Fostering Resilience In Remote Work Environments
Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive.
– Jamais Cascio
The ever-evolving world of remote work has its own perks. Despite the conveniences of virtual doors, its knock-on effects are quite turbulent. From countless Zoom meetings to feeling cut off from colleagues, these obstacles create a domino effect on employees’ well-being. But as we progress into the realm of modern workspaces, resilience becomes the key to strive and thrive. After all, resilience isn’t just a trait but a mindset. To help teams be more productive, some practical strategies to foster resilience in remote work environments are listed below. But what is it, actually, and why is it so important? Let’s understand resilience first.
What Is Workplace Resilience?
The APA Dictionary of Psychology defines resilience as: “[t]he process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands [1]” It is the same with workplace resilience that refers to the variable behavior of individuals or teams in difficult situations.
It showcases their ability to bounce back from disruption, adversity, and uncertainty in workplace environments, keeping in mind that on-the-job challenges, like stress and burnout, constantly linger on. On the same grounds, it’s not merely a measure of problem-enduring capabilities but the capacity to adapt and respond to unexpected challenges. This contributes to growing and learning for improved well-being and the workplace [2].
Why Is It Important To Foster Resilience In Remote Setups?
Lack of face-to-face interaction, feelings of isolation, and rising misunderstandings and misinterpretations make working from home a real struggle. Here's why workplace resilience is a must for conquering challenges:
Promotes Problem-Solving
The basic trait of being resilient is being a strategic thinker and problem-solver. When you are resilient, no matter whether remote or in-office, you excel at solution hunting. It fuels your creative and adaptable mindset, promoting efficiency in your solutions.
Increases Productivity
The household distraction results in employees falling into the resent-and-refocus cycle. However, a resilient employee deals with these setbacks head-on, and bounces back quickly to maintain a high level of focus and productivity.
Solidifies Team Cohesion
Resilient teams form a strong foundation of cohesion. Why? Because they never shy away from seeking support in the time of need. This leads to improved collaboration, positive relationships, and team bonding and morale.
Builds Employee Satisfaction
When you invest in developing workplace resilience, your employees feel more satisfied in their roles and responsibilities. Despite being away from the office premises, they feel a sense of accomplishment in navigating challenges and tackling stress.
Boosts Adaptability
Resilient employees are not afraid of challenges and uncertainties. They see it as an opportunity to level up and grow. And mistakes? For sure, a lesson is learned. They shift quickly to emerging trends, and are ready for what comes next.
Enhances Business Continuity
Lastly, when resilience takes center stage in your success plan, your business becomes a nonstop show. Even when away from the office, your employees keep the business game strong through adaptability. So, even when challenges come knocking on your door, your business progression doesn’t witness a halt.
Tips To Foster Resilience In Remote Work Environments
Resilience helps employees keep their feet on the ground, even when turbulent times and situations come to pass.
1. Instill Trust In Them
With your team spread across different time zones, managing their schedules is not totally possible. And even if you try, it’s going to give you a hard time. You’ll have to let trust take the lead. 79% of individuals confirmed that their leaders fully instill trust in their ability to choose to do their work in their own way. When this was done, it enhanced their internal resilience and reliability.
- How to implement
Make sure to communicate regularly and openly about your goals and objectives. Also, encourage your employees to take charge and participate in decision-making. Celebrate when their efforts bring forth results, but don’t criticize when results fail to live up to your expectations.
2. Encourage Flexibility
When working remotely, it is difficult to maintain the fine balance between professional and personal life, because individuals tend to stretch their work levels beyond the limit. This results in persistent burnout patterns. Do not let it become the “new normal”, because it's not going to do any good. Being a leader, allowing flexibility showcases that healthier work-life balance is your priority [3].
- How to implement
When flexibility is the king, adaptability becomes no big deal. By introducing the flexible work hours concept, you can give your team the liberty to take ownership of their schedules. They can then bring the best of their most productive hours. You can even divide the entire workday with a mix of core working hours plus flexible working hours.
3. Ensure Psychological Safety
Psychological safety creates a safe space for collaboration. When you foster an environment of trust and respect, employees can freely share their thoughts and ideas. They get the confidence to take risks, ask questions, and present solutions to challenges. Ensuring the same, you can help your team reach epic work performance and attain positive team dynamics.
- How to implement
Introduce vulnerability and empathy in your culture. Make sure it reflects from your actions too. Be open to receiving feedback, because when you develop a norm of valuing every voice you define inclusive communication within the team. Similarly, seek positive outcomes in negative situations. This will make every failure a learning opportunity.
4. Implement Well-Being Initiatives
In a remote work environment where your team is isolated from social interactions, loneliness and burnout can easily creep in. This can adversely impact mental health, and eventually physical health. Employees cannot deal with the challenges head on in such circumstances. It is only a physically and emotionally sound team that can tackle challenges and uncertainties strongly.
- How to implement
You can host virtual fitness challenges and programs after a certain interval. Introduce mindfulness sessions and self-care practices among employees for enhanced well-being. By checking in regularly, you can know your employees better. You can also give them enough time for their personal well-being needs by introducing flexible schedules.
5. Develop A Growth Mindset
In an isolated environment, employees can easily lose the zeal to learn and improve. They get comfortable with their regular routine. Also, without regular face-to-face interaction, collaborative learning and idea exchange becomes difficult, and with no one at their shoulders to present a growth-oriented perspective, employees lost the motivation to grow and flourish, and develop a fixed mindset.
- How to implement
By laying the ground to achieve the best, you can create a competent and adaptable workspace. Train your employees to fuel virtual collaboration. Emphasize learning from mistakes and bouncing back from them stronger. Hosting workshops and seminars, and providing online courses and training, are some effective ways of nurturing a team's abilities.
6. Promote Open And Efficient Communication
When teams drift apart, spontaneous conversations take the back seat, and asynchronous communication becomes more prominent. Miscommunication and misinterpretation prevail due to the absence of body language and visual cues. When critical evidence and instructions remain solely on written documents, understanding someone’s intention becomes extremely difficult.
- How to implement
Open and transparent communication means keeping everyone in the loop. Promote it through various communication channels and tools. You can also have a “non-official” channel for casual communication. Also, If you want to promote open dialogue, try talking less and listening more. Set a clear tone and speak concisely when conveying information. Show your proactiveness by reaching out to employees by routine meetings and check-ins.
7. Prioritize Social Connections
The workplace is a community where employees need connections to survive, whether it be remote, hybrid, or on-site doesn’t matter. When they lack support networks and social connections in remote set-up, their well-being goes down. Peer-interaction is a powerful way of supporting employee engagement. Insights from seniors who have vast experience can also provide practical ways to recover.
- How to implement
Schedule regular virtual meetups where you come not just to have official discussions and collaborate on projects. Incorporating online games, virtual competitions, and professional seminars help employees stay mentally sane. Facilitate tools with built-in chat that allows them to slide into each other’s DM in the relaxed setting. These kinds of tools provide exceptional emoji banks with gifs and memes, to make the conversations more interesting and engaging.
How To Build Resilience In Remote Work Environments ?
Building resilience in remote work setups require you to go above and beyond. You need to foster mental toughness and ensure physical well-being. So, if you are a leader who wants to build a team of resilient people, consider the following steps as a part of your strategy:
Provide Training And Resources
Offering training and resources helps both you and your team cultivate a resilient mindset. It prepares you for setbacks, helps you deal with them, and return with vigor. Invest in professional mentorship programs or prepare informative presentations for building resilience. Some training programs include time management, stress management, and coping strategies.
Offer Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)
Stress and challenging situations affect everyone in unique and personal ways. So, considering that a one-size-fits-all approach will work for everyone isn’t realistic. Every individual is different and requires support differently. Providing confidential counseling and support services helps employees develop resilience and move ahead with confidence.
Create Virtual Social Spaces
Creating social spaces in the virtual world is the one thing I can’t stress enough. The tea or coffee breaks can transform from the office setup to virtual calls. By sharing casual ideas and performing some virtual activities, you can keep up team morale. It fosters a sense of belongingness among team members.
Conclusion
Resilience is the beacon to sustainable success. Building resilience in a remote work environment is undoubtedly a challenging task. However, it is a journey worth undertaking, because if you want a dynamic work environment, you need to give it your all. From nurturing psychological safety to keeping meaningful and open communications alive, each facet contributes to an adaptable and unwavering work culture. It transforms the way teams and employees operate, and emerges as a strong attractive force that holds everyone together despite then being at a distance.
References:
[1] Resilience
[2] How to Boost Your Workplace Productivity
[3] 6 Tips To Strike A Work-Life Balance When Working From Home