just survival.
For nearly 4 weeks, the corporate populations hardest hit by this crisis have been the extremes: on the one hand The employees facing a reduction in activity (and therefore partial unemployment or dismissal), on the other hand the head of the company, The leaders, having to make extremely difficult decisions in the face of this unprecedented crisis. In times of crisis, a fundamental mission of the company is to preserve its forces, its teams. Without minimizing the obvious impact on Employees and Management of companies, it seems that the middle layer, the essential link in the attention paid to teams, is almost forgotten: The managers !
The aim is not to debate who are the REAL HEROES of this health crisis, those who are saving lives and/or putting theirs at risk, of course, with health personnel on the front line. The aim is not to underestimate, in this economic war, the big gap imposed on Managers during this period of lockdown.
This is the domino effect of the current situation. If business leaders don't have none Nor do managers have any visibility on the horizon of the resumption of activity. However, being a manager requires guiding teams and answering their questions. These days there are many questions while the subscribers are not sure. If the direction is still not clear, managers must reassure their teams when they are themselves in total vagueness. Not letting panic gain ground, bringing out initiatives on the part of teams to keep them “in action”... these are all topics that managers will have to ensure during this unprecedented period.
As lockdown imposes remote work, the rule is the same for everyone: employees, managers and managers. We are not all equal when it comes to teleworking today, because some organizations did not wait for COVID-19 to practice it. The manager of a team that is at “degree 0 of remote work”, to ensure that the social link is not broken and so that everyone can “continue to produce”, must put into practice tools in record time (Zoom/Skype/Hangout, Google Sheets/Drive/Slides, Slack...). Before he gets it adopted by the teams, he still has to adopt it himself. “But it's good, he will manage” we want to think, optimistic as we are.
As if the previous challenges were not enough, the manager must manage another parameter: Her family life, who has been telescoping with his professional life since the almost 4 weeks he has spent in his apartment (or in his 🏠 for the luckiest). The manager's leadership may have been asserted since the first weeks of lockdown, but his family life is suffering. Personal organization is more complicated, we do a “daily reprioritization of the priorities” of each person within the couple to organize the rotation of who will manage the children for two 1/2 days. Another major challenge for managers who are fortunate enough to be happy parents.
It's less obvious than over a beer or an espresso on the terrace or in the video room, but it's crucial to take the pulse of your team. The risk: to have unpleasant surprises with a new round of musical chairs as soon as the activity resumes (no, confinement does not prohibit applying to other companies, and the behavior of managers can be a very good factor in starting or retaining employees).
In this period, managers are mainly asking how they could help themselves, but the “how can I help you” is the basis of the manager's posture. You must continue to apply it, at the risk of no longer seeing your manager as a coach, but only as a boss to whom you are accountable (cf. risk above).
Formalization of the team's know-how and/or best practices within a wiki, creation of an onboarding/offboarding program to facilitate arrivals/departures and training within the team (video presentation of the team, etc.) - with Komin.io for example 😍 -... Again, the basis of a manager's job is to help employees prioritize their efforts on tasks that have the most added value at a given time.
The list is long. Of course, the role of Management and the consequences of this crisis on employees should certainly not be minimized. As a leader, it is crucial to value managers during this time., these heroes whose impact on teams will directly contribute to helping the company get through this crisis, or to recover from chaos. As an employee, you have to keep in mind that the manager is also completely unclear., that he is not (necessarily) in a much more privileged situation.
It is in storms that we recognize the value of men. Optimistic as we are 🌟, let us imagine that this crisis will make it possible to identify a new generation of “HIGH POTENTIALS” within companies, no longer only the managers with the most diplomas but also those who have managed to stay the course in the storm.
We congratulate the managers who are trying, and most often succeeding, to change their working/management methods in response to this exceptional situation! As indicated in our previous posts, we offer to help you in your thinking, free of charge, if you decide to launch an offboarding/onboarding project, or to formalize your knowledge. At your disposal!
“With Komin, we documented our operating procedures 10x faster than with paper”
- J. Cerruti (Methods & Industrialization Manager)
