Right Fit Leading: COVID and Telework, Part 5

In Part 4, we highlighted performance the need to evaluate key requirements of its value in everyday conversation. We discussed the challenge of using performance to lead to the mitigation strategies and shared understanding that are vital to improving performance.

Now, let’s turn to leadership development, which is important to determining and/or strengthening leadership style. Development continues when there is a trusting connection, when there are clear roles and responsibilities, and when a quality environment is maintained.

Leaders must engage with their staffs and all parties need to see this engagement the same way to be effective. Recent research in this area revealed, in one case, that there can be a disconnect when employees, CEOs, and human resources professionals are asked the same questions about how people view their organization. One study showed that top-level leaders were overly optimistic about the frequency with which their employees were being recognized for their contributions. Human resources professionals, however, were pessimistic about frequent recognition, and employees seemed to be divided about how often it happened.

Team qualities are listed in countless book and articles on leadership, management, and self-improvement. A leader’s focus should be on engagement, the setting of leader and manager roles, and on developing members.

NOTES: I offer this series to help leaders and members reinforce what we know, discover what we do not know, and identify what we should ask questions about. The results are intended to assist everyone to deal with positive and negative aspects of telework. This series is my educational journey that I hope is valuable to you.