As we teeter precariously on the edge of a second wave, the question of how to do more with less comes under very close scrutiny.
This isn’t a new challenge for the majority of companies.
Long before the coronavirus crisis hit, companies were already under pressure to operate more efficiently and effectively with fewer resources.
This pressure emphasised the need for companies to have self-sufficient, innovative, solutions-focused, flexible and adaptable workforces who could quite literally do more with less.
But to what extent did companies take any real action to develop these capabilities in their people?
How many companies simply relied on people working harder, longer and faster?
Doing more with less is never easy but right now, with this level of uncertainty, where everyone is pushed to their limits, it’s even more challenging.
Coronavirus has taken a significant toll on everyone: physically, mentally, emotionally and financially.
In addition, workplaces have been displaced, workforces have been reduced (either temporarily or permanently), supply chains have been disrupted, sales have slumped, and customer habits have, perhaps, been changed forever.
Right now, expecting your people to work even harder, longer and faster is untenable. Do this and your employees will go into overwhelm and eventually burn out.
So what’s the answer when you have no choice but to do more with less?
As leaders you must turn your attention to building the long-term capabilities you’re probably regretting not investing in earlier.
Self-sufficiency, innovation, flexibility, adaptability – these are all new skills that you must develop in your people if you want to be able to do more with less after this crisis is over.
Your leaders and managers play an essential role in creating the right environment for these skills to flourish but they can also be the biggest hindrance if they don’t get it right.
For example, if your leaders spend too much time in ‘tell’ mode and not enough time asking powerful questions and really listening to what people have to contribute, they won’t get the most from their teams.
Instead, they should try to increase how much time they spend in a ‘coaching mode’.
That doesn’t mean taking time away from critical activities in order to have lengthy, structured coaching conversations. Quite the opposite. Notion’s Operational CoachingTM approach enables leaders and managers to have highly effective conversations ‘in the moment’ and ‘on the job’ leading to real-time, and often dramatic, uplifts in innovation, productivity and performance.
It’s the constant application of ‘coaching-related behaviours’ that really unlocks capability.
When leaders utilise an Operational CoachingTM approach as part of their everyday leadership style they increase the contributions and productivity levels of everyone around them. They have better communication and collaboration with colleagues and key stakeholders. They engender higher levels of resilience and resourcefulness from their teams. They engage the discretionary effort of their workforces. And, especially important in these difficult times, they improve the overall engagement, morale and motivation of their people.
The good news is that there is a way to develop Operational CoachingTM skills that requires no downtime and fits perfectly into the already busy schedules of your leadership team.
Our award-winning, fully-blended, 100% virtual STAR® manager programme, which can be completed anytime, anywhere and on any device, enables leaders and managers to transform their leadership styles and start making a difference in the workplace straight away.
The programme is fast-paced, bite-sized, fun and easy to follow and can lead to a recognised management qualification in under 4 months. Importantly, by undertaking bespoke missions throughout the programme, your leaders have plentiful opportunities, from the outset, to put into practice their new Operational CoachingTM skills, embed new habits faster, create high functioning collaborative teams, and engage those teams in a learning journey that will help them do more with less, crisis or no crisis.
FIND OUT ABOUT OPERATIONAL COACHINGTM>>> SEE STAR® MANAGER IN ACTION >>> ARRANGE AN INFORMAL CHAT >>>
