I’ve recently been helping leaders with managing expectations of themselves and their employees around productivity and performance during lockdown and Work From Home.

Some are getting frustrated trying to manage performance of remote employees, especially new starters whom they haven’t even met. And some employees are getting frustrated as the novelty of WFH wears off.

The discussions reminded me of my sports coaching experience that no amount of practice really prepares you for a game. Training is essential but it’s an artificial environment. The only way to get match fit is to play matches.

VC is (a lot) better than nothing and thank heavens we have it right now. In many cases it’s more efficient, and for a job that doesn’t need (much) human contact it’s a dream.

But as an interaction solution for a job requiring genuine human engagement it’s not the real game. For those jobs, what we have right now is an artificial environment and we can’t expect the same game performance.

So I’m suggesting leaders cut themselves and their people some slack, focus on the essentials, and do the best they can in the current environment. Hopefully it’s not for much longer.

Unless we think the current situation is actually now the real thing, which is a whole ‘nother ball game…