Candice Gottlieb-Clark is the Founder of Dynamic Team Solutions. To learn more, find us at www.DynamicTeamSolutions.org.
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It has been a year since Covid-19 transformed our businesses, upended our personal lives and altered our way of being in the world. While we are all beyond ready for things to get back to normal, the transition will not be easy despite the eagerness we feel. “The light at the end of the tunnel,” as one consultant put it, “could be just an oncoming train.” The business world as we know it is headed for a rude awakening.
Here's what we know: Working from home and physical distancing has created shifts in people’s ability to communicate and collaborate. People’s sense of belonging and feeling connected to their work team has also been diminished. Certainly, there will be new opportunities in terms of workplace flexibility and capturing talent from a worldwide pool, but I fear the challenges of bringing people back together — or of creating a sustainable model for remote or hybrid work — have been ignored.
Here are three issues leaders and business owners need to acknowledge in order to avoid being blindsided:
Attitudinal Changes
Employees at all levels within an organization’s structure have reevaluated what work should look like, feel like and mean to them. The shifting priorities and overall view of work-life balance once thought of as specific to millennials have spread to every generation. We are hearing of top-level leaders who are suddenly excited to get rid of office space and continue with a fully remote work staff. This may seem ideal as a cost-cutting measure and a boon to those close to retirement or tired of commuting, but leaders need to consider the downside: Communication is compromised. Impromptu discussions and the ability to come together as a team are essential to productivity and performance. Without these, trust will be fractured.
Attitudinal changes are not limited to the C-suite. Staff members have experienced a profound shift as well. Whether working remote or continuing with on-site efforts, a year of being deprived of connection, feeling constant stress and pressure due to the pandemic and the fears related to it, living with the constraints of social distancing and quarantine, and experiencing a feeling that life is “on hold,” employees at every level are gasping for what feels positive and normal. Because of this, we've observed that many employees are no longer willing to put up with anything that causes additional tension.
Interpersonal Conflict
As a result of these attitudinal changes, interpersonal conflict is on the rise. As experts in addressing workplace dysfunction, we are seeing the impact directly. In the first six weeks of 2021, we had three times the requests for conflict management support as we had in all of 2019 and 2020 combined. And those numbers continue to grow.
We are seeing this primarily from on-site workers and those who are transitioning back. As the wave of tension is building, a tsunami of conflict is taking form. The issues we see stem from changes in attitude and from the reckoning people feel as they consider returning to a work situation that was never ideal. Prior issues, once ignored, are resurfacing with greater intensity. People’s willingness to accept things as they are (or were) is gone. The skills for managing them are gone too.
Compromised Skills
Even when teams are largely in good stead and conflict is not a concern, communication has been severely impaired. For the past 12 months, workplace conversations have been reduced and often truncated. Managers have resisted giving feedback and allowed problems to slide. Teams haven’t had the ability to connect, discuss or debate ideas as easily. Beyond the damage caused by any problems left unchecked is the deeper concern that the skills essential for conversing about these difficult issues are now sorely lacking.
People’s interpersonal skills have atrophied like an unused muscle. Communication and feedback competencies, essential for strengthening and rebuilding, are weak. While the conversation right now is about getting back to normal and returning to work, without these skills, things will deteriorate, not improve. (For a quick study, read my previous Forbes article, "How to Give Impactful Feedback that Fosters Change.")
Three Strategies For Addressing These Issues
Return to work has created — and presents — multiple challenges. But there are strategies that you can implement now that will help ease the transition later.
1. Invest in your people. This should be a top priority. We recommend our clients provide soft-skills training and engage in regular check-ins to promote better communication around difficult subjects. One of our clients has taken this further by instituting “Wellness Wednesdays.” They integrated the game-based learning platform Kahoot not only to build camaraderie and create interaction but also to engage their employees about issues that might be difficult to surface.
2. Concentrate on providing a healthy work environment. Every business has “hot spots.” Keep a watchful eye for mounting tensions, and take complaints or requests for support seriously. Listening, paying attention when there is disruption and taking swift action to address needs are all critical for restoring trust and morale.
3. Consider the future needs of your business, consumers and employees. While it is easy to be distracted by the noise surrounding return-versus-remote debates or to remain mired in conversations around Covid-19 protocols, instead place the focus on the wellness of your teams. You should be most concerned with their ability to communicate freely, collaborate effectively and rebuild relationships that serve to enhance your business.
What can you do as an individual? Visionary leaders are staying ahead of the crisis — or at least keeping pace with it. They are having the hard conversations, making thoughtful decisions, exploring the nature of work and investing in their people. In doing so, they ward off the damage of conflict, strengthen team relationships, build skills and reestablish trust. Beyond considering hybrid or return to work options, these leaders are preparing their teams and businesses for the future.
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