PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
Motivation Moves W
elcome to 2021. The year may have changed but the uncertainty in our working environment remains. More emphasis is being placed on employee wellness and mental health because of the direct impact that the workplace environment can have on a person’s health. With the ongoing pandemic, some may wonder if workplace health and motivation is as significant a concern now that many people are working apart. The truth is, it has never been more important to focus on employee wellness and maintaining an effective, cohesive team — yet it has never been more challenging to achieve such a thing. How can we possibly improve our culture and team cohesion when we are apart or are pulled in too many directions due to the demands put upon us in COVID times? I am a team coach focused on building team effectiveness and productivity. I am a Certified Facilitator & Authorized Partner with Everything DiSC® & Five Behaviors®. I understand that many teams (not all) are feeling like they are in survival mode. In this state, it’s difficult to embrace opportunities to improve your culture, but there are a few rather easy things that you can implement so that your team can have an amazing year. Let’s start with the challenges. Despite your best intentions during the pandemic, it can be very difficult to manage and 22 FORUM FEBRUARY 2021
How can you improve your team motivation, culture, and cohesion virtually? 1. Get feedback from your team members. Here are some questions to ask your team members to get a basic sense of how they are doing and how team communication could improve. You can send these questions out via email and request they respond by email, or you can send them out and follow up with a phone/video meeting to get more detailed responses. With their permission, it would be worthwhile to share the teams’ responses so that each person understands their coworkers’ preferences and challenges. This is also important information to know for when the pandemic is deemed over.
PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO
How can you keep your team inspired and focused during a pandemic? Kim Poulin walks us through a plan of attack
support your employees the way you would like. Here are some challenges we have witnessed amongst advisors: • I worry about my staff, especially those who live alone. • I wonder if they are getting enough accomplished. • I don’t want them to become virtually fatigued. • I am concerned about the mental health of one or more of my employees. • I don’t want to lose business momentum. • I’m struggling because I can’t talk to them as much as before. Here are some challenges employees tell us they are having: • I’m not entirely sure what my employer wants day to day. • It’s harder for me to work virtually. • I’m stressed about my children being home and balancing their e-learning. • I don’t feel as motivated as before. • I don’t have a proper space to concentrate. • I don’t think I’m working as productively with my team members. • I’m not sure how to balance my job and checking in with team members/my employer.
