Next, we interviewed a 33-year-old manager, Lorena, who has been in charge of a team of six people in the Talent & Culture department of a Mexican medium size e-commerce company since 2015. Since March of this year, all staff members (except those from the Operations Department) have started doing remote work. A relevant point to address is that almost none of the employees (with an average age of around 24 to 35 years) in the company have children, which makes a big difference when working remotely. As in the first interview with Carlos, the interview focuses on how in this current situation of social distancing, managers motivate their teams through online tools such as Zoom, emails, and phone calls.
Productivity
Contrary to Carlos, Lorena expressed that productivity has not changed due to the remote work. She feels that her team is fully engaged and that she never micromanaged before and she does not intend to do so. She added that her work is now more objective oriented which gives more autonomy and empowerment to every team member. “Everyone can use their time to its benefit, we don’t count how many hours you’ve worked, we focus on objectives”. This leads to better productivity by giving the employees the freedom to organize their own time without leaving work behind.
Lorena schedules weekly follow-up meetings in order to track progress. If needed, she directly intervenes and acts by calling for one-on-one meetings, guiding and helping her team to reach their objectives. In addition, Lorena feels that the number of meetings she had before COVID-19 is almost the same as today. She added that, while physical meetings usually do not have started on time, Zoom meetings are always on schedule. The team never experienced major technical issues during meetings.
Similarly to Carlos, Lorena mentioned that for her it is quickly visible when people are not being productive and are “slacking”, simply by noticing when employees are out of reach or do not meet work expectations.
Motivation
Lorena believes that people need to be self-motivated. She regards the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic as unfortunate, but she inspires her team members to always do their best by leading by example. During meetings she likes to talk about gratitude and allows for time to reflect on how fortunate everyone can be just for being in that meeting. She gives continuous feedback and celebrates a job well done with the entire team.
Lorena uses internal platforms to share employee’s achievements with the entire company, recognizing their drive and effort. When someone on her team is not meeting expectations, she approaches the situation through online one-on-one meetings, showing genuine intention of talking and knowing the real reason for a change in behaviour, in order to have context and help as far as she can.
Emotional intelligence
Lorena knows that in order to inspire people, she needs to be open and empathic. She believes that the way she handles complex situations has not changed, since she is continuously practicing the habit of listening and communicating properly. Lorena thinks that the only way to help others achieve their goals is by gaining their trust. To do that she has to be present and willing to understand when people are not giving their best by detecting a change in behaviours and attitudes. Lorena’s credo is: “You have to read between the lines and analyse if there is a change in behaviour”.
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