5 Ways to Lead Your Team With Compassion and Empathy in the Time Of COVID-19

Back in March when the first stay-at-home orders issued and offices began to close, very few of us could have imagined the doors to many office suites would stay locked for so long. While some Americans hope that work from home is here to stay, it is unclear how and when most workers will return to the office.

If working from home becomes steady state, leaders will need to develop new strategies to meet the new challenges of working separately, together. Teams need leadership as they navigate these changes, but leadership without keen focus on compassion won't feel as welcome to employees asked to process so much in so little time.

Here are five compassionate ways to lead your team that will serve your company's interests (monitoring and maintaining morale, gauging and improving productivity, fostering loyalty) while also demonstrating real empathy for employees struggling with all of the concerns and obligations of these times:

1) Institute Weekly (or Monthly) One-on-Ones

If you care how your team is doing, ask. Leaders sometimes get stuck thinking, "there's no way my team will tell me the truth," but in reality many, if not most, employees will give honest feedback if that feedback is solicited in a empathetic, compassionate environment. So, first you'll need to create that environment.

Announce the new one-on-one meetings to your entire team before you send the first meeting request. Letting your team know up front what the meetings are and what the goals will be will take the pressure off anyone who begins to worry the second a calendar invite with the boss hits their inbox. Let the team know you are sincerely concerned about each of them and their well-being and that they need not prepare anything at all in advance. Just show up and be honest.

Depending on your team's size, set weekly or monthly meetings so that the opportunity to speak up about anything that is bothering them becomes commonplace. This will help alleviate any suspicion about ulterior motives and, hopefully, encourage open dialogue.

Make the meetings short to begin, and consider giving extra time to team members who seem to need or want it. Try a 15 minute conversation with each team member to start and tell any team member who is "cut off" mid-thought in their first meeting that you will make every effort to extend their time at the next.

Be authentic. As the team leader YOU should be running the meeting. Come prepared with gentle starter questions (not work related) to get the ball rolling with a team member who doesn't know where to begin. Empathize with each employee's feelings and concerns and, if appropriate, set action items and next steps at the end of each call. Or, be ready to just share some personal getting-to-know-you time with employees who prefer to keep things lighter.

Listen and take notes. If you learn something new about a team member, such as a hobby or interest you didn't know they had, note it and ask about it next meeting. Show you really care about them and these discussions.

Finally, be consistent. While weekly or monthly one-on-ones may be a significant time investment, your team will understand and appreciate your commitment.

2) Gift Wellness and Self Care

If your budget still has extra dollars normally allocated to pizza lunches, team events and holiday parties, consider using a small portion of those funds to gift a self care or wellness-related item or service to your team.

The Calm App meditation service offers memberships in corporate packages as well as discounts for smaller teams.

Amazon offers gift subscriptions to their Kindle Unlimited service, with thousands of books available for download onto any mobile device using the Kindle app.

Be creative and find a gift that acknowledges that your team is balancing much more than it has in the past and suits their interests.

3) Implement "Available Hours" For Phone and Email

With homes literally becoming the office, work-related emails and calls can easily overflow into what would normally be time outside the office. One way to address this encroachment is to limit the hours the team communicates with each other and with others inside the company during the workday.

Establish shortened hours during the regular workday that employees are expected to be available by email and phone and limit communications outside that time to emergencies only. Help the entire team comply with the policy by asking anyone who works outside of "Available Hours" to time-delay emails for delivery on the next work day.

Make sure to also socialize your policy with other team leaders and important internal stakeholders so that they understand any delay in responsiveness from your team. Employees will appreciate a respite from the constant barrage of work-related communications so long as you are clear and consistent about the terms.

4) Plan Virtual Team Building Events (That Are Actually Fun)

Zoom happy hours are fun... to a point. But employees need an outlet to let off steam and socialize with their coworkers that isn't just drinking.

Many companies have created innovative team building events that take place entirely online, but might actually be a great time.

Why not try a virtual escape room? How about Zoom Family Feud? Or an online scavenger hunt?

Choose an event that matches your team's personality and then roll with it. It may be silly, it may involve technical difficulties, but the main goal is laughter and fun.

5) Acknowledge The Productivity Elephant in the Room

So many workers are struggling with the fact that they are unable to put in their normal eight hours each and every day for a variety of reasons. From home schooling to caring for aging parents, to simple emotional burnout, employees will benefit from an explicit statement from management that their leaders understand these trying times may alter typical work patterns and that shift is OK.

While giving employees permission to work less than an eight hour day may seem irresponsible at first glance, it is really only acknowledging a phenomenon that already existed before the pandemic. Even while in the office, the average American worker is only productive for 3 hours a day.

The new normal of working from home gives every manager and company an opportunity to say out loud what has been true for many years: most workers are not (and need not be) productive for a full eight hours each day in order to be good at their jobs. Flexibility in this regard will not only improve your team's spirits, but will almost certainly increase loyalty and positive feelings about you as a manager and the company as a whole.

The Atalanta Group coaches professionals to be more effective and compassionate leaders. Schedule a call to see if our approach is right for you: