It has been a tough year for many businesses, and there is still a lot of uncertainty about the future. Talking with clients lately, many have spoken of the difficulties their salespeople have experienced without face-to-face interaction. The inability to influence the client effectively, to pick up on non-verbal nuances, and the diminished level of intimacy has had a detrimental impact on their bottom line.
Uncertainty about COVID has led to changes in customer decision making, a restructuring of the decision-making hierarchy, and a tendency for ‘wait and see’ or ‘do nothing’ to become the default approach.
Furthermore, as more people work from home, the initial novelty has worn off. Business leaders that fail to adapt their style to leading teams remotely are finding morale slipping and productivity waning. It is perhaps more vital than ever to put compassion and empathy at the forefront of leadership. Instead of adhering to tired stereotypes about home workers being happy and carefree, we should seek to understand that not everyone thrives in a more isolated environment.
Contrary to prevailing beliefs about home workers having a better work/life balance, in truth, a significant number are unable to ‘switch off’ – they feel uncomfortable, as though they’re cheating, by taking a break from the computer from time to time.
We have found that there is a ‘silent minority’ of people who feel isolated or burned out working from home. Lacking the guidance of understanding leaders, they often feel that they are kept in the dark and directionless, which is taking a toll on their mental health. Engagement levels have dropped in many businesses due to poor communications, a failure to communicate vision, and a lack of consideration to the Hierarchy of Needs.
The bottom line is that the skills that got us where we were at the start of the year are nowhere near sufficient to take us through into the next one.
That is why we at Robin Lines Associates have spent the year developing our remote training programmes. We have spent time listening to a variety of clients, developing bespoke programmes based on their immediate needs to get them over the initial obstacles and ensure that they are productive and well-set heading into this uncertain future.
We are confident that our programmes, specifically tailored towards Winning Business and Keeping People Engaged in the New Normal can add significant value to any business struggling in these difficult times.
You can find a brief rundown of our new programmes here. All of our programmes are modular and flexible to suit your team’s requirements, can be run over a variety of video conferencing applications, and can be scheduled in bitesize chunks to give your people proper time to absorb the content. We provide recordings of sessions on request, and we favour a practical approach using interactive roleplay scenarios to fully recreate sales and leadership in the new normal.
