COVID-19 has created global uncertainty, leading to anxiety, fear and doubt in even the most strong minded of us. Concern for loved ones, furlough, redundancies, social isolation whilst trying to balance remote working (or still having to go to work and being concerned about mixing with others), caring for others, home-schooling. I doubt there is anyone not impacted right now.
I’m sure you’ll agree that all of this stress will impact your life. Removing certainty affects how much risk we are willing to take, can impact our creativity and ability to “think clearly” and allow doubt to creep into our thinking. Similarly with stress managed well, these times can also bring creativity to your way of thinking and the way you carry out your role. Either way we’ve been thinking a lot about trust right now as we embark week 6 of lockdown.
Trust in your own abilities
Good leadership comes from those who believe in and continually develop themselves. Trust is needed in their process and actions and that these will result in the desired outcomes and goals.
Work on your strategy with the best available data you have right now to plan and trust yourself that its right. If you need help, or want validation, seek input from others, but only from those you trust. Be mindful that “too many cooks spoil the broth” so contextualise feedback / input and trust yourself to make the right decision.
Build trust from your employees
Your colleagues and company employees will be having the same concerns and challenges as you right now.
Focus on support in two stages – 1) what will help you right now (remote working, wellbeing, mental health) – and 2) what will help you in the future.
Give them the learning they need to build their trust and confidence in their roles to equip them to be the best they can be in the current business climate.
Trust in new ways of working
Help your company trust new delivery methods – overcome reluctance or fear, make it easy for them, use internal champions to influence and persuade others of the benefits.
Communicate and market the benefits of digital and virtual classroom training methods, especially if they are completely new. Encourage those wary of such methods by relating back to the methods they know, use storytelling techniques whilst highlighting the benefits. This could be a perfect opportunity to embrace digital learning.
Trust in all learning methods
For the majority of companies there will be a reliance and focus on digital training right now. This doesn’t need to be complex or just focused on online learning and virtual classrooms. Encourage people to use traditional methods in a digital format e.g. digital books, videos, podcasts, asking questions in digital rooms/chat groups.
Use this time, if possible, to consider where face to face training fits into the overall strategy in the future too.
A trusted support network
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with” says motivational speaker Jim Rohn.
This is true personally and within a professional environment.
Who is helping you right now? Do you have a professional learning network (PLN)? Look on LinkedIn for people in your industry, reach out to them.
Just you in the L&D team? Who do you have within the business that understands learning and champions it internally?
Trust in data available to you also and get advice from your peers with the impact of COVID-19 on L&D survey.
Contact us and we’ll help you connect to like-minded people too.
Trust in your supply chain
If you are looking for additional skills and support from external suppliers, what’s on your tick list to help you choose suppliers that best fit your company’s L&D needs and values?
Do you need help navigating the current training marketplace? To reduce any overwhelm when it comes to digital learning and it’s many products and mass of communication right now.
Think about what support you need at different stages, whether it’s strategy development, employee learning analysis, understanding the digital training marketplace or actual support to deal with the many employee learning requests – trust in what you need and you will be able to brief those suppliers more effectively.
Focus on what you can control
The wider impact of COVID-19 is beyond our control, so focus on what you control right now. Your habits, health, your social interaction, exercise etc. Build trust but most importantly trust in yourself – what you are doing right now is good enough.
