The shift from working within the close confines of office (comparatively) to Working From Home (WFH) is a major one in many ways. In terms of proximity the office space provides you the opportunity to observe firsthand the level of each member of your team’s involvement with work and engagement with other members. WFH with its physical distances and phone conversations however makes that task so much harder. The fact that you can’t see your team makes observing lack of involvement or engagement in any of them so much more difficult to discern. There can be many reasons for your team losing interest, let us first take a look at these reasons and then see how they can be addressed.
Reasons for Impact on Level of Involvement and Engagement
Sudden Isolation
The sudden shift to WFH can be a bit overwhelming for some members of your team who have not done it before. They suddenly lose the personal connect with you and the rest of the team and this makes them feel lost and directionless. Working all alone from home takes a bit of getting used to, and for those team members new to it, the feeling of isolation is a very real issue.
Too Many Distractions
Without any supervision and monitoring of their work, some team members tend to be distracted easily by television, family, household chores etc.
Lack of Motivation and Encouragement
The benefit of the office environment is the face-to-face collaborative work done by the team. For example, they get to just walk up to each other to discuss issues or arrange impromptu discussions over coffee, all this works as a great motivating factor. Your guidance, encouragement and physical presence also acts as a great morale booster for the team. The sudden ceasing of all these face-to-face interactions (due to WFH) will initially be a great demotivating factor.
Remedial Measures
Team Interaction and Motivation
To address the lack of face-to-face interactions and motivation within the team, organise regular video conferencing team meetings, try to make it as interactive as possible.
Keenly observe your team and if any team member seems hesitant and not very comfortable with the virtual medium, draw them out, ask them their opinion on the issue under discussion. Keep encouraging them to overcome their reservations and become an integral part of the team again.
Keep the team motivated, if any target has been achieved organise a video call at once to give the team the news and congratulate them. In this way you keep their morale and enthusiasm high. Also these regular meetings keep your team on their toes as they would need to give an update on their tasks. In this way you also get to ensure they do not slack because of working from home.
One-on-One Conversations
Some members may not be invested in the discussions or seems constantly distracted over the course of a few meetings despite your constant effort to draw them out. In addition if you notice that their work productivity has come down over the course of the WFH transition then have a one-on-one conversation with them. Ask them about the issues they are facing and do everything in your power to help them out. Keep mentoring and encouraging them to get back on track, in the process you will also get the opportunity to fine tune any WFH policy you realise is not viable.
In these ways you can ensure the team’s level of involvement and engagement gets back on track.
