Today, leaders have more and more demands on our time. The work from home environment demands more from us as our calendars fill with meetings and changing dynamics at home add pressures we didn’t have before the pandemic. This can put a squeeze on accomplishing “real” work. However, we cannot put aside the development of and care for our employees. We must make a conscious effort to be generous with our time.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of going from meeting to meeting. It happens to me. We must be intentional about setting aside time for our people. Some managers prefer an open door philosophy but I believe this does not work when managing a remote team.
Workplace demands, especially at the senior leadership level, make it hard (if not impossible) to address your team members’ concerns at the moment they try to “pop in” virtually. As a result of your schedule, employees may only decide to engage you when there’s an important work issue and decide not to engage when they have something more personal to discuss because they think you’re too busy for them.
Instead, schedule sessions – weekly, monthly, or as appropriate to engage with your employee on topics that matter to them (vice you). With or without a set agenda let them drive the conversation. Saving these discussions only for performance review milestones changes the engagement and overall feel of the discussion.
In these session, you may talk about a work issue. You may talk about their career or a skill they want to develop. The important thing is to make it their meeting and not yours. If there is nothing to discuss you both have a free half-hour or hour again. No harm, no foul. If you find yourself routinely talking about work issues it’s time to rethink your availability.
The key is to make time for them. Don’t cancel unless it’s unavoidable and, if you do, reschedule as soon as practical. It wasn’t all work when we were in the office. It shouldn’t be all work now. Make time to engage the employee and not just their work.
Remember…Their topic. Their terms. Just be available.