How can leaders use acting techniques to engage remote employees? Nina Allinson of NIDA Corporate explains
The transition to remote work around Australia has been a remarkably swift one, all things considered, and has established itself as the new norm across many industries within a matter of months thanks to the efforts of HR leaders all over the country. But fresh challenges are emerging in this new environment; for many, the initial novelty of working from home has worn off. Managers are beginning to report challenges in maintaining staff motivation in a virtual environment where contact is occurring primarily over a screen.
Solutions, though, are emerging with equal rapidity. This time presents workplace leaders with an opportunity to learn from a profession which is renowned for its success in the on-screen environment – Acting. Nina Allinson, Course Manager for NIDA Corporate, is well aware of the challenges that teams are currently facing.
“We’re living in a new virtual frame,” says Allinson. “Clients are approaching us and letting us know that their teams are feeling alienated online, and that they need help changing the way they approach engagement and connection.”
Similar challenges have emerged at both local and international levels, notes Allinson, in large part due to the enforced communication shift. How can colleagues stay connected? How can trust and rapport be built? And how can all voices be effectively heard?
These are complex questions that workplace leaders are navigating every day. To this end, NIDA Corporate has designed new courses specifically for leaders overseeing an online workforce.
“Actors are very comfortable appearing on camera and using screen-based technology” says Allinson. “But these are skills that can be taught to non-actors as well, and brought into the business world with great results. They can enable more productive conversations, or be leveraged to make employees feel more valued, for example – whatever the situation requires.”
Though NIDA has long worked with corporate clients to develop leadership skills, these new courses have been specially reworked to accommodate the unique circumstances of the moment.
“Our courses are based on NIDA’s acting techniques, reframed for the business world,” says Allinson. “Ordinarily that’s done face-to-face and then taken into new environments, but adaptability is obviously one of the big considerations at the moment. Once the core techniques are taught, it’s an opportunity to leverage them further in the workplace to get communication flowing and keep staff connected.”
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An actor’s practice is not merely about entertaining, or commanding attention, notes Allinson. It’s also a means for deepening self-awareness of your own communication strategy as a leader, and how that ultimately affect others.
“Communication is something we do every day, but it’s not always something we actively consider on a conscious level,” says Allinson. “Remote working is making many leaders think about their own communication style, and its intent versus its outcome.”
The outcome of the training isn’t intended to uproot and replace effective communication styles, Allinson stresses. Rather, it’s about broadening the individual leader’s palette and providing them with alternatives so that they can move beyond habitual patterns, develop greater self-awareness and communicate with a broader range of staff more effectively.
“I think it’s fair to say that there are certain foundational leadership techniques,” says Allinson. “We don’t really change them in and of themselves – but we do change the way we teach them, depending on the individual needs of that leader’s industry. We also want to make sure that we leverage the strengths of that leader and look at what they’re already bringing to the table.”
Ultimately, the goal of such courses is to enable leaders to help employees feel connected to a larger goal and to drive continued productivity, Allinson notes.
“Enhancing interpersonal skills by keeping communication alive and well is critical to that process,” says Allinson. “If morale and motivation aren’t there, you can’t push the business forward.”