WORKFORCE
CHECK IN
Leaders need to ask how their teams are doing with remote work consistently—and really listen to their answers. (Photo by Getty Images)
What would she ask? “Te first question is ‘How are you all doing?’ And genuinely caring about and listening to what they say, not needing to respond or fix. Just listen. And then, ‘How do you think we are doing right now as an organization?’ Whether it’s a small organization that you’re leading or any part of the larger whole that you want to learn more about. To me, those are the first questions to be asked, and those aren’t always simple ques- tions to answer.”
It can be hard enough to truly understand how your teammates are feeling when you see each other in person on a regular basis. Add to that the complexities of telework, and it would be easy to miss signs of trouble if you didn’t have an established base- line, Muskopf said. Tat’s why it’s important for leaders to check in with the teams regularly and consistently. “You start to see patterns in your people,” she said. “It’s not about making things better for them, because sometimes you can’t. It’s just about recog- nizing that they’re human, and that what’s going on in their life is impacting what’s happening at work, and you do your best to make sure that the work environment is a place where they want and feel safe to be.”
A SAFE ENVIRONMENT Even if leaders ask all the right questions, there is no guarantee that people will be willing to answer them candidly. “It is impor- tant for leaders to create an environment where people feel safe to respond to that question with honesty,” she said. Tere is a long history of stigma associated with mental health or even just stat- ing that there is a problem, she said. “Progress has been made, but that culture goes a long way back. So to me, as a leader, you must create an environment of psychological safety,” she said. “Every- one recognizes that the military operates in ranks and hierarchy, but when it comes time to innovate, when it comes time to really get things done and move the needle, that requires conversations that are more free-flowing, that aren’t organized in order of who is sitting closest to whom in the horseshoe.”
Creating that sense of safety requires a certain amount of vulner- ability on the part of leaders, Muskopf said. “As a senior leader in any branch of the military, everybody is looking to you for the answers. But most great leaders are really looking at the people who work for them and relying on the information they provide to make sure that they are making the right decisions.” She said
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