Loretta Prencipe and Leah Cox , Makovsky

Weariness. Fatigue. Zoom Zombies. It’s real (or real enough). No one told us that 2020 would be the year that everything changed - and the year is not done with us yet. Work is at home.  School is at home. The fight for racial and social equality is everywhere. And we still have a Presidential election to go. 

Our teams are challenged and need leadership, encouragement, space and fun. Our team members also need opportunities to be leaders - in their own ways.

Now is not the time to wonder what to do. Now is the time to create new ways for teams to work together, interact and have a little space. Since the pandemic hit and our work from home became our norm, we’ve taken the following actions: 

• Morning tag up: a 15-minute (near) daily team Zoom meeting. This has a few benefits. It allows us to "see" each other in ways we haven't before; creates opportunities for team members to showcase successes or for others to call out the good works of colleagues.Side benefit: Team members now jump on projects that interest them. We’ve also seen increased collaboration and productivity. Super side benefit: We’ve been able to streamline some workflows. 

• Zoom-free Fridays: That said (see above), we’ve also found that Zoom-free Fridays can be a great break from becoming Zoom Zombies. Admittedly, this one is hard to stick to, (Extra bonus: We have short days on summer Fridays.) 

• Your floor: If you’re in it to win it, then you must be a vocal proponent of your team’s professional development. Giving the "floor" to more junior staff members to run meetings, to showcase their work, or to present how a new business pitch was put together is a great way for colleagues to hone their presentation skills. 

• Get outta here: We might not be travelling (much). Even so, we’re proactively encouraging people to take time off and get out from behind the computer screen. Everyone needs down time - no exceptions. 

• Make the fun: It can’t be all work all the time. We’ve had team-led yoga sessions and we get together for a weekly trivia game. We now know who was an art major.   

Most importantly, to boost teams and team morale, we must demonstrate that we care and that we're listening. So...

• Rally: Gather. Celebrate big and small achievements. We recently held a virtual meeting dedicated to celebrate promotions. 

• Address what matters: At Makovsky, the shift in how we engage around DE&I has truly been advanced by team members. It’s not easy. Dialogue and actions are happening at all levels of the firm and opening up new relationships that didn’t exist previously. This also opens the floor to team members to drive change on an important and, often personal, issue. Firms cannot ignore this or wait for other firms to demonstrate leadership in DE&I. 

In all, our overarching advice is to take action. This year will be the year that each of us will remember (even though the days run together).  We will also remember who gave us opportunities and who gave us grace. Worry less about whether you’ve taken the right step. Your team members will let you know if you’ve made a misstep and some will jump in and become leaders we all will follow.

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About the Authors:  Loretta Prencipe is Practice Lead for Energy, Manufacturing and Sustainability and director of Makovsky Communication’s Washington, DC office.        

Leah Cox is Chief Human Resources Officer for Makovsky at the NYC headquarters