Do Not Sugarcoat

... to help you connect with, motivate, and build trust with your employees:

• Send out situational information that is clear and measured about what you are doing about the business, and what employees could do to help.
• Let your employees ask questions: Asking them makes them "feel" heard.
• Tell stories: Stories are a powerful way to make people feel they are part of a shared culture.
• Leverage symbols: Look out for new symbols that can impart the meaning of hope.
• State and restate your vision: A strong and consistent company vision helps your team members feel like they're building something great.

Successful organizations start having rigid corporate cultures, which crumble when the outside world evolves, which is always inevitable.

The rules and assumptions that companies operate on, become embedded, making the employees blinded from any potential future innovations.

... is a reluctance to give up on the past spendings and investments made on projects or products that are no longer providing any return.

The managers are usually unable to make strong decisions and keep adding costs to failed (or about to fail) projects.

Employees' health and well-being should come first. There may be a perceived choice between productivity and well-being. But, engagement is a natural by-product of well-being.

People are worried about health, job security, their kids' education, life on the other side of the crisis. Micro-managing will not create focus. Tactics like time-tracking software will only compound the problem. Instead, focus on easing their fears. The more distractions we as leaders can clear away, the more effective our people will be.

• Part of the response is to hold performance and growth check-ins to acknowledge the contribution each employee is making and help them manage their longer-term professional goals.
• Err on the side of overcommunicating. Create a communication plan and be consistent. E.g., a daily email from the heads of each unit, or video messages from the CEO. Share even the bad news, to prevent employees from inventing their own stories to fill the void.
• Keep a tight feedback loop. Know how your employees are coping, how their work is affected, and how they think leadership can help.
• Be mindful of the resources you're consuming. Don't consume additional masks, disinfectants, and other supplies that hospitals need.

The basic productivity formula(productivity= output divided by input) worked well in the industrial age as the output and input were clearly defined and measurable.

Today’s leaders need innovative solutions to measure and improve productivity in a knowledge-based workplace, as the measurement of output and input is not what it was.

While assigning value to the output of knowledge workers, we cannot simply measure the output like before.

Coders and doctors cannot be measured by the hour, as their output is not uniform or consistent every hour.

Walk into a Starbucks anywhere in the world, and you will find a consistently comfortable and welcoming ambiance. You don't get that simply by telling your staff to be warm and friendly.

• Starbucks has built a capability to foster a relationship-driven, employees-first approach, which encourages close relationships between staff.
• The feel of Starbucks stores exists because the people behind the counter understand how their work fits into a common purpose. They know how to accomplish great things together.
• Employees are called "partners." Even part-time staff in the U.S. receive stock options and health insurance.
• During the health-crisis, Starbucks chose to invest in their staff training.
• Starbucks understands the importance of having employees of diverse backgrounds to create a welcoming environment.

When most companies try to improve their culture, they focus on the negative aspects and try to improve them. Although this may sound reasonable, the opposite approach is more successful.

• Identify a few positive attributes within your culture that are connected directly to the identity and specific capabilities that are driving success in your business.
• Find ways to increase and extend them throughout the organization to counterbalance some of the negative aspects of your culture.
• Articulate the critical attributes of your business that people care about, and that can help move your strategy forward.
• In time, great behaviors and attributes will replace the negative aspects of your culture.

This approach has far more power than a “culture initiative” because it lets people bring their own emotional energy to a business where they feel they have a stake.

• Asynchronous communication is when we send a message (such as emails) without expecting an immediate response. The recipient can take hours to answer it.

• Synchronous (or real-time) communication is when you and the other person are engaged in a face-to-face audio or video conversation, like a video call or a phone call. The information discussed is responded immediately.

Instant messaging tools like Slack or Teams are synchronous, and in some companies, email is also used as a real-time communication tool.

Team communication has increased by 50 percent in the last 20 years. We spend an average of three hours a day working on emails. On an average, Slack users send about 200 messages in a day.

This near constant communication hampers work productivity, with video calls, one-on-one meetings, e-mail and team chat leaving little room for actual work.

Today, remote and flexible work arrangements are seen as a perk.
In 2018, a survey showed that around 3 percent of Americans worked from home on a regular basis. Due to technological advancements (starting with Blackberry), employees were working from everywhere, the subway, the café, home and during the commute.

But even after we have the technology required for remote working for about fifteen odd years, we have been slow to adopt mainstream remote working. The mass-adoption needed a catalyst, and that was provided in 2020 in the form of a deadly disease.

• The 2020 pandemic has shown that all remote working is possible, and bosses are no longer reluctant towards it, a forced change due to the present conditions.
• Many global giants like Google and Twitter have embraced remote work in a big way, in their bid to protect worker health and to reduce corporate liability.
• The unpredictable nature of the pandemic and an expectation of the second wave of infections can hamper any chance to return to offices.

• Positive vs. negative. Positive feedback confirms that someone is taking good action, while negative feedback shows what actions need to be corrected.
• Formal vs. informal. Formal feedback is given on a set schedule, and informal feedback is short and follows after an action or event.
• Annual vs. monthly
• Verbal vs. written
• Manager vs. peer

• Objective. Don't let your personal feelings get in the way.
• Timely. Feedback should follow when the event is still fresh.
• Constructive. Give respect and show that you have their best interests in mind.
• Actionable. Feedback must include immediate next steps.
• Warranted. Give your employees room for mistakes and learn from them.

Every team has rules, but few are intentionally crafted. This could have a negative impact. For example:

• In a team of two, it's easy to create short back-and-forth emails. As more team members join, it becomes more complex keeping everyone in the loop. Emails may include reply-alls about weekend plans and real-time decision-making, leading to unread emails and lost information.
• A single individual dictates the rules for the group. He may inadvertently communicate late at night that can affect an entire company.

Setting up norms is easiest when the team is first created. It may take a special meeting at the start, but it saves time and diminish problems down the road.

Shifting group norms in an established team is possible, too. Cultivate positive behavioral expectations on high-functioning teams.