Love Yourself & Others: Managing a Team With Compassion During COVID-19

During this time, most team members are caught up in the hustle of the environment and forget to look after themselves and others. When you are in a fast-paced environment, work can become dehumanizing as technology replaces the need for human contact, encouraging you to forget about one another, especially since we are confined to our homes during the COVID-19 outbreak.

By leading an organization with compassion, companies have seen an increase in employee retention and greater interpersonal bonds. You can show compassion through daily interactions with your team – whether it be online or in person. So, how can we build on showing compassion to your team when working from home? Here are 5 tips on how to show compassion at work.

Love Yourself

Before we show compassion to others, we must first have compassion for ourselves. Think of this situation comparative to an airplane: you must put your own mask on before assisting others. Self-love is an important foundation to have, as all positive feelings should start with yourself. Demonstrate self-compassion by remembering you are not alone, and give yourself permission to be imperfect.

Encourage Others

Show your appreciation for a teammate by supporting their efforts and praising them in front of your team. Empowering your team is crucial during this period as morale declines through the work-from-home culture. Boost your team’s motivation whilst setting a positive notion to empower others by encouraging your team and supporting them.

Check-In with your Team

Make time to communicate with your team members as many people may be struggling during the social distancing period. Try to recognize that some team members may have other pressing matters going on in their lives and encourage open communication with them. By openly asking about their well-being, it can help manage their time effectively, thus promoting work-life balance.

Share your Stories

Each person is dealing with social distancing in their own way and sharing those experiences can bring the team together. With limited ability to connect face-to-face, interactions can be done through social media or virtual meetings. Conveying your emotions through text can be difficult in a virtual setting as it does not hold the same sentiment. By hosting virtual calls, participants can easily empathize when seeing facial expressions.

Help your Team

In your spare time, try to step in and offer your assistance to a teammate if you notice that they have a lot on their plate. By reaching out, it will foster appreciation from the other party and may inspire them to help the team. Finally, remember that “teamwork makes the dream work”, so we all need to help each other!

It is important to keep in mind that we are all in this together and you are not alone during this situation. Take the time out of your day to appreciate your team and yourself. Doing so will boost self-morale and the work environment by putting a positive outlook on the situation we are in. Although this is a difficult time for everyone, we must remember to maintain our compassion and empathy to make way for the positive future after COVID-19.