Some 54 percent of managers said company leaders weren’t aware of employee expectations, while 74 percent said they lacked the influence or resources they needed to make changes on behalf of their employees. equipment.
Munnangi said that leaders needed to adapt to new ways of communicating in the hybrid work environment, and that those new ways, like Zoom and other teleconferencing tools, made it difficult to gauge staff reaction to key messages.
“Leaders would normally communicate in person, in the office [and be able to read] body language and assess how people perceived what they were saying, whereas now I have 40 people on a screen, [occupying] little rectangles,” he said. “When you say something that’s important, or something that I would perceive as emotional, you don’t get feedback, so you don’t understand the level of engagement directly.”
You are making sure to be in the lives of so many people. It’s stress and extra work.
— Yeswanth Munnangi, CEO of Rome2Rio
The boss of Rome2Rio, who moved to Australia from Berlin in early 2020, said leaders couldn’t rely on being able to speak to a team member in person about work to be done or new projects.
Instead, they had to plan a time to speak with the staff member who was working from home, make sure they were in the right frame of mind to discuss the topic, and then coordinate with other team members if the task required the input of more. . than a person.
“You need to plan activities, especially if you need more than one person in the group. So there’s a lot more planning too. So that adds effort and stress for the leaders,” Munnangi said.
empathy for employees
Employees, he added, were also more likely to expect their managers to understand their personal circumstances and potentially make concessions.
“As a leader, you have to understand the context of where your people are, what their life situation is, a little bit more than you used to before,” Munnangi said.
“[You need to have] that empathy for your employees, to understand their life situation. If you have 10 people working for you, you are ensuring that you are in the lives of as many people. It’s stress and extra work. Adapting to this is becoming a necessity.”
As a result, she has increased the amount of time she spends exercising, mainly walking and working out at the gym, from two or three hours a week to seven hours.
“I would say I’ve done a lot more exercise to make sure I have space to think,” he said.
When considering how to manage remote teams after the pandemic, Ingrid Jenkins, director of human resources for Microsoft in Australasia, said leaders should feel free to admit they don’t have all the answers and seek input from their teams. They must learn from their mistakes, work on their physical health and make agreements with teams detailing how they will work together in a hybrid environment.
Munnangi said he hoped that after an adjustment period his stress levels would drop.
“This is an adjustment phase. It’s a realignment phase and I think people can adapt. If you follow the principles of building a good culture, then stress levels can drop significantly to previous levels,” she said.
