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Leading remotely: What managers need to keep teams engaged
Leading remotely
What managers need to keep teams engaged
As the skills needs for managers and leaders have changed with the onset of remote working, so have the training courses offered by the Chamber, as business training manager Vicki Thompson (pictured) explains.
Managing remotely can
be difficult and complicated – and, to be honest, most of us have been doing a fair job at it over the past year when as businesses have transitioned into a partial or fully remote working environment due to Covid-19.
But as we move forward along the Government’s roadmap, it is becoming clear that many businesses are actively moving forward with a hybrid or agile working environment, allowing far more opportunities for their teams to work from home, especially while social distancing will still be required within workplaces.
In fact, many businesses have found that their employees have worked much more effectively from home, with reduced commuting and less disturbance.
Of course, not all managers view remote working in the same way –some will have embraced this and have already been busy decorating their home office space, while others will resent the feeling of disconnection and isolation.
HOW TO GET REMOTE MANAGEMENT RIGHT
In response to this, it is now essential that managers and leaders are equipped with the tools they need to ensure they are able to manage their teams effectively while working remotely from them.
Understanding what those people need to lead remotely is a must, as well as supporting them within their roles, moving forward.
There are a number of things that should be fully understood by leaders for remote management to work. These include: 1. Every team member is an individual and will have certain requirements or issues when
working at home (childcare issues, poor broadband, no dedicated work area), so the rules we followed in the office will no longer suit everyone. 2. How we communicate with our colleagues when we are no longer seeing them face-to-face and there is no body language available to soften the communication. Is a Teams chat the best way forward? Or did that email sound too harsh? 3. How do you hold your teams accountable for their workload and their actions? Doing this away from the workplace can make it much harder to monitor workloads and productivity but this still needs to be done.
One of the most important things to remember is that managing remotely gives your teams the opportunity to work to their strengths, get creative and engage with each other in different and meaningful ways.
Trust and evolution are areas that need to be considered along with being open to new ideas, listening to your team’s thoughts, looking at technology and good communication.
The Chamber has always run a full and active leadership and management programme of training courses.
Over the past year, these have been re-written and re-designed to ensure they are supportive and meet the changing needs of businesses.
The required skills for management and leadership have changed – maybe forever.
Whatever your leadership and management needs are – from first-time team leader or manager, right through to senior leadership –we are able to offer support with development to meet the changing requirements we are currently working with.
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT TRAINING PROGRAMME
The Chamber’s leadership and management courses, many of which are accredited, take place over several weeks or months to run alongside day-to-day business. Listed below are the available courses and programmes, as well as the next available dates:
ACCREDITED COURSES
• 2 Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) award in effective team member skills (10 September) • Level 2 ILM award in leadership and team skills (3 November) • Level 2 ILM award in customer awareness (6 May and 11 November) • Level 3 ILM award in coaching (8 November) • Level 3 ILM certificate in leadership and management (7 September) • Level 5 ILM certificate in leadership and management (30 September) • Level 5 ILM certificate in coaching and mentoring (15 September) • CIPD award and certificate in HR
DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES
• Director development programme (14 May and 12 October) • Manager development programme (10 May and 1 November) • Advanced sales excellence (24 May and 30 September)
MANAGEMENT, TEAM LEADER AND SUPERVISORY COURSES
• Become a skilled communicator (20 May, 20 July, 21 September and 18 November) • Effective team leader (8 July, 8 September and 10 November) • Friend to supervisor – establishing authority (22 June, 9 August, 5 October and 7 December) • Project management (17 June and 23 November) • Time management (16 July and 16 November) • Virtual presenting skills (12 May and 9 September)
The full suite of leadership and management training courses can be viewed at www.emc-dnl.co.uk/developing-skills/leadership-andmanagement. All courses are available as a bespoke option. For more information, contact Vicki Thompson on vicki.thompson@emcdnl.co.uk or call 0333 320 0333 (ext 2153).
Identifying the skills of the future
Equipping the East Midlands’ workforce with future skills needed for digital-era jobs that don’t yet exist is top of the agenda for the Chamber’s next major event series.
Skills & People Week, taking place on the week commencing Monday 14 June, will explore how the region can address the challenges businesses continue to face in relation to accessing people with the right skills.
Featuring a series of online workshops, seminars and a centrepiece summit, the week’s activities will focus on how to create an environment where policymakers, employers, educators and individuals can work together to ensure everyone can respond to the seismic shift taking place in the local jobs market.
Chamber chief executive Scott Knowles said: “With the economy emerging from the impact of the past 12 months, the Chamber’s People & Skills Week 2021 will explore which skills are required to support recovery and growth, to what extent they exist in the region, and how we can work collectively to deliver skills for the economy beyond the recovery.”
The week will be anchored by the People and Skills Summit 2021: The Skills Landscape Beyond Recovery on Wednesday 16 June.
It will include speakers from education providers and Government giving policy updates about the future of further education, as well as a panel discussion featuring leaders from the Chamber, Access Training, the Education and Employers charity, Morningside Pharmaceuticals, Loughborough College, RDS Global and ER Recruitment.
People & Skills Week is held in partnership with Loughborough College, Morningside Pharmaceuticals and RDS Global.
RDS Global CEO Andy Flinn said the event was strategically aligned to his company’s goals of developing transferrable skills.
“This allows us to continue on with the development of our academy, placement and apprenticeship programmes that we have in the company, which is primarily focused on retaining and further enhancing the talent pool in the local business community,” he said.
Morningside Pharmaceuticals chairman Dr Nik Kotecha OBE is a keen advocate of preparing young people for the world of work and promoting education to disadvantaged communities.
He added: “The so called ‘skills gap’ is a challenge in the East Midlands, which is why we’re pleased to be sponsoring this event because it is focusing on ways that the business community can support and develop our future workforce, which is essential for the continued economic and social prosperity of our region.”
CONFIRMED WORKSHOPS INCLUDE:
• 14 June, 10-11: Building skills for net zero (Construction
Industry Training Board) • 15 June, 2-3: Employer guide to traineeships (Education &
Skills Funding Agency) • 17 June, 10-11: How to reset recruitment to attract future generations in a post-pandemic world (Access Generation) • 17 June, 2-3: Employer guide to T Levels (Strategic
Development Network and Derby College Group) • 18 June, 10-11: HS2 supply chain readiness, skills, employment and education (HS2 Ltd)
For more information about People & Skills Week 2021, visit bit.ly/SkillsWeek21
Understanding the benefits of CSR
Business leaders can find out how to further activities that bring community and social benefits – while maximising the commercial benefits of doing so – at an upcoming Chamber event.
Titled the Corporate Social Responsibility Summit: Where Good Business Makes Good Sense, the two-hour session later this month features speakers from companies including Futures Housing Group, Morningside Pharmaceuticals, Capital One and TTK Confectionery.
They will speak about topics including the different routes available for businesses wanting to engage with communities, how CSR activities can support the achievement of wider business goals, and the link between responsible business and successful procurement.
At the event, the Chamber will unveil unique research about CSR among East Midlands businesses and launch a campaign encouraging more businesses to do more with communities – and in a more impactful way.
Chamber chief executive Scott Knowles said: “As the East Midlands economy continues its recovery from the impact of Covid-19, the importance of ‘growing back better’ carries additional significance.
“Research from the Chamber suggests that while the number of businesses engaged in community activity is nearing two-thirds of our membership, there is still confusion over how to do this in a way that can maximise the impact for both the community and the business.
“This event is designed to support them in understanding the benefits of engaging with their communities, and the practical steps to take when implementing activities.”
The Chamber’s Corporate Social Responsibility Summit takes place on Friday 28 May from 10am to 12pm and is free to attend. To register, visit bit.ly/CSRSummit21
Invest Midlands line-up announced
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng will make a keynote address at the Invest Midlands conference on 26 May.
He will outline his ambition for the Midlands and look towards its post-pandemic future as an engine for growth.
Other speakers at The Business Desk’s virtual event, in which the Chamber is a channel partner, include Midlands Engine chairman Sir John Peace and leaders from East Midlands Airport, British Business Bank, Network Rail, Midlands Connect and MAKE UK.
Alan Barratt, the founder and CEO of sports nutrition firm Grenade, will take part in an interview on how he built and sold the company to multinational giant Mondelez, while topics for discussion include “big ideas to change the Midlands” and “selling the Midlands to the world”.
