The pandemic created a myriad of problems for thousands of companies. Because a lot of the states forced lockdowns for seemingly endless days, companies were crippled when they could not get their employees to come in for work. As surprise lockdowns were implemented, managers were forced to make do with what they had. The work-from-home setup was sprung upon unsuspecting managers and employees — grasping at straws on how to make things work.
By March, almost a year will have passed by the time the first restrictions and lockdowns were first implemented. By this time, most companies are expecting to finally go back to the office. Unfortunately, the danger of the new COVID strain looms over these plans. As vaccines are only starting to be rolled out to the masses, confidence in them is down because of the new variants of the COVID. Lockdowns are expected back again. How can you, as a manager, properly manage your people from your home in this time of extended lockdowns?
Setting a Specific Schedule
Setting a specific schedule for work is necessary for a healthy work-from-home life for everyone in your team. As a manager, you need to build trust and respect with your employees even through digital means. It can be done by respecting boundaries when it comes to working time. Setting a specific schedule on when they should appear online for work is necessary to maximize the output you can get from them.
Once you go over the time allotted for work, employees will be dissuaded from producing quality work for you. It is known that the imposition of overtime to unwilling employees has an inverse relationship to the quality of work they produce. Overtime is also notorious for giving employees unnecessary stress.
Allotting a Space in Your Home for Just Work
Changing the venue where you work is necessary for managing your team. Work from home life can also be stressful for managers such as yourself. Having a home office where you can easily be distracted and interrupted will always keep you on the edge. Managing people virtually will even be more difficult if things get out of hand in your workspace. Completely sealing and cordoning off a corner in your home will make you an effective manager. You will decrease the number of distractions that come your way. You will be able to focus better on your employees — similar to how it is in the office.
Equip Yourself with the Proper Tools
Investing in the proper technology is integral to your management skills. You cannot fully handle the problems and issues that come your way if you cannot connect to your employees. If there’s anything the pandemic has taught us, it is that internet as a communication tool is a right for everyone. It is so ingrained in our everyday lives that we cannot survive without it. Having a fiber internet connection and a proper laptop should be at the top of your priority list if you want a harmonious working relationship with your employees. You must be armed with the proper tools to also review your workmates’ deliverables. Having a terrible laptop with an also horrible internet connection will be detrimental to the output your company can produce.
Use Every Convenience You Can Get
Using every method to make your life easier is essential to survive this pandemic. By this time, you should know how important it is to limit the times you go out. Going outside only increases your risk to contract the deadly virus. Your work will crumble once you are infected. While quarantining yourself is, in itself, not detrimental to your work, keeping a healthy body is vital in managing a team of people.
Can you imagine how hard it must be to command leadership when you look and sound sick? Using every method that will make your life easier is smart and convenient. Using a dog transportation service for grooming your pet or hiring a shopper to do your groceries for you are both products of the pandemic. Using these services is convenient as it is necessary.
Find Time to Relax
Lastly, allocating time to relax is important for all who try to manage their own teams or companies. Everyone is slightly more stressed in the new normal. As time winds on in lockdown, more and more people are getting extremely agitated about work and demotivated. To evade such pitfalls, specifically allotting time to recreational activities will be beneficial for your mental health.
If you keep mixing work time and your home life (which seems inevitable), you will likely succumb to anxiety and depression. Keeping your mind off work is healthy and necessary.
