How to lead a high-performing team in this phase
The move back into the office is a fantastic opportunity to reset ways of working for the better. Talk to your team about this next phase, making sure you do the following things:
- Provide Clarity – Give your team a structured and considered report on the situation now. Be explicit and concrete about what will be happening in the transition back to work, giving as much certainty as you can. Invite and answer all questions.
- Gain Commitment – Present the team with a common purpose for this phase. Ask for their commitment (explaining why it’s critical) and communicate your expectation that people will cooperate. Then explain how they need to cooperate (what they need to do), with mechanisms for shared accountability.
- Plan for Connection – Ask what has been helping them to feel more connected and what has not. What have they missed? How do they want to create or maintain connection in this next phase, (in amongst ‘shifts’ or staggered start times)? Plan accordingly.
- Update Team Collaboration – Have a collaboration check-in to modify ways of working. Ask: What do we want to start/stop/continue from Phase 1 days? From Pre-Covid days? Our processes became disrupted, so what should they look like in this Phase 2 world, for optimal collaboration? Get specific, e.g., when to use which collaboration channel (morning meeting, email, call, video call, Slack/messenger).
The Extraordinary Teams Model, the foundation of these recommendations and our Extraordinary Teams Diagnostic and Teams Programs
—
Want more? Check out this page for info on the Extraordinary Teams Model, proprietary Teams Diagnostic and virtual offsites.
