The economy and the culture, in the United States and globally have undeniably changed due to the pandemic and executive employees have faced unprecedented challenges. Lockdown measures are easing and many people are returning to work even with variants will emerging, executives are beginning to prepare for a post COVID-19 world. Executive coaching could arguably be the answer to help leaders prepare for new challenges that may arise with the changes of the workplace. Improving leadership skills, teaching and enhancing empathy and helping further develop social skills are areas that executive coaches can help on.
Improving leadership skills
If the majority of your workforce was advised to work from home or take a period of leave from work during the height of the pandemic, they may have grown accustomed to working independently and struggle to adapt back into group work. Executive coaching will ensure you have the skills to help employees quickly transition back to collaborative work once again. With the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, it’s also important that executives have the leadership capacity to adapt to changing working practices and expectations. Leadership skills, as with any skills, can weaken over time. Executive coaching will help you develop and improve your leadership skills to ensure you can re-build your company team once again
Enhancing Empathy
Many employees and team members will have experienced feelings of anxiety and depression during the UK’s lockdowns. They may feel further anxiety about returning to work and may have lost their passion for their job role. Showing empathy in the workplace helps with both understanding the root causes behind changes in employee performance, as well as building trust and helping employees feel safe in their role. As an executive employee, developing your empathy puts you in the best position to listen, understand and try to solve employee concerns, something that will be essential when helping employees to feel comfortable returning to work.
Further Developing social skills
Everyone handled the pandemic in the best way they could. For example, some employees may have chosen self-isolation throughout the pandemic, whereas others may have volunteered and tried to help their local community as much as possible. No matter how an employee experienced the pandemic, it is essential you heighten your self-awareness and social skills and re-build positive relationships with your team. Leaders need to be able to connect with everyone on their team, and having a wide array of social skills will allow you to connect with people in the most productive and effective way. This means looking beyond your own logic or opinions of the lockdown and trying to connect with your team on a new level. Social skills are at the core of successful relationships, so taking the time to focus on advancing these skills will improve the way you communicate and interact with the people on your team.
Interested in an Executive Coach? We’re here to help.
Whether you are currently asking your employees to return to work, or you are preparing to open your company once again, executive performance coaching can equip you with the skills and knowledge you need to re-build your team in a post-COVID-19 world. It can also help you to tackle any challenges created by COVID-19 in the most efficient and effective way possible. To learn more about executive coaching, contact us.
