1. The Pandemic and the Manager

The Covid-19 pandemic has had an effect on the normal day-to-day work routine of employees in all segments, owing to mandatory lock downs.

Managers need to take the lead in helping their employees and teams to sail through this crisis. The role of managers have evolved with recent times, needing for them to have more meaningful and frequent interventions with their team members. With the help of this guide, figure how to overcome the different challenges that managers confront.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
‍— Martin Luther King Jr.

2. Decision making during pandemic

Below given are a decision making and managerial challenges team managers face during remote work.

2.1 Achieving Visibility Of Overall Work Progress

Having visibility on the progress of work of the team members has grown to be more challenging during remote work. Getting these updates will require managers to be more consistent in their follow-ups than normal. Below given are a few tips for achieving visibility:

• Take regular and periodic updates of the on-going projects
• Have a team online team meeting at least once a week
• Keeping focus on the end result the team member achieve rather than timing their activities
• Keep the clients promptly updated about the project progress
  

Tip for Empuls users:
Create a dedicated team-based task group and start feeds on individual tasks and projects.

2.2 Making Communication With Employees Effective

Communication probably is the most important tool that the managers have at their disposal during lockdowns and remote work. The following are a few tips to follow for managers while communicating with team members:

• Communicate with the employees clearly and with empathy.
• Communicate the expectation from a task/work properly to the employee
• Communicate openly to the employees regarding the current scenario and the steps taken by the management to cope with the conditions
• Ensure that important information is freely accessible to employees
  

Tip for Empuls users:
Use town-hall and department groups to share important information and making it a repository for important notifications and guidelines

2.3 Maintaining Finances Effectively 

Maintaining team finances is a critical, but yet mostly under-credited work of managers. Now is the time to be further careful with spends and following are a few tips to help manage finances efficiently.

• Move to free tech tool alternatives to reduce the operating costs
  ‍
• Allocate and approve proper finances for critical functions
  ‍
• Assign a team of 2-3 member to focus on cutting down fixed cost expenditure
  

Tip for Empuls users:
Create a cost-cutting ideation open group for crowd-sourced solutions to cutting costs.

2.4 Improving Decision Making During Pandemic

Contrary to how impromptu decisions could be taken while everyone was working from the same location through discussions and under normal conditions, lock down needs more preparedness. The following are a few tips for decision making during remote working.

• Ensure that the current lock-down restrictions and COVID-19 mandates are considered while making decisions
  ‍
• Follow latest industry wide reports to assess the impact of the pandemic
  ‍
• Study, analyse and adopt the working model of the company in the context of remote working
  ‍
• Make no assumptions while making decisions during a crisis  
  

Tip for Empuls users:
Run eNPS and engagement pulse surveys to take internal factors of the organisation into consideration while decision making

2.5 Effective Planning During Pandemic

Handling work during lockdowns posed by the pandemic requires new considerations. Following are a few tips to plan work during the pandemic:

• Analyse the industry environment and what the customers perceive as essential
  ‍
• Search for local alternative to fulfil your requirements
  ‍
• Provide easier payment method for the customers 
  ‍
• Customer support should be the top priority 

Tip for Empuls users:
Run a recognition program and milestone based rewards programs to motivate the customer support and service teams who are the forefront of delivering value

2.6 Effective Planning For The New Normal

The ‘new-normal’ requires further understanding of the impact of the pandemic and how it progresses, The below tips will help managers plan for the new normal: 

• Analyse the current impact of the crisis and the industry trends 
  ‍
• Making the necessary requirements ready to start the operation/functions faster
  ‍
• Analyse and plan for the payments to the vendors when the supply chain restarts
  ‍
• Plan for a smoother on-boarding for the employees post lockdown

Tip for Empuls users:
Correct current standard processes in the context of new normal and circulate them through Empul groups for awareness and adoption

3. Making The Best Of The Time At Hand

8  Ideas to make best use of COVID-19 times

• Strategize post lockdown course of action of the company
  ‍
• Explore and analyse new business areas for the team 
  ‍
• Prepare financial plans of the company during and post lockdown
  ‍
• Share personal experiences about the project with the team
  ‍
• Analyse and update the HR guidelines of the company 
  ‍
• Encourage the culture of learning within the team members 
  ‍
• Network with past colleagues and explore new perspectives
  ‍
• Spend more time with the family and focus on work-life balance
  

If you’d like to learn more about how xoxoday can align, motivate, empower and engage your folks, We'd love to chat.

www.xoxoday.com/contact-us