6 steps to support your virtual team through change

In the post-pandemic world you may be leading a virtual team and you will need as many resources as possible to help you succeed in coordinating work online while maintain team spirit. Leadership in times of crisis requires strong analytical skills and quick decision-making.  These must necessarily rest on a strong ability to create and maintain positive relations over a phone or computer.

You already know how to organize work, create effective business processes, assign roles and tasks. I will therefore focus on the soft skills, and in particular the coaching skills that are key to motivating and empowering colleagues through change, even more so when working under stress and at a distance.

In times of stress, as team leader you might be one of the few sources of encouragement for your colleagues, so don’t hesitate to be positive and supportive. At times you will also have to be decisive and provide direction amidst much uncertainty. To navigate these different leadership styles, you will find it useful to empower yourself with these easy and practical coaching skills in six steps.

Working from home or hybrid work are probably not the only changes that you and your team are experiencing.  You may be dealing with multiple, concurrent and sometimes difficult changes at work in the personal life.   All compounded by an overall sense of uncertainty in the world and our inability to reliably predict how things will go in the near future.

As a team leader it’s important for you to acknowledge that the stress level in your team might be higher than usual and that each individual has different challenges and unique ways of coping with the changes they’re experiencing.

There are many models about change, and I find that William Bridges encapsulates this complex concept elegantly in what he calls “Transitions”, the three psychological stages that individuals go through as they experience change.

The first stage, “Endings” is when the change occurs, it’s the moment when we leave something behind, and it may cause feelings of shock, loss, anger, confusion or anxiety. The “Neutral Zone” is the second stage, a time of incertitude and chaos, when we’re not sure about how things may turn out, accompanied by feelings of discomfort, isolation, skepticism and feeling stuck. However it is also a fertile zone from which new ideas will eventually emerge. The last stage, “New Beginnings” occurs when people come to terms with the change and embrace the new possibilities that it offers.

In the working world we are all still in the midst of a difficult and fluctuating period. Most people are either at the “Endings” stage or at best, in the “Neutral Zone” at work and in many areas of their life. This means that your colleagues could be experiencing anxiety, confusion and worry about the future.

Understanding how individuals experience change will enable you to understand your own reactions to change and exhibit empathy towards your team members as they navigate through change. This will also help everyone to become  proactive in spite of the feelings of uncertainty.

Team leaders are not psychologists – and that shouldn’t be your role – but they can be compassionate human beings, which goes a long way to boosting morale. So make sure that you take into account the emotional state that your team members are experiencing as this has a direct impact on their well-being, engagement, performance and productivity. If you have a colleague in extreme distress, always refer them to a health professional.

If your team is small enough, take the time to check-in with each person in a one-to-one conversation. You will help them adapt to the new conditions by acknowledging that the recent changes at work may be uncomfortable. The simple fact of listening to people’s concerns is a powerful way of reducing their stress and building trust. When working online, it’s even more important to show your humanity and willingness to navigate through difficult times together with the team. If you’re leading a very large team, reserve a part of your online meetings to discuss how organizational change is affecting everyone.

With individuals, or in a group setting, use open-ended, solution-focused questions to guide your conversation. This will signal that you understand your colleagues, you acknowledge what they’re going through and you’re willing to explore solutions. A coaching approach opens up trust and reinforces motivation.

Your role at this stage is to open a space for dialogue and to listen carefully with mind and heart so that your colleagues feel heard. You will also seize this opportunity to understand their needs and find appropriate solutions as far as possible.

The next step is to understand the needs in the team and explore solutions that can be brought. So now you’re moving from a moment for expressing feelings or venting, to a time for looking at the practical aspects that will make the situation easier to manage.

Be prepared to discover all sorts of needs that have to be met. A lot of it depends on how successfully your company has deployed new working arrangements such as virtual work,  return the physical office or any other work method change. There may be personal needs such as time off to take care of a family member. Or needs that might relate to technology, hardware, software and training. Your colleagues might need more information or transparency. They may need new work processes or simply your support to deal with other departments.

Open a collaborative discussion and focus on current needs, not what might have been or what may be necessary one day in the future. It will give team members the opportunity to express their immediate needs and you will gain invaluable information on adjustments you might have to make. Start simply by asking:

• In what other ways can I support you?