Remote working during a pandemic can pose challenges

Excellent Leadership: Hanlie Wessels Member of Council

HANLIE Wessels is a Member of Council on UWC’s board. She is leading the AdHoc committee to determine the feasibility of the establishment of the Infrastructure Governance Committee for the UWC Council. Wessels boasts an impressive CV and has over a decade of experience in Executive Leadership.

“I am curious and love learning and my career therefore stretches across almost all possible functions in different organisations and multiple industries. The various roles reflect my enjoyment at working in diverse environments and learning from different perspectives. The best result comes from such environments.”

Wessels learnt that it is important to embrace a disruption such as the Covid-19 pandemic, even if it requires some time to get used to. “This presented an opportunity to discover how the new normal can reward us with e.g. less commuting time, a quick hug on your way to grab coffee before the next meeting, and perhaps a reality check for those in your personal life of what your workday demands from you.” Her international experience ensured that remote working and distributed teams were the norm. This is similar to some part of the lockdown work situation, which we all needed to get used to during the pandemic.

“The challenges I faced when working remotely were usually about people and teams. How to keep the connection, pacing your own work hours and safeguarding your health and emotional wellbeing at the same time.”

Wessels was faced with a dimension of challenges and uncertainties when her husband started a new job in North Africa last year during the pandemic. She had to figure out things such as how travel works, packing one’s own food for travel, waiting for the Covid-19 test results in the host country, and potential isolation in a government facility.

“Since having children and being a working mom, I have accepted that work-life is never going to be perfectly balanced, and the balance on one day will never be the same as the next. However, if I listen to, and stay in touch with those around me who I care about, and with myself, I can tweak and adjust to ensure that the relative balance is attainable.”