How are you leading and engaging your team during uncertainty?

Many companies have recently made some hard decisions to survive the economic uncertainties caused by COVID-19. From working remotely to having to furlough employees. It has not been easy on anyone. Yet, businesses continue to operate under unusual circumstances. So, what can leaders do to engage their employees and maintain morale during high levels of uncertainty?

Whatever decisions your organization has made up to this point, you must continue to engage your team members. There will be employees that find themselves uncertain about their role, trying to manage heavier workloads, or others experiencing reduced hours for the first time. Many may fear they will be the next to be furloughed or are struggling to adapt to new work environments and responsibilities. They are simply stuck.

Leaders can help their employees adjust to this uncertainty by understanding their personal drives and motivations. Some people prefer working under pressure and a project deadline makes them more productive; others prefer a steady and calm environment. To understand your team’s behaviors in the workplace, The Predictive Index has identified 17 Reference Profiles. It takes about 6 minutes to complete the Behavioral Assessment, from which leaders get actionable insights about their employees’ personal work styles and the team relationships in terms of:

• How to better manage employees

• Understanding one-on-one relationships

• How the overall team communicates, makes decisions, and takes action

Understanding what each individual team member needs from a leader to be successful in uncertain times will produce a more efficient workflow. Not every individual can be managed the same way. It is key to understand unique personal work styles to communicate, build, and strengthen relationships between leaders and employees.

Let's take a look at an example:

One of the 17 reference profiles is a Controller. If you have a Controller in your team, they are naturally detail-oriented and strive to produce quality work. They seek to avoid risk, and they’re very particular about what they delegate and who they delegate work to. It is significantly more difficult to delegate work in a remote setting and even harder if those they trust to delegate the work, are no longer with the team. Do your due diligence to plug the holes in the ship by recommending other team members whom they may not have worked with yet that they can trust. Or better yet, take on tasks that you know you can complete for them to lighten the load. Pinpointing what each team member needs can slow or prevent freezing up during irregular conditions.

Though the future is yet uncertain, leaders can improve the way they engage their people by understanding their personal work styles. This will help unfreeze teammates from current distractions, roadblocks, and difficulties currently impacting their work during adjustments to COVID-19.

Click on the link below to complete your behavioral assessment to understand your team’s personal work styles to better lead and engage your employees!