How to Be an Effective Leader in Times of Uncertainty

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We are working in unprecedented times during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though uncertainty abounds, as a leader you can guide your team one step at a time with the information you do have and with a leadership style that will encourage productivity.

As manufacturing businesses work to keep their employees safe if they must be physically present to do their essential jobs, hurriedly shift as much as their staff to remote work as possible, grapple with how to reach clients and customers during an era of social distancing, and brace for a continued financial downturn, here are key tips to lead your team to success.

Be Present

Ironic as it may sound, you must be more present than ever during a season of social distancing. Being present doesn’t necessarily mean being physically present, though. It means being visible, available, and accessible.

While you will likely need a significant amount of time in quiet solitude to research and consider your next strategic business moves, don’t retreat completely into introspection. It’s critical to dialogue with investors, vendors and suppliers, government officials, advisors, and upper management on a regular basis as information is changing rapidly these days.

Importantly, you need to keep morale up for your manufacturing team as well so that they stay productive and are aware of any changes in procedure.

Here are a few ways to be present while practicing social distancing:

• Email your team more frequently than normal.
• Attach your profile photo to your communications.
• Videoconference meetings you would normally have in person.
• Teleconference larger announcements, using the function that mutes those who call in so you can control the floor.
• Call clients and vendors on the phone, and follow up with email.
• Utilize social media to keep your brand in front of the public eye.
• Let people into your life a little more by sharing more often and a little more personally, while still remaining professional.

Over-communicate

Part of being present is over-communicating. Your team may need some extra guidance, even if the guidance is just the reassurance that your expectation is business as usual.

To be clear, this does not mean over-sharing. Let’s take a look at the difference:

• Do feel free to send a short morning message to encourage your team and emphasize any high-priority tasks.
• Do not inundate your team with so many messages that they begin disregarding them.
• Do keep in touch more often than usual to maintain company culture, morale, productivity, and information flow.
• Do not require your team to be on-call 24/7 while working from home if that’s not their usual requirement. 
• Do share company updates on a timely basis.
• Do not share rumors, personal conjectures, or sensitive information that has not been approved to be distributed.
• Do personalize your messages as you check in on your team.
• Do not overstep professional communication.
• Do remind your team of basic company policies, emergency numbers, health benefits, IT resources, and HR resources.
• Do not share any alarmist or politicized news.

Be Transparent

Acknowledge the uncertainty your business — along with most other manufacturing businesses — is facing. Everyone knows these are unprecedented times hitting almost every aspect of a business so address the elephant in the room up front.

Discuss challenges that the industry as a whole must overcome as well as any known, shareable obstacles that the company and your team, in particular, may be experiencing. The key here is to stick to the basic facts in a way that is honest and balanced.

Have a Positive Attitude

Being transparent and authentic shouldn’t turn you into an arbiter of gloom and doom. As we’ve learned from various U.S. presidents, who have had the difficult task of leading our great nation through hardship, inspiring and encouraging others will boost productivity. 

There have been uncertain times in our country’s history in the past, and likely there have been uncertain times in your business’s history before too. Though you don’t know what the future holds, you know the merit of your business, you know the company’s core values, you know your own character, and you know the work ethic and talent of your team. Focus on what you know for sure, and take an optimistic approach that will encourage your team to continue to work hard.

Embrace positivity in terms of a can-do attitude, but be careful not to be so blindly optimistic that you don’t take reality seriously. Rather, by being cautiously optimistic, you can keep your eyes open to ways to innovate like some manufacturers are doing right now to come up with creative solutions to keeping their business afloat, increasing brand awareness, and doing a public service.

That being said, be optimistic but don’t give false hope. You may not always have the authority to convey confidential company news, but you should strive to be as forthright as possible otherwise you’ll lose credibility and trust if you outright lie to your team. You will also lose your own personal integrity if you damage people’s livelihoods by blatantly misrepresenting the truth. If layoffs are happening, you may want to refer to Thomas’ “5 Ways to Maintain Employee Morale After Layoffs.”

Show Compassion

Not everyone will be feeling the positivity. Let your team know that you are not just looking out for what’s best for the company but that you care about the wellbeing of your employees. State that you recognize that they may be worried and that you understand that their routines and work-from-home setups may be complicated. Your team will feel “seen” and understood when you are upfront and kind in your communications.

Remind them of any standard company policies and resources that may be of general help at this time, and advise them of any Human Resources initiatives specific to this pandemic. Ensure your team that you are addressing any health-related concerns at the home office and facilities, which might include providing hand sanitizer stations and a deep clean of the facility before employees return to work.

Reaffirm with them that the business is complying with all government orders in their best interest. Thomas’ “Checklist for Best Practices During Coronavirus Outbreak” was written with China’s facilities in mind but offers practical tips that could be applied to U.S.-based manufacturing facilities as well.

While compassion will boost team morale, remember that it’s not your job to hold your team members’ hands through this difficult time. Be particularly careful not to cross professional lines. When in doubt, refer the team back to the Human Resources department.

Assert a Game Plan

You don’t have to have all the answers to be a good leader. In fact, to be an effective leader you’re going to likely have to adjust your plans multiple times because new information is coming in every day. To stay current, see Thomas’ “Live Updates: The Latest News on Coronavirus Shipping and Logistics Impacts.”

However, a true leader is the captain of their ship, doing the hard work to determine the best course of action and then giving the commands to the team. During these confusing times, a strong but compassionate leader is necessary.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is being hailed as “the leader the country needs during these plague days” because he is making tough decisions that some may disagree with and owning the decisions, saying “blame me.” As a leader, you will have to make decisions not everyone agrees with but that everyone rallies behind.

Whether your company or the team you manage is exempt from shutdown orders, is transitioning to staff working from home, is on lockdown for the foreseeable future, or does not need to undergo any procedural changes at this time, practice over-communication your game plan so that they understand best practices.

Even if your game plan seems to be as simple as “business as usual,” assert this and explain that you are assessing any changing logistics.

Help Your Team Feel in Control

Part of being a great leader is empowering your team. Employees who believe they have greater control over their work-related decisions have lower stress during difficult times than those who feel powerless, according to industrial psychologists. This, in turn, helps them better handle their workload.

Find ways to help your team feel like they are in more control during this time of uncertainty. This could be giving them flexible work hours, which may be particularly helpful to those trying to avoid commuting with crowds if your business is deemed essential and still open as well as to those who have suddenly become homeschool teachers if they are working from home at the same time their children's schools have closed.

Having brainstorming sessions with your team is a positive way to engage them while also crowdsourcing solutions that can help your business. Keeping in mind that everyone has different communication styles, you may want to hold virtual brainstorm meetings and also encourage staff to email in with ideas.

Create an Outlet

Part of giving your team a greater sense of control is providing them with an outlet. Much like the company softball team, this outlet is about employee morale, culture care, and team building. This should be an optional opportunity that remains work-appropriate even if everyone is working remotely. While not everyone may be interested in participating, for extroverts who are working remotely and who live alone this may be a particularly welcome initiative.

We at Thomas recently encouraged everyone to send in photos of their home offices as a fun peek into colleagues’ personalities, much in the same vein as admiring staff's cubicle décor.

Here are a few ideas that may work for you:

• Have everyone send in their favorite motivational quotes, and include them in the next internal newsletter.
• Institute a 15-minutes-a-day break time, where everyone is encouraged at the same time to get away from their computers and take a walk if they are able to do so while practicing safe social distancing or at least stretch and get a glass of water. If your company uses an instant messaging platform, you may encourage people to take a photo of their view or to post the song they’re listening to on break.
• Host a virtual happy hour. Remind staff that after they’ve gotten their essential work done it’s important for productivity to log out for the day, but before they do enjoy a little social time together over instant messaging or video conference.

Prepare Your Business

Prepare practical logistics for your team and for your business, such as providing laptops if need be, coordinating connectivity through IT, updating your company website and social media accounts with updates on business operating hours, changing outgoing voicemail messages, and redirecting phone lines as needed, etc.

Hopefully, you created a business plan for your company or department that includes both long-term and short-term plans that took into consideration hardships such as economic downturns so that you are financially and mentally prepared to weather the storm. Now is the time to take a closer look at the financial health of your company, remove any unnecessary extra overhead for at least a short period of time, and look to ways to do business through alternative means.

Refer to Thomas’ free “Coronavirus Resource Hub for Manufacturers and Industry Professionals” for guidance on shutdown orders, mission-critical pharmaceutical and medical sourcing, how to keep your business going, manufacturer’s insights and coping strategies, and emergent specialist communities and volunteer groups. You may also find our COVID-19 coverage related to supply chain resilience and creative coping strategies for those looking to source domestically helpful to your manufacturing business.

Prepare Yourself

Take time to learn about and assess news, with the understanding that sometimes you have to act with the information on hand because there will never be 100% certainty, as Tony Uphoff and Sterling Drive Ventures President and CEO Michael Araten on the Thomas Industry Update Podcast.

A good leader takes calculated risks and assumes responsibility, but even the world’s most revered leaders sometimes make mistakes. It’s critical to take your job seriously as your team and the company at large are relying on your leadership, but remember that you are not your job. Take care of your mental health by connecting with mentors, exercising, eating healthily, and getting the recommended hours of sleep.

Use this time of social distancing to educate yourself on ways to enhance your business and hone your skillset. This may be the right time for you to look into material handling automation, fleet management systems, new security systems for your business, turning your business into an advanced manufacturing business, using videos to grow your business, or even simply building your business relationships.

In order to successfully lead your team, you need to take care of yourself too. Remember these words for yourself and or your team:

“A leader is a dealer in hope.” —Napoleon Bonaparte

Image Credit: Image courtesy of 88studio / Shutterstock.com