Having a good people strategy is key

Having a good people strategy is key,

how hard can it be?

In all companies, people are the assets of the business. Without employees the company doesn’t run – things actually stop. You can definitely give me examples where I am wrong, however as a general rule it’s true. So we agree people are important – right.

It’s easy right …

• You want good people that are proactive

• That like working for your company

• That stay around

• You want clarity on roles & responsibilities so people know how to be successful

• You want to encourage people to stay with perks they care about

So why do so many companies get it wrong?

When having an amazing way of managing people is critical, it needs to be one of the most important things businesses focuses on. If you do a recipe to represent this:

Funnel – good people hired

• Good employee experience so people stay

• Training and development

• Understanding of roles & responsibilities (how to be successful)

• Org design changes explained, and people engaged

• Continue to give good employee experience

• Equals strong engaged workforce with low turnover

3 Key Considerations When Building Your People Strategy

1. Everyone is different

You can’t build a one sizes fits all strategy; you must allow discretion at the individual level. Everyone is different, what they want from work and how they live to be rewarded and recognised is different. Ask them. Make your policies and people strategies unique and let people pick what they want.

Some employees want more flexibility and time off and others want to earn as much money as they possibly can. What employees want will change over time as well so understanding this and providing flexibility in your policies and program is important.

2. Ensure your people are set up for success

It’s imperative to ensure that your people are set up for success this includes but not limited to:

• Good induction

• Good training program

• Clear role description

• Clear role goals

• Clear understanding of process

• Clear view on how to create a difference (continuous improvement)

• Changes in org design are supported by changes in process and roles clarity

By and large, people want to be successful in their job. Sometime companies don’t set employees up for success and therefore people get despondent.

3. Spend money on your current employees

It costs a lot when people leave, you need to recruit, you need to train and then give them time to get up to speed and if they work out you are back to where you were in 3 months+. So invest in your current staff, get them to stay, reduce your employee turnover but investing in your current staff.

I’m a person, you are a person, everything about makes sense, right? So why do we make it so hard?

It’s not that hard, it’s a differentiator and it will make a difference to your business result. It’s a no brainer.

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At Whiteark we have great HR capability & partner with world class leaders in this field, to assist you with engaging with your staff, building the right culture and making your organisation a great place to work.

Reach out for a no obligation chat to Jo Hands on 0459826221, or jo.hands@whiteark.com.au

Article by Jo Hands, Whiteark Founder

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How to make change stick

Organisations talk a lot about change and transformation, but in general most aren’t very good at doing it. A recent SAP survey found that of the 84 per cent of organisations that started transformation initiatives in the past year, only 3 per cent had actually successfully completed one.

Thoughts from Colin D Ellis

One reason for this is that while senior managers get very excited about smarter, faster ways of doing things when they’re pulling their business plans together, they forget that to achieve them they have to stop doing some things and redefine the way they get others done.

Cultural evolution is frequently cited as the biggest enabler of successful change, yet very few organisations ever take it on, opting instead for quick-fix training solutions, restructures, operating model changes or (as is currently en vogue) promises of hybrid working.

It’s not that any of these things are wrong, it’s just that in order to deliver transformation and make change stick you need to establish a new foundation upon which to build them. Those foundations contain the following:

• A sound business case for change. This will answer the ‘why this and why now?’ questions from staff and stakeholders alike as it’s not good enough to simply say ‘we need to transform’, there has to be a sound and logical rationale for doing so

• A redefined culture. This is the activity that almost all teams or organisations forget to do and yet it’s the most important. Without redefining the vision, behaviours and collaboration principles expected of each other you have nothing to transform to

• Public accountability. There needs to be a senior executive within the business who is prepared to throw their reputation, energy, money and effort behind the activity to ensure it delivers what was promised in the case for change. This person will also encourage all the other executives do their bit to ensure that the change happens.

• Clear, unambiguous communication. This should focus not only on the activities required to complete the initiative, but also on the personal change required to achieve success. I don’t mean an email or poster, in Comic Sans font, pinned up on a noticeboard, but regular effort from those accountable for the transformation.

With an appropriate level of justification, definition, accountability and communication, culture change or transformation isn’t as hard as some would have you believe. If you’re not prepared to do these things, then your staff would like you to stop talking about transformation as if you mean it. However, if you are, then you can guarantee then they’ll be up for it too and that will make everything stick.

Colin D Ellis is an award-winning speaker, facilitator and best-selling author of Culture Fix: How to Create a Great Place to Work. You can find out more about him and the work that he does at www.colindellis.com

Key considerations for building connection across the organisation post Covid-19

Companies are finding themselves in unfamiliar territory as their employees return to the office post Covid 19 and are learning how to work together again.  Building connectedness is an important part of working together successfully and links closely to employee engagement and ultimately meeting business goals.

For this to happen, leaders need to lead! Behaviour needs to start at the top and it will flow, employees want and need to have purpose and great leadership will support this happening.  Spend the time with your team, have regular check ins, discuss and review/set their KPIs and goals, chat about how they are going, and generally be there for them.

Connection, growth and belonging are all key to a company’s success. Humans naturally enjoy each other’s company and being able to work collaboratively, so it’s often the corridor or kitchen conversation where you really get to understand what is going on.  It is about finding the right balance between flexible work from home and time together in the office.

Some initiatives and areas that impact connection building in the workplace are;

Connectedness Initiatives

Having fun at work has been missed by many, it might be the Friday night drinks, bring your pet to work day or the monthly birthday celebrations, people have missed the opportunity to connect.  Make sure this is a priority, put together a calendar of fun events, ask your team members what activities would make them feel more connected to each other and actively create an informal environment to reconnect.

Team lunches with employees from different departments are a way to get employees interacting with people from across the business and further promotes connection. Employees will benefit from having team activities like a volunteer day where the team can go and help at a charity. When implemented properly, these activities can be excellent for cultivating a sense of unity and belonging.

Promote the benefits of the office like being able to collaborate in person, informally bounce ideas off each other, the coffee machine and of course Friday night drinks! Set up wellbeing information sessions, often your employee assistance program provider can run these.  Organise fitness in the park or at a nearby gym for your employees. For some, the office offers a sense of calm and control over their day and fewer distractions than at home, these people will be key to connecting those that are feeling more anxious about being back in the office.   Schedule your team meetings on a day that everyone is in to promote face to face time.

To help employees focus and reengage with your strategy, run cross functional sessions on your strategy and 5-year plan, discuss what’s working well and get feedback on what you can be doing better. Sessions on behaviours and values could also be considered.  Consider joint departments leading regular town halls to; share what is going on, interview new starters, share good news like record sales or new business and also acknowledge specific achievements of team members.

Having the right Flexible Work Policy supports connectedness.  In developing your policy seek feedback to see what employees preferences are around flexible work. As with any successful change, seeking feedback and employee input will result in a more effective outcome. Employees are working from home in a variety of combinations from 1-5 days per week.   Finding overlap days where the majority of the team are in the office is important.  Having team meetings on these days and organising fun activities described above to connect people will help with this.   Ensure that you have the flexibility to review your policy as things change or if the current arrangement isn’t working.

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement represents the levels of enthusiasm and connection employees have with their organisation. It’s a measure of how motivated people are to put in the extra effort for their employer and is often a sign of how committed they are to staying.

Now would be a good time to run an employee engagement survey. Tailor your questions to get constructive feedback for your business and ask questions about what initiatives will help them in feeling more engaged and connected to your business and their colleagues. Then use this feedback to run cross functional focus groups, then develop an action plan and actually implement it. Too often employees take the time to fill in the survey and provide feedback and nothing is done, this can be demotivating. 

This article has described just some of the ways that you can build connectedness across your business post Covid 19. Please get in touch if Whiteark can help you with developing your business and people plans.

Quick tips for engaging your workforce

Engaging your workforce isn’t easy.  Every generation is engaged differently.  So, one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to increasing engaging with your workforce doesn’t work.  You need to think outside the box and ensure your approach is tailored.

Statistics show (and it make sense), if you have an engaged workforce they are more productive, more gets done and the financial results of the organisation are improved.  So all in all it’s a great result.  Every company should want this outcome but how do they get it and what do companies do wrong? 

Most companies do their annual employee engagement survey and measure what they need to improve.  They then come up with a number of initiatives to drive improvement – they focus on them for about 2-3 months and then they fall off. 

These activities are normally determined by management on what they think will fix the engagement.  Without engagement from the right level of people these activities don’t do the trick.

What I have seen work really well is to have a People Committee – this committee is made up of representatives from each team and they are responsible for regular / informal pulse checks and work on key initiatives that can put in place to increase engagement. This works really well and I have done this in 4 separate companies. 

The team determine what they want to do and all you need to do as leader is give them the support to put the initiatives in place.  They will come up with initiatives you will never have thought of, they will drive them and execute them and feel part of the improvement that is being put in place/made. 

This will drive engagement.

Have fire side chats with the team to talk through what drives them, what needs to change and where they need support.  When you start a new role or on an annual basis make sure you speak to every single person in your team and really understand how people feel and how you can make a difference.

Engagement is more important than ever.  What are you tips to engage with your employees?  Please feel free to share in the comments or join the conversation on LinkedIn.

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 Looking to develop your team? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Jo Hands, Co-Founder Whiteark

Some key people capabilities for companies to consider

Capabilities describe the skills, knowledge or attitudes needed for a given task and are used to assess an employee's effectiveness. They can be looked at as human or people capabilities and technical capabilities. In this article we are focusing on some of the key people capabilities that companies should consider as essential for their organisation.  These are particularly helpful in informing and supporting your decisions in attracting, developing, rewarding, and retaining employees.

Empathy

Empathy is the ability to understand someone else’s thoughts and feelings. It is about taking the time to listen to team members and fellow employees and consider their thoughts and concerns, not just your own. If you have empathy you are able to better communicate with others in a way that makes sense to the them.  It also gives you a better understanding of how people are communicating and interacting with you.

According to Forbes, empathy is “increasingly recognized as a pivotal leadership tool in today’s global market, benefiting leadership effectiveness”. Where empathy can be very powerful at work, especially with leaders, is when empathy is demonstrated, it shows that they care about their team a human and individual and aren’t just following the policies and rules without considering the person. If you treat others as you expect to be treated and show empathy, this will almost always result in a better outcome for the individual and the organisation.

Communication

Communication is a fundamental capability that you need to have to be effective and ultimately successful. Communication skills are so important, they allow you to understand and be understood by others through; clearly explaining ideas to others, actively listening, speaking to audiences, and giving and receiving feedback.

Great communication is essential to having a productive, successful, and efficient company.

Effective communication plays a big part in helping to have a strong, efficient, and happy team, has a very positive impact on employee engagement, improves customer satisfaction and increases productivity.

Resilience

Headsup describes resilience as “the ability to cope with the ups and downs and bounce back from challenges”. At work there will always be tricky situations from workload pressures, difficult working relationships, and the challenge of juggling personal situations at the same time. If you have greater resilience this will go a long way in helping you manage stress.  As it is well known, high levels of stress can often lead to mental health conditions.

Resilient teams are able to bounce back from setbacks and failures and embrace new challenges with energy.  Having empathy and caring relationships within your team will assist your team in being resilient too.

If you are resilient you are usually able to demonstrate strength in being adaptable as well. During these Covid times, this has been more important than ever as many people have had to move from working very quickly in the office to home, dealing with so much uncertainty and change personally and professionally.

Flexibility

These days when we talk about flexibility we automatically think of working from home and having a flexible work arrangement.  As a people capability, MindTools defines flexibility well as, “the capacity to adjust to short-term change quickly and calmly, so that you can deal with unexpected problems or tasks effectively”. Being open to change and different ways of doing things is critical to being successful as a ‘flexible’ employee. Employees and leaders who can demonstrate flexibility in a range of situations and can communicate well will be more efficient and effective.

An effective leader who has strength in this capability, listens to others, communicates well, adapts their style for the situation and audience, has strong relationships and easily change plans as the situations change. 

Many of these capabilities link together, if you have strength in one you will often have strength in others. As an employer, if your people plan considers key people capabilities in all stages of the employee life cycle, this will have a positive impact on retention, productivity, engagement and ultimately your company’s success.

Looking to develop your team? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Phoebe Reid

When should you recruit versus developing existing staff?

It is fabulous when everything seems to be humming along with your team, they are working well together, have a good understanding of their role and business and are motivated and engaged. But then someone resigns! This can throw a real spanner in the works if you haven’t planned for it. By having meaningful succession and talent planning and robust career and development planning processes you are able to better plan and be prepared for these situations.  This will help inform your decision to recruit externally or promote someone internally that you have already identified with the right skills and experience. 

This article will look at the two options to filling vacancies when someone leaves your business, or a new role is created:  recruiting externally or hiring from within. 

Recruiting externally

There are a number of reasons to recruit externally, there are times when you need some new talent to bring new skills and different organisational experiences, so it is important to find the right balance between hiring new employees and promoting current employees.   You will usually assess each role as the vacancy arises.   Existing business challenges can sometimes be solved with new ideas, so recruiting a fresh set of eyes who can look at the role and business in a different way may be the right solution.

A clear and known recruitment policy will assist you in hiring right. By this we mean hiring not only the right person with the necessary skills and experience, but also the candidate with the right cultural fit – this is just as important.  The selection and interview processes play a big part in hiring successfully and ultimately retaining these employees.

if there is a vacancy for a highly specialised role, you should consider the effort and resources needed to train an existing employee versus hiring a new one who already has the essential skills. It may be easier and more cost effective if you run a recruitment process and find an external resource.

Hiring from within

Many leaders think of recruitment as the only option when someone resigns, if you are a smaller business this may sometimes be the case, however in medium or larger businesses there will often be an internal option.   A recruitment policy that consider hiring internally before looking externally is recommended.

Employees who are given training, development and have a career path defined for them, are more likely to stay in your business.  The cost to hire is huge, according to Employment Hero, the average cost of a new hire can be anywhere between $3,500 to $5000, with executive roles being much greater than this.  Then you have the expense and time it takes for the new employee to be trained and learn their role and business. So, this is a significant reason to focus on developing your staff where possible.

Look at the way you support and engage your existing employees. Support them with internal training and upskilling opportunities, which will have a positive impact on the culture and overall employee engagement.  When employees feel challenged, supported and that their company invested in their growth and career, engagement is higher, and turnover reduces. 

As part of your succession planning process you should consider which roles are the hardest to hire and invest in developing employees with these skills so that you have options. Ideally for some roles you will have a successor who is ready or possibly ready in the near future already identified in your business.  This is also the case where there is a skill shortage and you know that skills are really hard to recruit in the market. 

Looking to unite your team? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Phoebe Reid

Development planning for your team to set them up for success in 2021

The past year has been like no other for organisations with the global Covid pandemic and the uncertainty that it has brought to businesses and life. To be set up for success in 2021, it is important that employees can shift their mindset from just surviving each week to truly thriving.

To achieve this, key people and culture processes need to keep happening! One of the key people processes that may have been overlooked in 2020 is development and career planning discussions.

With the start of a new year it is a good time to re-visit development plans with your team.  This should be an ongoing conversation, not a document that you dust off once a year to tick the box. Employees really need to own their development plan with their managers coaching, input and support.  You want your employees to know what career progression opportunities are available, so documenting and regularly discussing this will help facilitate their career progression.   Employee development plans help address future business needs and also succession planning.  

Why have development plans?                             

Most people are motivated by self-development. If self-development is aligned to the company’s goals, this helps to build employee motivation and engagement for your business. If you have an effective development planning process both employers and employees will benefit. 

For employers, spending the time and effort on employee development throughout the year can have a financial impact to your business, as an effective process can save you time and money on recruiting, inducting and training.  It also gives you valuable data to feed into your talent and successful planning processes. Meaningful and realistic development and career plans will help to retain your top talent as they have a clear understanding of their career path and opportunities.  

According to a Deloitte survey, more than two-thirds of millennials believe that it is management’s job to provide them with accelerated development opportunities in order for them to stay.   This highlights that this is an essential step to the manager employee partnership. 

Employees want to learn and grow within an organisation and an effective development plan supports this.  Focusing on career development is one way to positively impact employee engagement levels. They will feel more engaged if they believe that their employer is focused and committed to their growth.   

One of the main reasons employees resign from their role is because of the lack of career progression. Defining career paths and having two-way realistic development and career planning conversations are ways to reduce this reason for leaving. 

Steps to an effective development plan   

Many employees have a career and development plan, but it isn’t meaningful or realistic.  Achieving a successful employee career and development plan can be broken down into a few steps; 

• Consider and reflect on the business priorities and individual development areas  

• Discuss and define SMART development goals 

• Managers realistically assess their employees’ potential for career progression and that the plan reflects this 

• Follow-up and revisit this plan throughout the year, remain flexible and priorities and needs  can change 
  

Looking to unite your team? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Phoebe Reid

The 4 Rs - Reflections & considerations as the year closes out

It's been a tough year for many -- and people are limping to the finish line. It's time for a break and get yourself ready for 2021.

2021 is going to be another busy year so getting yourself refreshed and ready is critical and taking the time to relax, refresh reflect and reset is critical.

Christmas is generally crazy eating, parties and a lot of people to connect with. It's fun but can leave us feeling more tired.

Relax

What makes you relax? Everyone is different. For me going for a walk, writing in my journal and doing a jigsaw puzzle all are things that help me relax.

Refresh

Taking time for yourself. Sleep, exercise and eating healthy are a good start! What's does refreshing look like for you?

Reflect

In the craziness of the year it's hard to really reflect - what worked well this year, what are my priorities for next year and what do o need to change to make this a reality?

Reset

Be bold. Make sure you make the change to ensure you achieve your priorities. It's not easy - and it's normally outside your comfort zone so be accountable to drive through outcome.

Ensuring you take the time on the 4Rs is critical to ensure you are refreshed for 2021. These 4 Rs are critical for you personally but also for your business, especially the last two.

Reflect - On key lessons learnt for the year (2020) in your business and team. What worked well? What could be improved?

Reset - What are the priorities for 2021? What changes are required to deliver these? How do we measure success across the year?

For most businesses 2020 has been a challenging year, it's imperative that they start 2021 with the following:

• Alignment and clarity on what good looks like - reset priorities, measuring success and understanding the impact of changing consumer and customer trends

• Transitioning the team back to the office - it's an interesting challenge

• Assessing capability in the business - what is missing and focus on development and recruitment

Many organizations are organising planning sessions with leadership in new year to align. It’s an excellent idea to get this alignment underway early in the new year.

Over the Christmas break Whiteark will continue to give you podcasts, thought leadership and thought provoking polls to help you through your 4 Rs and get your head focused on returning back to the new year with a good reset.

Whiteark has extensive experience in resetting strategy, defining priorities and identifying and measuring key success metrics. If you need some help reach out to us.

What are the key considerations for successfully transitioning your staff back to the office?

As we start to move towards Covid normal, businesses are starting to plan for their employees to return to the office.  Here are some things to consider and action from a people perspective.

Flexibility

A company that embraces flexibility around work location is here to stay. If they haven’t already, every organisation should start working on a plan that details what this looks like for their business. 

Ideally the plan should be developed with HR, managers and employees. We suggest that it considers areas such as technology set up and support at home, learning and development opportunities, engaging the team in multiple locations, the risk management impacts on the business and having a robust performance review process to support employee performance. 

Staggered start times, a roster for when employees are in the office with workforce bubbles, and working from home days, are all considerations.  In most workplaces a hybrid model will need to be agreed. Businesses need to be also able to flex back to working from home as required until we have a vaccine, so flexibility really is key.

Health, Safety and Policies

The health and safety of employees is a critical consideration. It is important that you consult www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au or your equivalent state site to create your Covid Safe Plan.

Some items to consider;

• Do you have the right policies?

• Do you have a policy and process if an employee be required to self-isolate?

• How will you keep confidentiality and privacy in dealing with employees who have suspected or confirmed COVID-19?

• Do you have a policy for employees that have travelled to another country and need to quarantine?

• Does your working from home policy needs updating?

Some other thing that you need to plan for are; your office layout, signs for meeting rooms, making sanitiser and masks available, cleaning schedules, a register of who is in the office.

Communication

Communication is critical to the success to any change, but especially relating to people.

Start planning;

• How you communicate key messages about social distancing, personal hygiene and associated policies

• Using www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au posters and hand outs to communicate the key message 

• Where possible have meetings by phone or online instead of face to face

• Your mental health plan to be proactive in supporting employees who are struggling

Employee wellbeing

For many people, especially those with an existing mental health issue, returning to the workplace can bring up a range of feelings including fear and anxiety. If you have one, promote your Employee Asisstance Program (EAP) to help support your team’s wellbeing. These organisations will also have support materials that you can share with the team. If you don’t have one, consider partnering with a provider.

Beyond Blue have some great tips to help manage mental health as employees transition back into the physical workplace. They are;

• Prioritise self-care by maintaining positive habits

• Manage your information intake

• Understand what constitutes a mentally healthy workplace

• Celebrate the opportunity to reconnect

Send out a short pulse survey to employees to get a feel for how people are feeling about returning and what would make the transition as smooth and positive as possible.  As always employee feedback is key to the success of any change.  Book in one on ones, check in to see how people are feeling and plan some fun Covid safe team activities. 

Focus on recognition

According to the Achievers Workforce Institute, 2020 Culture Report,  recognition is the number one request from employees in the postCOVID world.

When employees were asked “how organisations could better support them through the COVID-19 pandemic”, one-third said they wanted more recognition.  

To be effective it is important that recognition is; timely, specific and ideally values based.  If recognition aligns to your company values, you are constantly reinforcing the values and the behaviours that ultimately under pin your culture.

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Looking for a harmonious transition? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Phoebe Reid

How to proactively manage the mental health of your employees

According to The Australian newspaper, over 1 million Australians have sought mental health treatment during Covid 19.  In Victoria this is a real worry with a 30% rise in mental health cases presenting over the 4-week period from mid-September.

Mental health is a concern for businesses in normal times, but in these unpreceded times this data demonstrates the potential crisis that our society is facing.

Beyond Blue www.beyondblue.org.au shares that around one in five Australian employees are working with a mental health condition. Mental health conditions are common and don’t discriminate, the most resilient person can be affected by work stress, as well as other life challenges.

They also state that the many benefits of a mentally healthy workplace include; improving productivity, increased employee engagement, lower turnover, meeting ethical and legal obligations and employee connectedness is greater.

As a manager or leader, you can help support your team in managing their mental health.  Here are some tips to doing this. 

Listen and be flexible

Listen to your team and be as flexible as you can, understand their personal situation and be as adaptable as possible to help support their work-life balance and mental health.  Working from home for many people has created new challenges and extra stress, so offering flexibility, having realistic expectations and understanding their personal situation will help you support your team members with their individual needs.  Show your true self, sharing a personal story with your team can be very powerful, revealing that you can also be vulnerable allows others to connect with you more and see you a person, not just their manager.

Communicate regularly and share what is going on

Regularly check in with your team and ask them how they really are going is important.  Truly listen and understand what their needs are. Seek to find out if they need any extra support, again listen and keep the communication lines open.  Each person will be different and how they are feeling will change, so keep asking and adapt your style to suit the individual. Where possible share as much as you can with your team about what is going on in the business and be clear and realistic in your expectations of them.

Workplace connectedness

Research is showing that connectedness is at its greatest at the moment within many teams.  Which is fabulous, we all need human connection for our overall wellbeing. Teammates play an important role in supporting each other as well as managers.  If colleagues feel comfortable to share and check in with each other this can help to make them feel more valued and connected to their workplace.   This usually happens organically but if it doesn’t promote this in your teams.  Team activities and working on shared projects or goals can help bring these work connections together.  Having fun also helps! Chat to your team about what activities make work fun. 

Wellbeing initiatives and mental health support

Encourage your team to take up any wellbeing initiatives that your company offers.  Some employees might be interested in knowing about personal and professional development opportunities to keep them motivated.  This doesn’t have to be costly, there are lots of free webinars available at the moment.  Where possible provide access to counselling services and mental health and wellbeing support, is a key component to supporting the mental wellbeing of employees.  If you have an Employee assistance program, they usually in addition to counselling have access for employees to mental health and wellbeing education sessions, that is just as important as educating leaders and managers.

Provide ongoing training for leaders on mental health and wellbeing. Not for profit organisations like Beyond Blue and Black Dog Institute have many valuable resources that everyone can access.

Take a break

Currently in Melbourne we are unable to travel very far, so people haven’t been taking annual leaving and having a break.  Encourage your team to take a long weekend or some time off. This is really important for mental health and recharging their social and emotional wellbeing.  People are feeling burnt out which can often trigger mental health concerns. Lead by example and take a break yourself,  a refreshed manager is much more effective for their team!

Looking to unite your team? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Phoebe Reid

Top tips for managers and leaders to successfully lead their team through Covid 19

Covid 19 has changed the way we work and lead teams.

It is really important that managers and leaders can recognise the new challenges facing employees.

The isolation of working from home impacts individuals differently and so leadership styles need to be reflected on and adapted to this new way of working.

Communicate, communicate, communicate

• Communicate clearly, often and simply

• Provide a clear understanding of what is expected from your team,  set clear priorities and expectations of roles 

• Be available via regular catch ups individually and team – phone and zoom/Microsoft teams mix it up as people are getting Zoom /Microsoft teams’ fatigue!  Don’t cancel these unless really need to

• A robust performance appraisal process with measurable KPI’s will help with this. But these may need to be reviewed and adjusted, make sure they are realistic

• Share what you can about how the business going

• People are uber sensitive about their job security, so it is important that they have a sense of being informed and kept up to date

Stay true to your values and culture

• Core values inform and reinforce your company’s culture, strategic direction,  recruitment processes and how you interact with your customers and clients

• Acknowledge that the meaning of values might vary with these challenging times, with most people remote working

• Lead by example

• For employees to adapt they need to feel valued. This will assist in their productivity and ultimate success. 

• You want your culture to be one that is supportive, empathetic, inclusive, collaborative, proactive and encourages initiative

• Recognize and reward employees who embrace and live the values, call this out int team forums

Genuinely care about your teams’ well-being

• Check in regularly and ask how your team really are, truly listen

• Be flexible to their person circumstances

• Show that you are human too, be authentic, talk about your fears, answer questions and reassure them about work and personal issues

• Have fun – in these challenging times find ways to connect and have fun…ask the team what works for them

• Promote your company Employee Assistance Program - make sure employees know where to find information, guidance and support for mental health

• Find out from your team what in terms of wellbeing initiatives, some suggestions are 10,000 /day step challenge, 1 hour/ day to do someone that makes you feel good, exercise/cooking relaxing this helps connectedness with employees and increases morale

• Promote the wellbeing initiatives that already exist

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Need a hand building your organisations capabilities to lead through Covid-19?

Let us help. To learn more about building and executing an inclusive strategy for your employees, contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Article by Phoebe Reid

Staying on Track & Leading Through Covid-19

On the surface working from home sounds pretty good. Not so much when it’s all day, every day.

Leading your team through COVID is a real challenge and requires the leader to demonstrate genuine compassion and ability to communicate.

Here are some simple tips from the Whiteark team that might help…..

How to turn Ground Hog Day into a normal(ish) day

On the surface working from home sounds pretty good. Not so much when it’s all day, every day. There’s no water cooler relief, no Friday lunches, no direct contact. This can take its toll. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways alleviate WFH fatigue. Here are my top picks. Not surprisingly – they’re all centred on communication.

Keep your team on track

Set priorities and expectations of roles and keep your team accountable. A robust performance appraisal process with measurable KPI’s will help – bear in mind these may need to be adjusted. Accountability keeps the momentum going and ensures your team feels purpose and doesn’t drift off into a WFH abyss.

Make yourself available

Frequent one-on-ones are extremely important. This helps your team feel valued and ensures they know that you know how hard they are working. It gives them a chance to gain your confidence and have a meaningful conversation that can’t be achieved via Slack, email or in a group meeting. Connections like this are so important when we’re operating in a vacuum.

Think carefully about team catch-ups

It’s a fine line balancing the need for open communication vs too much of it. What used to be an informal convo within your team’s pod, is now usually a formalised online catch up. This can cause meeting fatigue and get in the way of productivity. Try to think strategically about meetings. Could one meeting be a 15 minute extension of another? Could your weekly 1.5 hour WIP change to fortnightly with 15 minute morning stand-ups as a substitute?

What does your team need to know?

Right now, people are super sensitive about their job security, so it is important to create a sense of inclusiveness and transparency. As a business owner or executive manager you’re privy to regular business updates. It’s important any nonsensitive business movement is also shared with your teams. Whether they agree with the updates or not, it makes them feel connected to the business.

Stay true to your values and culture

Core values inform and reinforce your company’s culture, strategic direction, recruitment processes and how you interact with your customers and clients. In times of uncertainty it’s very important to identify and reinforce these values to your staff. This provides an anchor to work from and demonstrates the business is on track, strong and stable.

Culture club

For employees to successfully adapt to this new style of working, they need to feel valued within their role. This equals more than a regular check in. It’s also about the broader team culture. You want this to be supportive, empathetic, inclusive, collaborative, proactive and encouraging initiative. Use team forums to highlight employees who have done a great job. Try to give everyone an opportunity to shine. Spread the praise. Don’t forget about the wall flowers.

Be authentic, not perfect

While you’re expected to play a strong leadership role, you also need to empathise with your teams’ challenges. This means you might need to relax a little and expose some of your own vulnerabilities. When running your one-on-ones think about what it means to really listen and care. Answer questions and provide reassurance on work and/or personal issues.

Get your team smiling

This is so important. There are plenty of ways to crack a grin – team quizzes, virtual drinks, step challenges, exercise time-outs, cooking challenges – ask the team what works for them. Try different formats or a mix. Just make sure you have regular time booked each week, where the conversation has nothing to do with work. It’s about relaxing and connecting as a team.

The buck stops with you

As you can see there are many small ways you can make a big difference to your team’s experience while working from home. Not only do these practices help them perform as happy, high functioning, individuals, it will also create a strong, united group – and that’s exactly what you need to do your job.