The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone’s livelihoods in many ways – from the way we spend our leisure time, to how we get work done. Additionally, to slow down the risk of transmission within the community, many non-essential businesses have embraced working from home. Although this is a great way to minimise exposure and maintain social distancing measures, working from home still comes with its own set of problems.
On top of employees experiencing isolation and loneliness, Zoom fatigue may start to creep in. Studies have also shown that online communications tend to possibly be more hostile because of their asynchronous nature and the sense of anonymity it creates. If unaddressed, these problems can lead to internal conflict in the workplace. Therefore, it is crucial for managers to be well equipped in dealing with these new set of challenges. In this article, we’ll discuss about 4 ways you can manage and prevent conflicts while working from home!
Setting reasonable expectations
Setting expectations for your employees is an essential responsibility that many business owners simply gloss over. Clear employee expectations not only reduce vagueness, but also equip employees to be successful. This translates to business success as a whole! Therefore, as a manager, you need to communicate to your employees your expectations of them in a clear manner in both speaking and writing forms. During which, you may wish to include your employees in these conversation. This is so that they have a say in the expectations set and feel valued that their limitations or values are being heard!
Don’t skip the team building
We have previously mentioned that team building boosts morale and strengthens camaraderie. Additionally, it also fosters a more transparent working environment where issues can be addressed openly. Through team building activities such as Bubble Soccer, team members can be better oriented towards common goals, and we all know that the feeling of being “in this together” can be a powerful motivator to get things done.
Team building doesn’t have to be an elaborate affair either. Something as simple as holding virtual game tournaments or movie nights over Zoom can go a long way towards improved team dynamics.
Have a communal online workspace
For years, e-mail has been the go-to medium for virtual messages. But while it has its own merits, we cannot keep relying on e-mail alone for our workplace communication needs, as it is simply too inefficient and can actually be a chronic stressor for most employees. Instead, venture into the various communication tools such as Workplace, Skype or Slack! These are platforms where teams and topics can be compartmentalised to help parse the noise of team communications. This shared workspace also aids in democratising decision making and facilitate back-and-forth communication amongst colleagues. Furthermore, this open line of communication acts as a conflict resolution in virtual teams. By opening up channels for discussion, festering grievances can easily be nipped in the bud.
Connect with your employees
In a physical office setting, it’s fairly easy to pick up on negativity and frustration through visual cues. But working remotely removes a lot of the social context which we use to communicate. Thus, it is up to managers to pick up the slack and fill in that missing information yourself. As always, managers should encourage talking openly as this is key to prevent any conflicts. By this, we don’t mean casual surface level chit chats. Instead, engage beyond the surface level, but more importantly, be genuine and empathetic. Everyone’s had a hard time during the pandemic, and your employees are no different. Attempting to connect also shows that you are an emotionally intelligent leader who actually cares about your employees as valued individuals.