Right now, it’s likely that you don’t need anyone else to tell you that leading or participating in a team at the moment can be challenging.  COVID and the associated challenges of remote working have the potential to reduce the performance of a team.

Or do they?

Certainly, face to face gatherings are disrupted, however, we’ve been coaching some teams remotely and are delighted and enthused by the results. We’ve been zooming in (excuse the sad pun) on the need for psychological safety in remote teams.

Psychological Safety in a team in normal circumstances is really important. It is a dynamic that is largely about how safe a team is for the team members to take interpersonal risks with each other. The safer it is, the more likely you will be to show up as you are and take risks with others. It drives a thriving and robust environment that is a platform for ongoing high performance.

In a remote working environment, its importance is elevated as the ways of interacting and managing relationships become limited.  We have noticed some core practices in teams which help with this:

• Take time to check in and out of your meetings - give people the opportunity to share what’s really going on for them
• Create social time on calls for people to affirm and build human connections
• Notice who contributes and who doesn't - who’s is silenced on the screens? 
• Ensure there is space for people to raise issues and think through together
• Encourage team members to connect individually with each other and consider the requests and offers they have
• Build dialogue through the lens of unconditional positive regard
• Have some fun and laugh together

 

The TOWARD Team