How to empower employees during COVID-19

The ability of your organisation to weather the coronavirus outbreak lies in the flexibility, resilience and collaborative power of your employees. What’s more, employers who do not prioritise employee mental health and wellbeing during these challenging times are increasingly being called out on social media, potentially damaging their reputation. So what should business leaders really be doing?

During COVID-19, business owners have been presented with unique challenges that have prompted the need for swift, innovative ideas. There is power in having a team with multiple perspectives and ways of analysing situations. Business owners from companies of all sizes can best utilise their employees in times such as these by intentionally empowering their team members.

In this blog, I will present you with a few easy-to-implement ways you can empower your team to get through this difficult period while also producing high quality, innovative work.

Communicate clearly

Regular, open communication is key. With so much uncertainty, it falls to leaders to be the calm voice of reason and reassure employees, remembering that how you communicate is just as important as what you communicate. Leaders have an essential role in ensuring communications are concise, unambiguous and timely to answer these questions for different stakeholder groups: “What’s changing? Why? What does it mean for me?” Communication must be calm and transparent about actions and realistic timelines.

And how you communicate is just as important as what you communicate. Create psychological safety by including both logical and empathetic statements in all communications and making space for conversations that explore people’s emotional response to all the changes - convey that ‘whatever happens we’ll do the best we can by you.’

Shift your leadership style

If you are usually a decisive, authoritative leader, crises like the coronavirus outbreak will be where you come into your own, but it is not always the right approach when it comes to employee mental health. Good leaders must be able to judge what tone best suits each occasion. As we’re preparing for the peak number of infections, a participative leadership style that encourages collaboration and ownership will bring diverse specialisms together to solve complex solutions. When the peak arrives a more authoritative style might be more appropriate.”

Even though you may personally champion a more collaborative style of leadership, times like these demand you to be more open and adaptable. This may feel unnatural for leaders who like to offer choice and empowerment, but at times of uncertainty, this level of ambiguity can be unsettling, confusing or even scary.

Relax the rules

This is not a case of ‘business as usual’… but at home. Any leader who fails to acknowledge the psychological impact of being in lockdown or quarantined at home, will be letting their staff down. Workers’ needs, behaviours and attitudes to their work will change. Savvy leaders must be able to distinguish when behaviour is born out of uncertainty or fear and support rather than chastise employees. This is even more relevant when it comes to employees who are parents and are having to juggle their work with home-schooling or entertaining small children. Employers need to be really understanding about parents doing different hours to fit in with their kids’ schedules. There’s so much guilt involved that can only be bad for your mental health.

Locate the resources

When it comes to managing employee mental health during the coronavirus outbreak, there are limits to the support business leaders can offer themselves. Without face-to-face access to therapists, counsellors, in-house employee support groups or HR professionals, many workers may not know where to turn. As an employer, in this situation the best thing you can do is be acquainted with the resources available, and signpost them clearly for staff.

Include employees in the decision-making process

Asking for an employee’s opinion on a strategic matter opens their mind to think more deeply about the company’s needs. When an employee is pulled away from a ‘work, work, work’ mentality and they are called upon to think bigger picture, they will likely feel connected to the organization and more motivated to work beyond their role requirements because they understand their opinions are valued.

Breaking the mould

Empowering them is a way to restore self-confidence and keep them motivated. They will be part of the decision makers.

To summarize what sustainable transformation looks like during a crisis like COVID-19, here are five signposts:

• Be resilient – do what it takes to survive; pivot, adapt, bounce back.
• Be inclusive – help the most vulnerable; volunteer, donate, pool resources.
• Be frugal – find ways to do more with less; reuse, recycle, go circular.
• Be connected – use technology to increase communication; e-work, check-in, share solutions.
• Be healthy – put people’s well-being first; exercise, de-stress, allow recovery.

A crisis is a great opportunity to break the mould, and to rapidly test new ways of producing, working and consuming. Let’s not waste it.