How to keep your team motivated during lockdown

How are you?

What has the Coronavirus lockdown been like for you and those around you? Like many, you’ll be experiencing some form of working from home. If it’s new for you, what’s it been like? Perhaps you’ve been juggling family life whilst at the same time trying to maintain your professional persona and keep a remote team productive. This situation may have an impact on your finances and your mental health. You and those around you are likely to be feeling a multitude of emotions, trying to figure out how to get through this crisis. On one hand for you and your family plus keeping your team motivated on the other.

We all experience different emotions when we go through change. Usually starting with shock and denial about the change. Then moving onto frustration and maybe some depression. Followed by a need to try out something new. And finally, acceptance of the new norm. These emotions occur at a different pace for each of us.    

An imposed change can be hard to accept. Especially when it’s disruptive and all-encompassing. To maintain some control over our lives we distract ourselves by turning our attentions to other pastimes, like home improvements, gardening or fitness regimes. That includes me too. My time over the last six weeks has been taken up moving to a new house and starting my renovations. Perhaps you and your team have experienced some similar distractions.  

As with all change, it’s useful to recognise and reflect on what’s different, to help you move through the myriad of emotional states. Here are three coaching tools I use with my clients to help them deal with change, which I thought you may find useful to help you and in turn share with your team.  

1. Be grateful for every small thing you have in your life. Start a gratefulness calendar. Jot down one thing you recognise you’re grateful for each day. Refer to the calendar as a reminder when you need a little shot of inspiration.
 
With your team: Use this as an icebreaker with your team to ignite engagement on your regular daily or weekly team calls during lockdown.
 
2. Create a success timeline: remind yourself of the successes in your life. Go as far back as you like. Include everything that’s meaningful to you. From riding your bike for the first time, to passing your driving test. Your first qualification or last promotion. Then hang the timeline on a wall in your house where you can see it, to remind you every day of your achievements.
 
With your team: Create a team success timeline and ask your team to each contribute their individual and group successes as a reminder of what you’ve all achieved to date over a given period.
 
3. Visualise your future: sit back, relax and visualise your next future success. Add colour, sound, location and senses to make it real. Recall this experience regularly to keep yourself motivated and focused on your positive next steps.
 
With your team: Encourage your team to take some time out to dream about their next future success and each share on your next team video call.

Need further help? A professional career or business life coach can help with the following:
 
1. Leadership development: a trusted coach can act as an accountability partner and help you to develop your leadership style.

2. Team development: facilitated tailored sessions to motivate your teams' collaborative working and boost performance.

3. Cultural change: working together with you and your business to facilitate positive change and create a culture that suits you and future aspirations.

5. Speak with your organisation: If you’ve found this article useful, you could invite a life-coach to share more of the same with your organisation.