I can honestly say that I’ve heard the word “unprecedented” more times in the past week than I have in my entire life, and I get it. But this also means that as leaders and supervisors, we’re being asked to deal with brand new challenges – especially in higher education. While there’s a whole other post I could write about how to treat your front-line staff that are being required on campus (HOT TIP: You’re likely not treating them as well as you should), I’ve focused this on basic tips for those primarily working in offices. Based on what I’m hearing from others and seeing on my own campus (thought not necessarily what I’m personally experiencing, thank goodness), I’ve come up with 5 tips for leading in higher ed during COVID-19 (and beyond).
1. Set clear expectations about communications
As leaders and supervisors, we often ask our employees and managers to communicate about things that are important and things that are out of the ordinary so we can be prepared. Well, right now everything is important and out of the ordinary. This means that as a leader, you need to clarify your expectations for communications. Saying “keep me in the loop,” for example, is less than helpful right now.
Instead, be sure to tell your employees how often you want communications, who else should be included on those communications (if anybody), and what sort of information should be in those communications. The more clarity you can provide, the more you will get what you need.
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Rather than scolding people who aren’t giving you what you want, take that as a sign that you haven’t clearly communicated your expectations. And remember, we’re all doing the best we can right now, so giving a little grace instead of discipline would be a good idea.
2. Communicate your priorities
Everything likely feels urgent right now, so making sure your employees know what you consider to be priorities will help them know where to focus their energies. You can communicate these along with your expectations for communications. It will also help other leaders in your area to focus their teams. If you don’t clarify these priorities, you may experience frustration when they’ve opted for other ones.
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Listen to your team members when they suggest other priorities. You’ve all got the same amount of experience in this pandemic situation – none – so they may think of something you haven’t.
3. Throw out the antiquated notion that you must be present to lead
People who don’t delegate or are micromanagers are probably having a pretty tough time right now. And that’s because that’s not effective leadership.
Instead, embrace the idea that your people know what they’re doing, and that their people know what they’re doing. It’s good leadership to demonstrate taking breaks and taking care of yourself and your loved ones. If you can’t show your staff that you can do that, they likely won’t feel like they can do that. And honestly, at the rate COVID-19 is going, you better hope everyone you lead is replaceable – at least for a little bit. Because even if they don’t get sick, if they don’t take a break, the pace we’re working at now will break them.
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Don’t be that leader that sends emails all night and weekends and encourages your staff to keep going into work when it’s not really necessary. That’s no real leader at all. Remember, especially in higher ed with so many unspoken rules of the workplace, modeling is the same as setting expectations.
4. Designate urgent communications channels
If you use email/Zoom for all communications, your employees may feel like they can never log off for fear of missing something urgent. Instead, designate text, phone, or another tool (like Slack) as your urgent communications method. Then, only use that for urgent messaging. This will allow your employees to log off while trusting you know how to get a hold of them if it’s urgent.
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Make sure you set clear boundaries for others and yourself on what is urgent. Again, everything can feel very urgent right now, but chances are many things can wait until at least the next business day.
5. Be patient and practice grace
As I said previously, we are in unprecedented times. Folks are having to adjust at breakneck speed to a new way of life that includes mashing together all of their separate lives previously. People caring for others – whether children or elderly or sick parents/partners – may struggle to be available 8 – 5, or even get in a full eight hours of work. Those who are co-working in their homes may have to take turns with a partner to have enough wifi or to not talk over each other’s meetings. People may be just plain worn down by all of the crises and not as capable of working their regular hours. And that’s okay. The world is different right now, and we all need to give each other a little bit more grace than usual.
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Basically, don’t be an a$$hole. If your first instinct is to discipline an employee, maybe think through the previous tips I’ve shared here to see how you may be part of the problem – and then give both the employee and yourself some grace. You’re both learning.
