Helping Your Workforce Navigate Uncertainty

Originally in the May BPD and Merchant Magazines. 

By Darcy Mercer, Training and Development Manager, Olympic Industries and 2019-2020 NAWLA Young Emerging Lumber Professional

I believe the Forest City Trading Group has done an outstanding job at navigating the rapid changes brought about by COVID-19. I was impressed by how quickly we moved and how flexible our leadership has been in providing alternate work solutions. Throughout this time of uncertainty, I’ve seen a lot of leadership best practices displayed by our CEO and operating presidents that have been used as a framework for managing our group of companies. Here are some of those lessons.

Lead by Example

From the start, our company acted decisively and with responsibility. On March 13, U.S. President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency and the Forest City Trading Group took notice. The decision was made that we needed to work from home – all 10 operating companies – without a system for doing it. We needed to do it, and we needed to do it quickly. Within a week, almost everyone from the organization was working from home.

Prior to this situation, a lot of restrictions were in place around working remotely, and it hadn’t yet been determined how to give staff access to the technology we needed to work from home. I wasn’t able to work from home effectively March 12, but by March 18, our IT department had researched solutions and provided the technology so that I could.

At that point, we were using Zoom to get everyone on board and comfortable with our new technology. The IT manager and I used Zoom to provide training about how to access information online and in a visual way. Our company needed a platform to communicate quickly and efficiently, and it was delivered.

Maintain Your Culture

Sometimes, it’s the little things. When we were in the office together, the operations team participated in a daily movie quote challenge. We’ve continued to do that, but now we encourage participation from significant others. It’s nice because we recognize that some people have their partners working right next to them.

We have also developed a wellness challenge aimed at encouraging people to be active for 30 minutes each day and to be mindful about eating well-balanced, healthy meals. This is in addition to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) we provide all staff with confidential counseling, legal support and other resources at no cost to employees. We make sure our people have access to office supplies, by sending them to their homes if needed, so they are organized and prepared in their “work offices.”

When we first started Zoom, we were allowed to participate without video. Now, the video is heavily used because people are excited to see each other’s’ faces. When someone pops on video, it’s a community event, and people get very excited.

Demonstrate Flexibility

We recognize that some of our operations team don’t have as much to do, so we’re finding small projects that we usually would never have the time to get to. This way, we’re able to use their time and skills effectively so they feel engaged, valued and recognized, even if their day feels slower than a “regular” one.

This is part of recognizing that the current work structure is different. There is a certain amount of uncertainty about a job if you’re not proving yourself and contributing at 110%. We want people to work a reasonable amount, but we are not expecting them to work 24/7 because their laptop is there. That would be unreasonable. To be fair, there are people whose jobs and companies are busier than ever, but most companies are not operating at full capacity right now.

We have rookies and trainees in early stages of development with our company who are finding this situation more challenging because they rely more on senior staff for support and guidance. We do special calls twice each week specifically for those in the development phase to provide them with the resources they need. We’ve found different ways, through online resources and Zoom, to continue to provide trainees with opportunities to learn and develop. We communicate where we’re at in the training process and let them know that we’re not slowing down. This continued training and development allows our newest employees to feel good working from home.

Communicate – A Lot

Communication has been our most important tool to navigate these uncertain times. Our organization’s leaders have communicated with positivity and transparency since the beginning. They’ve shared detail with us on our financial position and our capacity to weather this storm. They’ve let us know that we are going to get through this.

They’ve also communicated the challenges ahead of us. We’ve worked together to identify the risks we have as a company and outlined a plan of how to get to a better place. It wasn’t sugar coated, it was presented as steps to manage the things that can really hurt us. Our leaders clearly believe that allowing our employees to understand the furrows means we can help in overcoming them. That turns the challenge into an opportunity where everyone is working together. People are so tied to their jobs, and their sense of self is often tied to that. Engaging and empowering employees in problem solving allows them to be a part of the solution.

All the way from the top, they are tracking and communicating wins. The bar is different. Our leadership communicates where we are good – recognizing it’s not as good as before – and supports it as a win. They ask people what’s new that’s happened, and people are encouraged to talk about what’s going well for them. Those are really nice things to communicate right now. We’re actively and proactively working through these times.

We also have regular daily group conversations to check in, in addition to different levels of leadership checking in with individuals to make sure they’re managing and doing OK, and to see if they have concerns. We went immediately to Slack to allow everyone to interact more effectively.

The big question right now is what our next steps look like. We’ve been honest that this is a situation that evolves every day, and we’re not in a position to communicate when people will go back to the office. We want to make sure first and foremost that we are taking care of everyone. We have communicated that there is no urgency or stress associated with the return to our offices. Based on our transparent and open communications to date, we know that we have credibility with that message.

This open, transparent and engaging communication has allowed our people feel empowered and to navigate through these times of uncertainty.