The Post-Pandemic Supervisor

Is it safe to say that we have now come through the COVID pandemic and things will start to return to the way they were before? Two things jump out at me with this question: first, it is not clear that we are ‘out of the woods’ just yet, and secondly, we may never return to the way things were before.

The pandemic not only changed employees and the way they view their relationship with an employer; it changed the way leaders need to understand their leadership role.

For employees, we hear things like ‘quiet quitting’ and the ‘great resignation’. Companies are scurrying to get employees to stay while attracting new employees to join the team. Compensation has come into the spotlight as it is easy to see one’s market value through a quick online search. Aside from that consideration however, quality of life factors like workload, mental health, recognition, and flexibility are emerging as differentiators for employees.

 

For supervisors, the leaders dealing with these changing employee expectations, a shift in competency requirements is taking place. Many of the fundamental competencies are still relevant, like communication, conflict management, team building, etc. but let’s examine a few changes directly attributable to the pandemic:

• Remote Teams. Leaders are now leading remote teams more than ever. What is the impact on things like communication, inclusion, and recognition? How have your communication patterns, which were often passive and informal changed in the new work era?
• Work/Life Balance: Leaders must acknowledge that employees have re-examined their work-life balance, -and it is no longer a given that employees will willingly work beyond their 8-hour day. This was clearly building up prior to the pandemic, but the last two years certainly precipitated changing attitudes. Have you adjusted your leadership expectations as well?
• Culture Management. When we talked about culture, it was always a given that we were talking about an intact group working together onsite. What does a team culture look like when we are relating to one another through Zoom? How does your team continue to feel like a team? How does the leader instill a cultural identity and uniqueness in a remote environment?
• Development. Whether we are talking about professional development external to the organization or internally-driven learning opportunities, employees increasingly see the imperative of their growth and development. Supervisors need to be advocates of learning and growth for their employees. What is your development commitment and approach with each employee? This is a differentiator in the new era. 
• Technology. Leaders no longer have the luxury of being technologically illiterate. Technology is here, front and center, especially with increasingly remote workforces. Are you technologically competent?
• Onboarding. The post-pandemic onboarding process is no longer your father’s onboarding (or even your onboarding process for that matter). How are you adjusting to provide an inclusive and culturally-relevant remote onboarding experience?
• Humanistic Leadership. Lastly, with the hyper-competition for employees, the leader has to be more attuned to the human needs of the employee. There are children, doctor visits, family issues, and other things that are going on. To be clear, they have always been there, but now it’s a differentiator between the old school leader-follower relationship and the new leader mindset. Where are you on that spectrum?

The post-pandemic employee has many more enticements from employers seeking to lure them to greener pastures. Consequently, the new leadership contract has to evolve as well or they will find themselves watching their intellectual capital drain away.