To battle loneliness, encourage remote employees to work from the office sometimes

Many people enjoy the convenience that flexible and remote work brings, but sitting at your kitchen table day after day can get lonely. To help your employees feel connected to each other, consider establishing an “in-the-office” day each week, when remote employees are encouraged to come in. Whether they attend meetings or just eat lunch with colleagues, having this weekly touch-point can make them feel more engaged. For remote workers who can’t come in regularly, a monthly or quarterly visit can go a long way toward maintaining their relationships with co-workers. Their visits will have travel costs, of course, but the benefits to the team will likely outweigh them. It’s also critical that managers guard against any stigma that might make remote workers feel ostracised and further isolated. Be sure everyone knows that working from home is an accepted business practice, not something to frown upon.

(Adapted from Helping Remote Workers Avoid Loneliness and Burnout,” by Jennifer Moss)

To build an inclusive culture, understand who your employees really are

When employees feel free to be themselves at work — when they don’t think they have to hide their religion or sexual orientation, for example — they’re much more likely to be happy in their jobs. One way to encourage this kind of openness is to build an inclusive culture, which starts with knowing who your employees truly are. Conducting an employee engagement survey can be an effective way to find out. Segment the data you collect by criteria — such as gender, ethnicity, and age — to help you identify and address issues among different groups of employees. Focus groups are another way to gain insight. They are best facilitated by a third party so that employees can speak freely. The most powerful way to learn about your employees, however, is one-on-one discussions. For these conversations to be effective, you need to have an open-door policy and a “tell me anything” persona. Being honest about your thoughts and feelings will build trust and show people that you’re human, too.

(Adapted from “To Retain Employees, Focus on Inclusion — Not Just Diversity,” by Karen Brown.)

To run a good meeting, get the basics right

Plenty of meetings are a waste of time. They’re unfocused, badly run and way too long. But improving your meetings isn’t rocket science — work on getting the basics right. When planning a meeting, know why you are scheduling it in the first place. Having a specific goal in mind will help you create a useful agenda. Next, decide who truly needs to be there, considering the key decision-makers, influencers and stakeholders. If certain people should be in the loop but don’t need to attend, you can ask for their input beforehand and update them afterward. Open the meeting by clearly laying out its purpose and focusing people on the task at hand. As the facilitator, your role is to get attendees to feel committed to the outcome. When the meeting is over, take a few minutes to reflect. Did everyone participate? Were people distracted? What worked well, and what didn’t? Use your reflections (ask others for their thoughts, too) to keep improving for next time.

(Adapted from “Why Your Meetings Stink — and What to Do About It,” by Steven G. Rogelberg)

To cultivate creativity, set the conditions

There is no such thing as a “creative personality”; anybody can be creative, given the right opportunities and context. So if you need more creativity on your team, don’t just hire more people — develop the ones who already work for you. Research has found that expertise in a certain field is a key ingredient for producing creative work, so offer your team coaching to help them master the skills your organisation needs. Practicing is another path to expertise. Find ways for employees to use new skills again and again, and give them feedback so that they keep improving. It’s also important to encourage exploration. Set aside time for employees to play around with new ideas and follow inspiration wherever it leads, even when there isn’t an obvious connection to their jobs. Finally, reward persistence. Ideas often need time to develop — lots of it — and someone’s passion project could turn out to be your company’s next big innovation.

(Adapted from “Set the Conditions for Anyone on Your Team to Be Creative,” by Greg Satell.)

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, February 18th, 2019