At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic no one knew what to expect. We were plunged into uncertainty, borders were closing, social distancing was imposed, and toilet paper became a valuable asset. Forget about the Melbourne Cup, an address by Prime Minister Scott Morrison was what stopped the nation.

In March 2020 lockdowns were progressively implemented by the Australian federal and state governments to restrict the movement of citizens and slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Governments also mandated closure of all ‘non-essential’ workplaces. Suddenly, if you still had a job, you were most likely working from home.

While some organisations had offered the ability to work from home as a perk, it became the ‘new normal’. However, getting there was not straightforward for many organisations. 2020 saw some incredible digital transformations to ensure everyone could safely connect to work environments and continue meeting online. This was an enormous change for most organisations, but getting the technology in place was arguably the easiest part of implementing this new way of working.

I strongly believe any planned change will be most successful when people and process are at the forefront of planning. People are an organisation’s most important asset, and with any change people should be considered first.

As medical experts work hard to keep us safe, leaders, managers and employees are having to adjust and learn new ways to work and live. There is a lot to process when work and living conditions are changing daily. Given the increased isolation in an uncertain world, it is equally important to recognise that many of the risks for psychological injury will also be heightened during these times.

Now, more than a year into the pandemic, leaders have another decision to make. Some organisations have moved back to the office at scale, some have opted for flexible working conditions, and some are still working from home.

Responding to the new normal

Some workplaces are starting to see a push to bring employees back to the office, whether that be full time or in a hybrid remote/office mode. Before considering a full-scale transition back to the office, it is essential for leaders to understand the mental state of their people, and reflect on how working from home has changed efficiency and outcomes.

At the start of the pandemic, when faced with the complexities and challenges associated with the sudden shift to working from home, not all people were keen to leave the office environment. Now, more than a year later, some will be enthusiastic about returning to the office while, for various reasons, others will not want to do so.

Since mid to late 2020, staff in my organisation have started to return to the office. I have adopted a flexible work environment — and intend to maintain this moving forward — where my team come in a day or two each week, and work from home the rest of the week if they wish.

Whilst the pandemic was challenging, it also highlighted how we could do better as a team. During the lockdown my team transitioned to working completely from home, and put some major runs on the board. Given the circumstances, morale was high and productivity was excellent.

Our organisation’s pro-active approach to planning for the pandemic also included budget cuts. Our team responded by coming up with new and creative ideas to ensure we could still deliver maximum value for the organisation, with limited funding. An example of this was the launch of https://data.uq.edu.au, a website focussed on data and data literacy. It provides guidance on how to appropriately access and store data and make it easily accessible. The analytics showed this website to have been in high demand, especially during the pandemic whilst most of us were working from home.

Below are some factors I believe helped my team, and continue to help us thrive in a flexible work environment.

Communication and transparency

Trust and transparency have become popular workplace expectations. Studies have shown that genuine transparency strengthens working relationships[1]. Workplace transparency is not only about sharing information; it has an enormous effect on the overall morale of the environment, and how teams relate to the organisation.

We want to know what is happening around us. It is important to communicate and share the good news, the bad news, and the challenges ahead; especially in times of uncertainty. Transparency is important to maintain trust, to ensure rumours do not circulate, and to minimise anxiety. In our daily morning huddle I take the opportunity to check in on the progress of our work and to give the team an update on the state of affairs.

When leaders foster a culture of openness and sharing, others will feel encouraged to share. After all, communication isn’t a one-way street. Asking questions is a great way to encourage others to speak up and it demonstrates your humility: that you recognise your need to improve and learn. Asking questions could lead to process improvement opportunities and empower others to share new and innovative ideas.

Focus on outcomes, not activities

I am obsessed with focusing on outcomes. My experience in running my own business has led me to appreciate the time it takes to achieve an outcome, and how this is more valuable than focusing on outputs (or volume). It has been shown that organisations see positive results when their people are empowered to find ways to deliver value that suits them as individuals.[2] This is not achieved through the micromanagement of people, which can lead to poor performances.[3] We’ve seen a focus on outputs from some organisations during the pandemic, for example implementing monitoring software to track team activity.

The process for achieving outcomes may take different forms. On one day this process might be boardroom negotiations that take hours; the next day it might be discussions over lunch and a beer. However, the outcomes of these different processes might be equally valuable.

If teams are not focused on outcomes (value) but instead are focused on activities or outputs (volume), they are spending time fulfilling the wrong metric. To me, when teams focus on activities, they are keeping busy, rather than maximising value to the organisation. In my daily huddles, I am generally concerned only with progress towards outcomes, and what I can do to support it.

The key to staying focussed on outcomes is a shared vision, an understanding of the desired direction. To complement this vision, teams should be given structure in the form of parameters to operate within. These can include quality standards, operating practices and principles.

Keeping your team engaged and motivated

Whether a team is in the office or working remotely, it is important for it to be motivated and engaged. Engaged employees are productive, not afraid to suggest ideas, and often end up exceeding expectations.

The reason employees are engaged and motivated is very simple: they want to be. If they are inspired by the work they do, and if they believe in the organisation, they buy into the vision the organisation has set out.

To keep teams and employees engaged and motivated, identify their pain points, issues and challenges. Enable employees by providing them with the tools and resources they need to succeed in their roles. Invest in their personal development and recognise them for their hard work. Like a partner in a happy marriage, employees will take care of you if you take care of them.

Working remotely can bring isolation and create collaboration and communication challenges, if you are not proactively addressing the risk it creates. One way of maintaining engagement is through frequent one-on-one meetings. These check-in meetings have always been important, but should be prioritised when staff are working from home.

My fortnightly catchups with my direct reports are open-ended conversations. Unlike status reports, they are times to connect, coach and, most importantly, opportunities to vent. I like to know if my staff are still enjoying work, what frustrates them, and if I can help them in any way. I don’t feel I have to hold these catchups in a meeting room. If we aren’t working from home, they tend to happen at the pub next door.

Final thoughts

These new working arrangements have afforded us benefits we didn’t have before the pandemic. These include opportunities to hire staff from interstate without asking them to relocate, a previously difficult proposition. Flexible workers can be more effective. Employees who have opportunities to work flexibly have been shown to have greater job satisfaction and to be more engaged. This increases both their productivity and their sense of loyalty to the organisation.

I am incredibly proud of my team, and I am very grateful for their hard work, and how they have responded to much change.

[1] Toward a Relational Theory of Employee Engagement: Understanding Authenticity, Transparency, and Employee Behaviors

[2] Antecedents and consequences of psychological and team empowerment in organizations: A meta-analytic review.

[3] Towards Effective Management in Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing: The Dangers and Consequences of Micromanagement