Hema was the delivery head for a healthcare client with JCN incorporated. Rahim, Radha and Rachel, reported to Hema. Rahim was responsible for Software delivery, Radha for medical transcription and Rachel first-line IT support to the client.The three of them had their own management style, which varied drastically and Hema allowed them to run with their style since all the three were delivering well, often exceeding client expectation. Rahim is good at meticulous planning and is very disciplined. He is very demanding and is on top of the situation all the time. Radha works very closely with the team and spends more than 50% of her time with team members, helping them, counseling them and taking on unfinished tasks and completing them to meet the daily targets. Rachel is more procedure oriented and metrics driven. Person of few words but a very clear communicator. While the team is not small, there is very little need to collaborate amongst team members.
Suddenly, the worldwide pandemic disrupted their flow and all of them had to adapt to the new mode of working – working from home. As Hema what is your assessment of impact for each of your people in their management style and the likely adaptation required?
Assessment (Suggested):
| Name | Style pre-WFH | Adaptation for WFH |
| Rahim | Meticulous in planning, very disciplined; Demanding; Wants to be on top of things all the time | Adaptation may be quite difficult for Rahim; his pre-style may have depended on frequent checks and many casual chats with the team; he needs to be more empathetic with the team and give them more room; set goals over a longer time horizon; “let go a bit”; accept that plans cannot be perfect; not fall into micromanaging trap |
| Radha | Works very closely with the team; guiding and counseling jumping in to complete tasks to meet daily targets | Adaptation may be the hardest for Radha; maybe the team is also very dependent on her; she needs to reduce her own workload and spend designated 1:1 time with team members; may be even set lower expectations with the customer till at least WFH stabilizes; in parallel, she has to wean the team away from her over time (may be WFH has come as a blessing to speed it up!) |
| Rachel | Procedure-oriented and metrics-driven; clear communicator; person of few words | Adaptation difficulty may be least for Rachel. While the actual deliverable may not be affected, there is a high risk of connect amongst team members and with the company. Important for Rachel to ensure good connect with and within the team. |
