Psychological safety & wellbeing for remote teams
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orking remotely will be a new challenge for many people. Social connection is incredibly important to cohesive work practices and focussing on social connection while physical distancing is important. For leaders who aren’t used to managing remote teams, it’s important to develop the skills to engage, and strategies to stay connected. Psychological safety at work requires, trust, connection, and open communication. The following ideas aren’t designed to be used all at once! Rather, these are for you to consider which might meet your teams needs and support them at present. It is a good idea to engage your team in the design of how they wish to be connected, bearing in mind that not everyone will have the same needs or preferences, so stay flexible. If your team/ team member is new to working remotely… Recognise the individual needs for connection and the varied life circumstances which may make it hard for some people to work from home. Be respectful
and compassionate about these differences. Have a discussion with each team member about how they are finding working remotely and listen to their responses. Be mindful that if they express a negative experience, or a different one to yours, to still listen carefully, without dismissing their experience or jumping in with solutions. Some useful questions may be: • What’s been the biggest CHALLENGE about working remotely for you? • What’s been the BEST thing for you? • What’s been the biggest SURPRISE? Talk these questions through and if they feel that their experience is different to others, maintain confidentiality and explore the similarities and the differences. Work together to consider solutions for the challenges and to identify what can be done to maintain the positive outcomes.
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