There’s never been a more challenging time to lead a recruitment team. Not only are you managing your business through a global pandemic, but you’re having to do it outside of the office in a totally new working environment that you and your team will still be adapting to.
Keeping your team strong, positive and motivated to do their job needs to be a top priority right now to keep the wheels of the business turning. So, let’s take a look at some areas you can focus on to ensure you’re supporting your team to perform their best – from your respective living rooms!
Be a consistent leader
During turbulent times, being a consistent leader is essential to providing your team with a sense of stability and normality.
So keep a positive attitude and motivate your teams in the same ways you always have done – whether that’s encouraging healthy competition amongst them, maybe sending motivational quotes in the morning or just taking the time to celebrate their successes.
Your recruiters will be looking to you for guidance, so you need to be strong, consistent and approachable to them. If you’re struggling with your own pressures, speak to someone close to you either internal or external to the business. Whatever you do, don’t overshare your worries with your team as this will make them worry too and this will impact their ability to do what you need them to do: Make placements.
Communicate all changes quickly and clearly
When all your recruiters are working in separate locations, it’s important that you communicate changes to everyone at the same time, otherwise the people you tell first will give an unofficial version of what you say to everyone else and you’ll lose control of the narrative.
Communicating en masse also gives your recruiters a sense of collectiveness and reminds everyone that you’re all in it together.
Having difficult discussions over video calls isn’t always easy – particularly because we rely a lot on reading body language to sense if someone has understood our message. A good way to ensure clarity is to take advantage of video technology that offers screenshare options and use presentations with images and graphs that help contextualise important points.
If the message is particularly important, it’s a good idea to also send a follow-up email to summarise what the meeting was about and ensure that the message was crystal clear to everyone.
Appreciate the importance of team communication
During a crisis, managing the communication at your agency is a must. So you need to ensure your team can communicate with each other easily - and not just about work either.
To keep morale up ‘around the office’, set up a Teams or WhatsApp group that’s for team communication so your recruiters can collaborate, celebrate in each other’s success and chat about whatever they want to chat about. Don’t be annoyed if everyone’s filling the chat feed with pictures of their dogs or silly memes – your recruiters need respite from this crisis too!
Try setting up an online after-work drinks video call for your team to keep up the social aspect of your business. Obviously, this will have to be a BYOB event, but it’s a great way for them to blow of some steam with people who know what they’re going through.
Create a routine for your team
You have a responsibility to help your team adjust to ‘the new normal’, even if you’re still getting to grips with it yourself. Set a new routine for them so they can adapt themselves to working from home and become productive as quickly as possible.
Start each day with a team meeting where your recruiters can share their daily goals, ask any questions if there’s anything going to potentially get in the way of them achieving their goals and also celebrate any successes they had the previous day. On days that are particularly tough (there are bound to be a few during times of crisis), focus on positives and take every opportunity you can to celebrate the good stuff.
Managing a good work-life balance is tough in recruitment at the best of times. So now your recruiters are working from home with 24/7 access to their desks, remind them to clock off at a reasonable hour, otherwise they’ll burn themselves out and be less productive overall.
To lead your team out of a crisis your agency needs to stand out on the market. Download the eBook below to learn how other companies (within and outside of the recruitment industry) have found success by operating outside of the norm.
