Due to the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19), many companies forced their employees to work remotely. The inherently organizational change exposed many weaknesses in companies especially if this practice was not implemented prior to the pandemic. Many companies lacked the preparation for employees to experience and function with a fully remote workforce.
A former company of mine would not allow employees to work from fearing that this practice would cause a lack of production. If you were not at your desk, then you were not working was their mentality. However, we know that effective communication and synergy creates greater performance and outcomes. Managers leading by empowerment and effective communication should have been implemented regardless if employees work remotely or physically in the corporate office. A leader needs to encourage and empower employees to provide ideas and continue to perform to the level that is expected. Empowerment builds trust and trust creates cohesion and synergy.
Whether the company was prepared or not, this is now the new norm that companies throughout the world must adhere by. Throughout organizations, everyone who is considered a nonessential worker did their best to adapt to these changes both on a personal and professional level. The expectations from companies and departments are employees to perform their job as if the office were functioning as it did pre-COVID. If the department lacks communication, this will only add pressure to the workforce which can cause a breakdown in performance. But as employees, we did not think that this pandemic was going to last more than a few months.
Here we are eight months later, and individuals are still faced with the notion, that their offices are not opening anytime soon. The feeling of being isolated from your colleagues remains real. Managers who are faced to not only manage the day to day operations, but also to keep the morale of their team at a high level. So how are managers engaging with their team in this now remote world that we are living in? There is no substitute for in-person meetings and having group interaction. I think we can all agree with that! However, how do mangers continue to build teamwork and create synergy in this new remote world? Synergy as we know occurs when members listen to each other and enter the private worlds of the others. (Moran, Abramson & Moran. 2014. pp 271). Teams that work together and effectively communicate are the teams we see outperforming team that lack effective communication.
Effective leaders empower their team to share ideas within the group. Group members would share ideas on ways to promote effective team building. We see group members and employees volunteering to manage different activities that would enhance teamwork. Organizing team activities seem to be the main target among most companies. Early in the pandemic, individuals would typically schedule a coffee zoom meeting in the mornings or zoom happy hours to stay connected. These ideas while great but like anything else became stagnant. This forced people to get creative and have an out of the box style of thinking to create new and effective activities for co-workers.
As we officially hit the Springtime here in the Northeast, a physical exercise challenge between departments would be beneficial. Understanding that most people were forced to be home, this was a great way for people to get out, get some exercise while competing against your colleagues. This is also a great way for co-workers to interact with each other on a personal level. People being divided up into teams and create that lost sense of morale and synergy is key for continued collaboration and team building when employees are forced to work virtual. With the fitness apps being abundant, it was easy to track to steps of the team and compare the outcome to other teams. Who doesn’t like a good challenge? Bragging rights even between departments is an organization can bring out the competitor in everyone.
Another group activity I thought was interesting was participating in group trivia. While I am not the biggest fan of trivia, this was an activity that would coincide with group happy hours. This was a great way to engage with your colleagues but also again create that competing atmosphere which tend to bring out the best in people.
As we can see organizations go to great lengths to create synergy and a team atmosphere. Synergy is a process that must created and managed by the individuals within the group. It is something that individuals must continue to build and work hard to keep. Alliances are crucial when it comes to success. None of us were successful on our own!
References:
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences (9th ed.). Oxford: Routledge.
Achieving Workplace Synergy. Retrieved from:https://rebstorage.com/company-news/achieving-workplace-synergy-a-letter-from-rebs-president/
Robinson, K. May 8, (2015). Importance Team Synergy. Retrieved from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/importance-team-synergy-ken-robinson/
Thank you for the comment. It’s great to see that your husbands company has adopted these team building activities on a regular basis. I always found that teams who work together, collaborated and continued to push each other often times outperformed others. I remember a past baseball coach that I had used to stress the importance of the team participating in group activities out side of baseball. He found that teams that formed this type of cohesion outside of the team activities helped to create that team synergy that is so important to their success.
This pandemic really exposed weaknesses within companies, especially those who struggled with creating synergy. As I mentioned in my blog, a former company of mine did not allow people to work from home. There mindset was that people being in the office would create cohesion and team building. But as we can see, it takes solid management and leadership to help form the type of synergy that companies strive for. Synergy isn’t something that forms naturally. All team members must work to create a solid platform to which synergy can be created. People just being present does not form synergy!
I really enjoyed reading your post. I am fortunate enough to have a “normal” work life through all of this, despite the new regulations and guidelines, as I returned to my normal work schedule at the beginning of May 2020. There were only about 4-5 weeks where I was home and out of work. Most of my family members and friends are all working remotely, and I truly feel for them. Through many conversations about life this year, one of the points they have all talked about is that work and personal life seem to blend together at this point. When the same room is used for work and then relaxation, it is hard to keep everything separate. However, I have seen a company that seems to be doing well with the sudden work from home transition. My husband is completely remote, and as been since sometime in March 2020. Each morning, his work team has a team meeting, where they all spend 15-30 minutes playing trivia over virtual meeting, or simply talking about “fun” topics, and I always hear them all laughing together to get the work day started. Each week, his company also runs contests where some of the rewards are getting off of work early, earning a paid day off, winning gift cards, and a few others. While no company could be truly prepared for what 2020 has brought us, it has been really nice to see a company that is really looking out for its employees during this time.