Accendo’s Expert Leadership Panel
We pulled together an expert panel of leaders from a wide range of companies to comment and provide useful tips on leadership challenges in the time of Covid-19. Here’s what they had to say on everything from managing kids going back to school and finding personal balance, to motivating their teams:
“Outsource! If it is an option for you, hire a college student to come to the house to help facilitate virtual school during the day while you are working. That has reduced the stress on us as working parents and more importantly, has helped protect our relationship with our daughter.”
Megan Rose, Sr. Director,
USTA Competitive Pathway & Team Leader USA Olympic Tennis
“Work with your employer to take time during the day to work directly with your child. This is happening on my team, and they have a fairly set schedule on certain days to be off of the phones for a specified period of time.
It takes the stress off of the employee and the child knows they will have their uninterrupted attention for that period.”
Nancy LaBossiere, Internal Sales Manager, Franklin Templeton Investments
“Plan ahead. Don’t wait to ask questions and coordinate until the last possible date. At that point, many other families are in the same position an it is much more difficult to get answers/results.”
John Andrisen,
Director of FP&A,
Brown & Brown, Inc.
“Be open with your children about the differences they will be seeing. I also try to give the school staff, teachers, and administrators a lot of grace. It is has to be so hard on them. Be mindful of what challenges everyone is facing at this time.”
Angela Giattino, VP of Finance, Florida Paints
“Accept that it is going to be hard, is something we as a society have never had to do, and understand that there will be mistakes made. And when you do make that mistake, laugh and learn from it. And be grateful that we have wonderful schools with great teachers for our children because so much of the world does not…”
Charlie Bailes, VP HR, Distribution & Internal Logistics, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits
“Frequent communication, hyper transparency about company decisions and results, weekly TGIF zoom calls where employees can ask questions and have candid conversations with leaders, special perks like “company paid dinner for employee and family”, increased attention to culture, accepted behaviors, and leadership modeling of values, regular 1-1 skip-level check-ins, real-time chat (Slack, MS Teams), extensive use of Zoom (or similar platform), communicate – communicate – communicate.”
Jeff Chambers, CEO & Founder, Lumin Digital
“Continue to monitor goals and hold accountable. Spend time each day with your team, individually and as a group. Allow time to discuss projects and goals together but also specific time to talk about non-work topics and connect. Keep them informed with what you know about the return to work timeline.”
Kim Wetherington, Manager, Benefits and Wellbeing, PSCU
“Regular checkpoints and cameras ON in virtual meetings help! Make sure people are engaged and feel accountable for their participation. Continue to provide positive feedback, praise people publically and don’t forget to schedule meetings tied to fun (networking, teambuilding, happy hours etc) even virtually to stay connected.”
Kim Baker Bell, Director, Event Marketing, Tech Data Corporation
“Our teams are at high risk of demoralization as they work off of commission. We continue to motivate by holding summary calls each morning, staff meetings each Wednesday, and virtual happy hours along with production contests monthly. We continue to celebrate birthdays, work anniversaries, personal achievements, etc.”
Robin Elkins, VP of Operations, Tews Company
“The primary way to keep the team motivated is through an intentional engagement plan. I set up regular virtual meetings with the team for both, work and social activities. In some ways we got to know more about each other through our regular virtual meetings.”
Sridhar Sundaram, Dean, Kate Tiedemann School of Business and Finance at University of South Florida
“Be clear, consistent and encouraging.”
Mike Burch, Chief Strategy Officer, Speedway Motorsports
“Scheduling time away from your computer. Making sure to shut down and leave your “work space”. Not tacking your commute time into your work day, if you started at 8 am before, don’t wake up at 6 and start then just because you can.
Being very clear on work boundaries and home life boundaries and not mixing those two.”
Bari Keane, Organizational Development Business Partner, PSCU
“Take breaks throughout the day. I adopted a 10 minute every couple of hours routine, where I lie down, practice breathing and close my eyes. It’s a mini recharge. I also think that over communicating with my team has helped the team better understand the direction we are headed as an employer, the things we are unsure about and also what we are going through as individuals. The transparency has been good for us.”
Elizabeth Ortiz, Vice President, KEM Business Solutions
“A separate work space at home (away from the kitchen table if possible.) There should be a start and a stop time to your work as to not bleed into family time.”
Lauren Fernandez, SVP / Middle Market Banking Director, The Bank of America
“We’ve instituted “Sunshine Breaks” into our vocabulary and created a status in Slack called “sunshine break” where we get out of the house for a walk outside and we encourage our team to take sunshine breaks.”
Matt Weber, President, ROAR! Internet Marketing
“Remember to keep your priorities balanced. Work cannot be your # 1 at all times. Occasionally (even during the traditional 8a-5p business hours) family will inevitably take priority, and that’s ok. Covid has broken the boundaries of the typical workday. And I have found that in the end, things have a way of balancing themselves out.”
Michelle Chandler, Partner, SchenkelShultz Architecture
“The most useful advice I received about balancing work and family life was from Stephen Covey in his classic book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Habit 3 “Put First Things First” and Habit 7 “Sharpen the Saw” are the most valuable for balance. First Things First is about eliminating energy and time-wasting tendencies by focusing and executing on your wildly important goals. Not doing everything is okay. When we face life’s abundant choices, if we know what our highest priorities are, we can feel good about our decisions where to invest our time and energy. Sharpen the Saw is about seeking continuous improvement and renewal professionally and personally. Covey figuratively asks: Can you stop busily sawing in order to take time to sharpen the saw? Covey advocates renewal in mental, physical, social and spiritual ways. Which for me is regular exercise and eating well, reading and listening to enriching sources, and a spiritual life that nourishes my soul.”
Mark McCain, VP of Member Services and PR, Florida Municipal Power Agency
