It’s not easy leading a company through the COVID-19 crisis as the global pandemic changes how businesses operate and how employees do their jobs. Boosting morale and maintaining culture have become paramount as people adapt to the work from home lifestyle.
Zillow Group CEO Rich Barton, Icertis CEO Samir Bodas and Axiom CEO Elena Donio joined GeekWire for an interactive virtual event Thursday to discuss best leadership practices and lessons learned over the past few months. Read on for highlights from the conversation, and watch the video below for the full discussion.
On the shift to remote work:
Barton: “My biggest takeaway is how amazing all these tools are for a dynamic work environment. I’m meeting more new people and feel closer to my team than I’ve ever felt. There are some challenges, but this is a really interesting opportunity to rethink everything about the way we work, where we work, who we work with, why we work, and how much satisfaction and productivity we get from our work … it’s going to be very different 3-to-5 years from now.”
Bodas: “We’re seeing a tremendous increase in productivity, but the joy of working together is missing. The energy we draw from gathering, brainstorming, those social interactions — it’s substantial.”
Donio: “We’re trying to remove formality and encourage people to operate the way they would at their desk in the office. So open up a line and work, ask questions, punt back and forth. We’ve tried to rethink the use of Zoom and other tools we have for organic collaboration versus planned, orchestrated, calendered collaboration.”
On dealing with customers and clients during a crisis:
Barton: “Our customers want to move and we are here to help them do it safely. Our job as leaders is to not just ring our hands and grab the tissue all the time — it’s to say, here are solutions for how to get going and how to get moving and do it safely and electronically.”
Bodas: “We have a global business with airlines, hotels, manufacturers, food packing companies, and others as customers. You realize that you’re sitting in a bubble. How do you help folks who are not in this bubble, and help them bounce back and make their lives and businesses more productive?”
Donio: “It starts with empathy and being human. The thing we talk a lot about inside Axiom is showing up to serve and being amazing listeners to understand what customers are up against and how we can dive in to help in a way that provides them a quality experience with efficiency they are so desperate for.”
On maintaining culture:
Bodas: “This is the time to double down on your values. People should realize that it’s important to live your values, especially when it feels like you can’t afford them. This is where you go back and live them and show that these values mean something, so that as you draw from that culture well because you’ve gone remote and it’s different, you are also filling it back in.”
Donio: “You start with purpose and mission and what you’re doing. From there comes strategy. Ultimately the behaviors that characterize your culture have to ladder up to being accretive to that mission and purpose.
Other general tips and advice:
Barton: “Leadership is continuing to steer the boat even when it’s foggy. It’s easy to be inert and not decide. Leadership is courage, smarts, brains, and heart. Organizations that can succeed in these kinds of times are the ones that are learning, with eyes — robotic or human — looking out from all parts of the organization and get what they’re seeing back to the captains who are steering the ship. That’s how you know how to tap the brakes or hit the gas.
Companies get too stuck in a certain mindset and have a very difficult time changing. Change is difficult; doing something different is difficult. But the great organizations embrace that change and emerge through change stronger.”
Bodas: “Encourage managers to just call employees and ask how they are doing. It takes the spontaneity of walking around an office in person and stopping by a desk to ask how people are doing. And don’t worry about the dog barking or kid showing up to meetings. We had an employee whose daughter fell asleep in his lap during a meeting. Those are precious moments where everybody realizes that we are in this together.”
Donio: “I wish we had started our poll surveys earlier, instead of waiting a bit as things were settling in. We would have realized faster that there is such a disparity in the experience of people. Some are at the height of productivity, they were made for this moment. Others are struggling with homeschooling and childcare. And some are profoundly lonely. It would have helped us help others more quickly had we asked sooner and got in touch with that sooner.”
Barton: “The most important thing we can do in this new sitting down and talking to our screen kind of world is to give people space to live their lives outside of it. People are finding it very difficult to even get up and go use the bathroom. Another tip I learned from Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg — start meetings five minutes late. That gives people time to do their human things for five minutes and just breathe before they get on the next call. And for 1-on-1s, do them while walking, don’t do them on video.”
