Editorial
Welcome to Courage Coach, where expert columnist Karin Hurt answers readers' tough leadership challenges with practical tools and techniques you can use right away. Have a question for her? Drop her a line!
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Dear Courage Coach,
My company has just announced a “return to office” policy that I know is going to be unpopular with my team. Actually, “unpopular” is too mild. They are going to hate it. It’s going to create long commutes for most of us, including me. Not to mention, we’ve all gotten used to the flexibility working from home provides.
I know senior leadership made this decision to increase collaboration and innovation — which makes sense on the surface. They’ve explained the “why” well. But my team has really worked hard at getting good at collaborating remotely. We’re doing just fine, so we feel we’re being punished because other teams struggle to do this well.
I’ve been told the decision is not negotiable. So, pushing back is not an option. So now I’m in the tricky position of communicating an unpopular decision that I’m not fully behind.
I don’t want to bad-mouth the company or the senior team, but my team knows how I feel. I can’t just show up with some “Rah Rah” story about why this is going to be great. How do I help them move through this change without losing my credibility with the team and/or destroying morale?
Signed,
Reluctant Returner
Dear Reluctant Returner,
First, it sounds like you’re frustrated and concerned for your team. I can imagine how hard you must have worked to establish the operating cadence and expectations to get this right. You care about your team and are concerned they will be mad or sad (because you also have those feelings). You are looking for ways to be a compassionate and trusted leader during this difficult time.
Do I have that right?
What I did there is what we call a “reflect to connect” and it’s an example of one of our G.O.A.T. Powerful Phrases for dealing with (or preventing) workplace conflict through deeper connection. A “reflect to connect” is almost always a good choice when starting a tricky conversation.
Here are a few additional tips.
Be Real and Supportive (of the Team and the Decision)
You can be real in your disappointment, while still supporting the decision. You might say, “This is hard for me too. I get it. And it’s clear that this is the decision that has been made, so we need to figure out how to make this work best for our team.”
And then show up genuinely curious about how the team can work most effectively in the new arrangement.
Make it Easy to Discuss
If your team is small enough, have one-on-one conversations so you can truly understand each person’s unique circumstances. See if there are other ways you can support them with their work-life balance.
If you’re an executive with multiple managers reporting to you, you can hold a town hall meeting and answer questions directly, to take some of the burden off your managers.
You will also want to prepare your managers to have these conversations themselves (1) by role modeling the conversations with them and (2) and role-playing responses to difficult conversations they might face. You can also make yourself available for skip level meetings to address questions directly.
Anticipate and Address Questions in a Human-Centered Way
Prepare a comprehensive FAQ document that feels like a human talking to a human you can share with your team.
This should include not just the immediate logistical concerns but also address deeper issues such as how this change aligns with the company's values or how it might affect work-life balance in the long term.
Invite Ideas
This is a great time to engage your team around how to make the best of this situation. Align on a shared vision of success in the new environment. Carving out some time to empower your team to consider creative solutions will help move the team from frustration to productive action.
You might ask, “What’s one way we can maintain the flexibility we need while honoring the back to office decision?”
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Or, “What’s one way we can make the most of our in-person time to build a stronger team, or improve our results?”
“I know we’re all feeling disappointed right now. What ideas do you have to make work easier or more fun while we adapt to this new change?”
Set Your Team up for Future Negotiations
Your senior leadership team has made it clear that this is the decision (for now). The best way to empower your team’s voice in future conversations is to have great results. The saying “results buy freedom” may not always be true, but it certainly can’t hurt.
Keep your team focused on doing a great job, and look for strategic opportunities to advocate for small concessions that give your team additional flexibility.
Thanks for caring enough to get this right!
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