Art Of Teaching

YOUR STAFF NEEDS A SOFT TOUCH, ENCOURAGEMENT, GUIDANCE AND MOTIVATION

The Covid 19 epidemic has made everybody apprehensive. It is very difficult to circumnavigate this new normal when proportionately a great many things are abruptly indeterminate.

It therefore becomes very difficult for the staff to stay industrious when there is hardly anything to look forward to. Loss of increments, salary cuts, loss of jobs of near and dear ones have filled the minds with distress and perverse thinking. In such times we as bosses need to project ourselves with great understanding and see that at no time, they lose hope. It is our duty to keep them cheerful so that they may be productive. Some tips for the same.

• Never make them feel that you are the boss and they are employees.

Be with them in every situation. Lead by example. Be with them whatever length of time they take to finish their work. Get the work done but your presence is a must. They should not feel abandoned at any time.

• Do not at any time, trail every step they take

It will be highly counterproductive to screen each advancement your member of staff makes. Instead of pursuing their accomplishment over a certain period, you need to trust them to get the work done. Your trust will make them go a long way in these hard times.

• Do not add to the numerous uncertainties of your employee

 During this challenging time, bosses need to be patient and caring. Listen to their worries even if you do not agree with them. Being a good listener will calm the employees if they are hassled in any way. This is not the time for warnings and memos. This is the time when you have to be a parent, a psychologist and a doctor to your employees.

• Curtail video calls and online instructions to staff when they are into family time.

As it is the staff working hours have increased tremendously due to online teaching. If we send them work related messages in the evenings after office hours, it will add to their frustrations. These calls will go on and on about the same things discussed over and over again and nothing productive will come out of it.

Plan calls or hold meetings if they are physically present and with an agenda of things to discuss each time. Get them to share their ideas and feel wanted and important.

Exploit the use of automation tools and use it to the maximum.

Make use of workflow management tools and let all stake holders participate in it at every point. You need to sidestep micromanaging your employees by maximizing its use and atomizing your process. You need not message everybody in the line-up all the time or physically trade files or comments.

• Please remember that different employees are motivated by different things.

A solitary tactic to inspiration will not inspire all employees. Your greatest drawback is that you as heads do not admit and deal with this diversity. You favor the dictum of ‘one size fits all’ but it is a fact that such an approach is highly unlikely to motivate one and all.

Keep the morale of your staff high even in crisis.

Team motivation is very important in crisis. Do not give up on your staff. Be by their side. You are the boss so naturally it is expected that you can resolve the crisis better than them. This is the reason why you are at a higher elevation. It is therefore your duty to keep the confidence of your staff tall even during numerous types of emergency stage. Please remember that everybody is lonely, and strained by the current situation. Maybe a kind word or timely help will not hinder their output  and keep them emotionally and physically safe.

•  You need to keep communicating with them

Communication is a very important tool throughout a catastrophe. If things are not normal, there is an urgent need of a translucent channel of communiqué between the employee and the employer. It is very important to understand the specific needs of employees even if they are at a personal level.  Maybe employees may need help with their child care or other family related issues. It does not matter what the requirements of your employees are throughout a crisis, you should try your utmost  to solve them if you want efficient work.

• It is necessary to be sympathetic and flexible

 If your employees are working for the institution even in the middle of a catastrophe, you have to do your part by being more sympathetic and flexible. You can give them the flexibility of time so that they can balance their family along with their work

 There are some suggestions for the Management also:

Being the management, it is very important to maintain PHYSICAL presence. You cannot project the impression of abandoning the staff to fend for themselves.
If you are deducting pay, be generous and do not do it unless it is of utmost necessity. I think you are aware of the expression “there’s always someone less fortunate than you”? There can be no better way to express give and take than the bosses giving, so as to inspire the staff to give as well.

Arm the staff to handle the pandemic. COVID-19 is a dangerous pandemic that is striking the victims dead. I am aware of some institutions that do not give employees ANYTHING to protect themselves which is almost criminal.

Some employees who are part-time caregivers to covid patients at home, should as a precaution be given 14 days sick leave in case, they are asymptomatic carriers of the virus.

In this trying period, you should not make being at home, or coming to work, feel like some punishment. Employees risk their lives working for you. If you want your institution to endure this period do not get cheap, and certainly do not dig your heels to go in for wage confrontation against common human decency.

In the End —–

In the end, I want to stress that all of these points are not anything new for  any respectable organization and they would have done this as second-nature. It is seen that the more you scale yourself back but also the more you try to yank perspiration and blood from your employees, the sooner your organization will collapse.

All Heads and Management need to remember that the staff is a team, and “team” does not mean the rank and file, it means everybody starting from the watchman at the gate, the peon at the bell, ultimately the Head and the Management.

Are you aware of the circadian rhythm? Life is not steady. It goes up and down with motivation.

 You need to regulate what they want to do, that matches what you want them to do, and use both reassurance, and positive inducements to allow them to pursue it. Great Heads and bosses intensely understand and follow this. You cannot be a puppet in the hands of your superiors. If you want respect earn it.

All the Best! With this I end my third blog on motivation,