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“Leadership is not the position, it is the action”, the quote very precisely conveys the message of leadership is bringing everyone together, but in this scenario of social distancing, how we are supposed to carry things together without actually being together.
Work from home is not only for the digital world but for everyone even our army does that role who is in action all the time. When the border security force is stretched to the locations where the access isn’t possible then true leaders be with them remotely. Instructions are to be provided while together or being far off.
To make such things work in this quarantine scenario, we should practise it from now and below are the steps you need to take ;
Know Your Team:
When in the army, this happens by default. When you live together, eat together, die together, you automatically get to know your partners. No other job could have the bonding which our army holds. One gets to know one’s weaknesses and strengths. You get to know each other by their roots.
Similarly, in the corporate world, one knows the other person by their resumes. Resumes are the things that are written in an educational, professional and very precise manner. But being in a team you should not know each other on the basis of the information in the CV. Those stories are not the real ones. It only gives a glimpse of yourself in the work environment.
A leader must be familiar with the rest of the colleagues in and out. Their background stories, fears, weakness, strength and expectations must be known very well. This is the building block of all the promises a company does to you. The process should be simple and easy to make everyone feel together and known to each other’s priorities. Similarly, when one is exposed to your personality completely, it is easier to decide what genre you are most capable of.
Understand the Constraints:
While one access everything remotely, online calls, video conferencing remains the only way out to discuss things. All the work reports are to be handled via these platforms. At this level, it is very common for technical errors arise due to heavy server issues and unavailability of technicians.
One must understand the process and not be harsh on the other person. There may be conflicts of time and interruptions, but together as a team, one could easily manage all the problems to come up with a successful output.
Conversations Leads to Achievement:
Whenever one comes off duty, he is overpowered by the calls, demanding the confirmation for each step. Each call has a purpose. In the army, there is no such thing as, ‘obviously’, ‘I know’, they believe in confirming the things until they come perfect.
Similarly, while you are a part of the company and is forced to handle the work remotely it becomes your duty to keep a track of the work being allocated and the work being left out. Keeping a balance between things and creating a check list becomes mandatory. Even when you feel irritated being checked upon every single thing, it is the part of the process and you have to admit it.
The Open-Door Policy:
The Open-Door Policy:
Often in a work environment, seniors prefer their seniority and limit their access. During this scenario, it is very important to make ourselves accessible and give open door policy. You must be available to everyone’s doubt and query whether on-call or text.
A junior must not feel embarrassed or uncomfortable while calling you or you must not feel irritated while answering it as this is the time which is similarly breaking everyone. Also, if somebody misses a call there should be instant revert back or on the same day, as one may feel offended and ignored and not try to contact further due to the issues. This creates an unnecessary hierarchy in the company.
Share the Strategy:
Most people have the habit of keeping the strategy to themselves and applying it directly to the situation. Now, think what will happen if our military starts doing so? Everything will go helter-skelter and obviously, this will create an imbalance to the whole nation. Similarly, if your employees are unaware of your strategy and mindset, it won’t help you, rather may lead to your downfall.
Now, this becomes necessary to share whatever is in your mind and whatever idea you have to the crew. You must not start doing the work on your own but lay a whole layout and plan and work accordingly. Each situation has its own rules and Algorithms to be allocated so make sure you set your mind in the same format and do share it with your colleagues.
Notice Other’s Circumstances:
In the army, the battalion is allocated with certain tasks and regions who present a given output. This is called division of labour or allocation of a task. Now the companies also work in the same way, if a person is allocating you a task then he or she also allocates a deadline to submit the task, if one fails to do so then that person is either forced out of the project or is not considered responsible.
But what about the current situation, will it be right to consider the same deadlines that we did in office hours.
Work from home isn’t easy, everyone is burdened with responsibilities and cannot put attention to a certain work. Now, if you set unrealistic deadlines, this will create pressure on the colleague as well as disappointment to your end. Therefore, one must be aware of the situation at other’s place and not forcing them to work in pressure.
Work from home isn’t easy, everyone is burdened with responsibilities and cannot put attention to a certain work. Now, if you set unrealistic deadlines, this will create pressure on the colleague as well as disappointment to your end. Therefore, one must be aware of the situation at other’s place and not forcing them to work in pressure.
Cheer Them Up:
When work from home is possible, then what is the need for the office. This was the question appearing when the Internet started working and was seen as a medium to connect. But remember, offices are for work as they provide a work environment. Sharing of ideas, information, face to face interaction can boost up the morale of a person making him work better.
Similarly, you must take care of this while you are working from home. There should be breaks between the meetings giving them the chance to speak and opening up. Also, this would lighten them with the pressure to carry a bunch of knowledge in a single go. Seminars should not be a listening and knowledgeable ones rather full of activities and interaction as whatever forces you to upon up and speak also forces you to think.
And finally, to all the leaders out there, leadership is not about gaining the traits of leadership but practising it. Nobody comes with all the traits and in such a scenario where we are dealing with so unexpected situation, we should open ourselves to practise and make us vulnerable to learn and gain from everything around us.
Written By - Srishti Garg
Edited By - Nidhi Verma
Edited By - Nidhi Verma
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