Most companies are affected because of a pandemic crisis. Organizations and universities are guiding staff to work remotely. Companies are planning to extend remote work programs for a more extended period.

Amidst this global crisis, employee retention and management is among the toughest obstacles that businesses have to overcome. How to keep the team encouraged when the world economy is crashing down?

This is where effective leadership comes in. The business world needs good leaders, now more than ever. Corporates, irrespective of their size, are suffering the consequences of the pandemic. Everyone needs a good morale boost.

Many companies are now setting their HCM (aka Human Capital Management) strategies.

And this sudden focus on leadership reflects even in most B-school curriculums. Students often get HR assignments and case studies wherein they analyse leadership strategies of famous marketers.

Here are a few tips for retaining and connecting with your co-partner while working remotely:

1.    Focus on health and wellness

The priority at this time is protecting the health of customers and employees.

Making employees work from their home is the best option to keep a large volume of workers safe. But not all industry people can work remotely. Some companies need physical appearance like manufacturing industries etc.

To avoid physical contact, companies are exploring the idea of power plant operators. This plan is introduced to lessen exposure to germs. But this can be indeed dismissed when social distancing is no longer required.

The pandemic has made it clear that importance should be given for boosting health.

2. Get your employees on board to build trust in the workspace.

It is time to refurbish trust in the workspace. Leadership skill plays a vital role here; 63% of employees do not trust their company’s leadership.

Leadership is a universal skill. Every employee should own this skill to find success in their career.

Leadership is a vital skill for any business people or employees. An employee/entrepreneur should possess solid decision-making skills. Leadership skills cannot be built overnight. It is a long process which you learn by experience and hard work. As a leader you should know how to set and maintain health boundaries.

Here are the top Leadership theories, and their application employees should know about:

Transactional and Transformational Leadership

These are the two modern-day leadership styles that aim to enhance the quality of work. Yet they are different when it comes to practical application.

Transactional leadership, leaders offer inducements to employees to increase their productivity. In Transformational leadership, leaders motivate employees and create a personal connection.

In a practical crisis, transactional leadership is considered as offering perks and incentives.

Application

In real-life situations, transactional leadership applies to startups. Because the workforce is less, and it is easier to create a one-to-one connection in a team.

Transformational leadership also can be applied to startups. Here founders take a particular interest in the recruitment process.

Employees can be offered with a great bonus and keep the work environment motivated. This method is best when you have a large number of employees. It saves time for the leader to interact with each employee.

Leader-Member exchange theory

The LMX theory explains people relations and capability to connect with co-workers. There are two groups in this theory. One comprises highly performing and obedient employees. One more disagree and employees who do not have leadership skills.

A good leader should bring the entire team on board and assure that they work great together.

Application

In this theory, a leader can recognise employees’ support and oppose their leadership. It defines what brings the team together.

Business students often use this theory on their management assignments and marketing reports. This leadership strategy is more millennial-centric and relies mostly on experimentation and application.

Adaptive leadership

This leadership style considers changing the market and separately customizing the organization.

Both leaders and employees must upgrade themselves. This can include training programs using more reliable technology, and so on. The political and social issues also affect the workspace and ongoing projects.

The adaptive leadership theory benefits the leader to recognise the area needs development.

Application

This theory suits both large and small scale industries. It is the best way to handle issues in an organization. The leader should be strong enough to force their will in the workplace. The aim of the leader should be bettering the company.

Strength-based leadership

This leadership style depends on the ability of the leader. It relates to the strategies of the manager and potentiality to handle employees.

An assertive leader would flourish in a strength-based leadership. However, don’t confuse this with arrogance or a dominating attitude. A strength-based leader is confident, calm and collected. They always have the bigger picture in mind when planning strategies.

You can use strength-based leadership theory to plan your business management assignments. Discuss the techniques used by popular marketers and their risk evaluation solutions.

Application

Strategic leadership focuses on companies’ productivity. Leaders should follow this to analyse the present/future performance of the company. At one point, you focus on long term goals as well as ensure constant cash flow in the project.

It benefits the leader to analyse the business environment at the micro and macro level. You should focus on the internal affairs of the company and political change in the market.

Servant leadership

This is a traditional hierarchy of an organization. According to this theory, a leader aims to help the organization. The leader makes the work environment more comfortable and comprehensive. His main objective is the development of the team.

Application

This theory suits HR Managers best as they focus on the team betterment. A servant leader takes a personal interest in the wellbeing of the team. A servant leader analyses the strong and weak employees in the group to get the best out of them.

2.    Communicate with company’s vision

Help your employees to understand the company’s vision so that your employees enhance engagement and increase productivity working remotely.

Most employees say that they can work in a better way if they get clarity on company vision. Increase the visibility of your company vision. It can be they need ample attention from your employees.

It can be challenging for large enterprise companies with employees all around the world. Orienting employees in these companies is possible only with proper communication technology. Technology allows employees to produce accurate messages irrespective of location.

3.    Allow managers to communicate better with employees

To increase visibility and productivity, employee support is not sufficient. You should line your manager’s support as well. Manager’s role is vital in this situation and directly influences employee experience.

Managers are responsible for explaining the team business goals. Plus how to overcome the present situation from home. A manager should assure everyone in the team lined up with the company’s vision. This ensures employees understand their role in the company’s productivity.

With the current situation, managers have a high level of responsibility. It is quite challenging to connect with employees when they are physically disconnected.

The present and future are vital, so employees should allow managers to support the team with proper communication. This helps remote employees to stay connected and be productive in their work. You should identify your employees strengths and weakness. This helps you to get a better understanding of employees and their potential.

4.    Help your employees to stay connected with co-workers

Teamwork is essential for better yield of the company. Today it is all about collaboration. This becomes challenging when employees are physically disconnected. Working on team projects is hard as communication takes place only via technology.

There are diverse tech solutions that help employees to improve work with team people.

Connecting your workplace doesn’t seem only to improve teamwork. It also covers captivating the entire workforce in daily company conversations. Communication should always be two ways. So that employees feel comfortable to open up and explore their ideas.

Conclusion

Workplace alertness during a pandemic is important so employees need to be productive in their work. Employers need to support them to bring effective work to the table.

Mary Jones is a market trainer at PagePotato, with years of experience in digital marketing. She is a content expert, developing and ideating marketing strategies for clients. Beyond work, you can find her digging into the upcoming trends in online marketing.