By Ayiga Patrick Obita; 28th March, 2020

The World has, I think since the 2nd World War, been afflicted like this before, and in which people are fearful like never before. You never know who is a carrier and you will take sometime to be able to know whether yourself might have the virus. This has changed the way people interact and some of behaviors have been acquired.

The working sphere has not been spared as well. There are many ramifications for all aspect of the organisation like the workforce, activities, security, financial, management, sustainability, work life balance, etc. The way Managers have exhibited their managerial styles have also varied and will forever never be the same again. 

WHAT HAS CHANGED IN THIS PERIOD?

Working from Home is now the in thing.

Some new aspects that have come up, which some organisations or companies never used to even think about, was working from home. Even those against this approach of work have been beaten to their game, and they will forever not be the same again. They will readily allow flexi working approaches, most especially for those that don’t have to interface with a lot of people in dispensing their work or are not in critical processes that their presence is needed at the workplace. In this respect, the Managers are now going to look at the time ones spends to come to work and returns and if they can produce the work in time, then why not work from home.

However, this brings a lot of complications for the staff working from home to be able to overcome the distractions that comes with it and being disciplined to stick to what they have to accomplish. It also poses a great challenge of how Managers can be able to track the progress or performance of their staff in case they are not moving on the right track. This calls for competent staff in all they do and be able to work with minimal supervision, but doing the right thing in the process.

People Centric Vs Guidelines / Policies Centric Management.

Most Managers are not people centric in their approach of managing others. They base their management on the guidelines or policies that the organisations or companies have and implement them to the latter. This COVID 19 pandemic has exposed us Managers terribly if it was not your style of being people centric. How are you going to apply that guidelines or policies where the staff is far away and not in direct contact with you? Do you contact them and start off with why haven’t you submitted in your work? Hell no.

Now they should inquire whether their staff are well and that they are keeping safe and following the health guidelines. Work should now be secondary though important, because life is much more important and the human being is the most important asset that the organisation has. This realization should encourage them to treat their staff with more care and support. As a Manager, you should be on the lookout on what might be disturbing your team members and if possible, ensure that they obtain support, such that they are in their right state of mind and health to perform on their deliverables. The lesson some have been rudely taught by this pandemic.

Presence vs deliverable/performance.

Some Managers if not all have now realized that the physical presence of their staff is not necessarily related to their performance or deliverables. I think some Managers are seeing that their staff are producing more work than they ever did while they were present. This is because the person has clear deliverables that they have to accomplish and as well know that their input is more than ever before needed than before to keep the Organisation or Company afloat.

As a Manager, this should now be an eye opener that they are able to set together with their staff SMART targets with their subordinates or direct reports, whichever sounds good for you. However, these targets should be able to stretch the staff to another level and be able to produce. The staff and their Managers might all be in lockdown situation, and as such know that they are all experiencing the same situation, but they need to ensure work is done without excuses. This means that they are going to be able to manage the distractions, which won’t come easy, but as time goes on they adapt and get the heck of it.

Movable vs Stationary Equipment.

It is now than ever before that some of the Managers are going to know the important of staff having access to movable equipment like laptops, iPads, phones, modems / mifis, etc. In some organisations, it is a policy that the staff have to have desktops and this ensures that their presence at the workplace is paramount, lest they end up not accomplishing their targets. However, this pandemic has changed all this forever. Imagine, you need a staff to produce certain deliverables, but they can do so because the desktop computer is in the office and they are not allowed to get out of their homes. 

As a result, the organisation or Company is losing out because of their policy of having such kind of assets. Trust me, the staff are laughing and saying, we used to tell them, but they never listened. Sometimes, this is done for the sake of satisfying the egos of the Managers, not to be seen to have laptops or iPads. These are now going to be something that are readily provided for the most staff so that they can be able to work from whatever place that they might be found. They are no longer going to be luxury items, but essentials of work like never before, especially in our Ugandan set up. 

The Manager Resource Centre Ltd, is a management consulting agency at hand to provide you with simple, real life and practical solutions to your management challenges of our time. They are at hand to ensure that you manage and lead with distinction.

Why not get in touch with us for supporting your organisational or company journey towards excellence. Send them email on info@managercentre.com or patrick@managercentre.com or call +256 776 521701 / +256 774 928781 / +256 754 082100. You can as well follow up on our various social pages on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, www.managercentre.com or request to join our emailing list for articles on management.

Ayiga Patrick Obita is a Management Consultant and Director with The Manager Resource Centre Ltd.