How to boost employees' spirits during COVID-19

The number one predictor of happiness is human connection. Specifically, this means spending time with people that you care about and who care about you. During this difficult time of social distancing, people are feeling isolated and disconnected. Therefore, it is imperative that leaders find alternative ways to connect with their staff one-on-one as much as possible, such as through phone calls or virtual meetings. Ideas for discussion include:

·      Asking each team member about their family and community daily

·      Having mini one-on-one meetings with your team daily for emotional and social connection

·      Creating a Facebook group for your team(s)

·      Creating a WhatsApp group for texting

·      Setting up team zoom calls

·      Sharing personal stories with your staff

·      Sharing helpful personal and professional resources with everyone on the team(s)

·      Continue to create a family-like atmosphere

·      Talking about how you are giving to people in your community

 Every person in the organization wants to know about the “progress” of the team and organization. This means sharing the ups and downs of the department and company overall. A lot of times, leaders keep the progress of the department and organization to managers and supervisors only. I encourage you to share weekly at a minimum with all of your team members. The employees want to know that the work they are doing right now has meaning, so keep them in the loop on the status of the business.

 Employees thrive when they are receiving consistent, specific positive feedback. Remind yourself weekly to give positive feedback to everyone on your team. This can be done in person, over the phone, or via technology. This is not to say that you do not give constructive feedback for improvement, but it is important that you are giving more positive feedback during this time. When an employee does something outstanding during this time, share it with the group if they would appreciate social recognition.

 People feel happy and have positive emotions when they are learning and growing. Make a list of all of the topics that you and your leadership team can teach and train your employees during this time. There are a variety of free online courses and trainings available or you can train people one-on-one. This can be an individualized approach, or you can teach virtually to the team. If you do not know what team members want to learn or how they want to develop professionally, this is a great time to ask them.

 Encourage team members to not be “glued” to the news and social media. The news is guaranteed to make you and your employees feel more negative, especially now. Suggest that they choose a few times of day to read the news and to stay off of social media as much as possible. It is important to stay informed, but we do not need to be watching it 24/7.