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During the last few months, the operations of probation and parole agencies have been greatly impacted by the “Stay-at-Home” orders issued by governors as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic (also referred to as the Coronavirus Pandemic).

The requirement of having offenders report to the office of the supervising officer and the practice of having officers conducting home visits were both discontinued. In most cases, officers began to meet with offenders through the use of video conferencing software such as Zoom or GoToMeeting.

Surprisingly, officers in many jurisdictions have reported that offenders appear more relaxed and more open about what is happening in their lives than they are when they report to the probation or parole office or when the officer conducts a home visit. Officers are reporting that there is a totally different relationship developing between the officer and the offender. Many offenders are beginning to see the officer not just as someone to whom they have to report and who oversees the conditions of their probation, but as someone who is trying to help them.

Pre-sentence Investigation officers are discovering that it is easier to obtain from offenders the information they need for the Pre-sentence Investigation Reports (PSI) prepared for the courts and that it takes them less time to prepare the PSIs because they are not interrupted by telephone calls, other officers stopping by their office to chat and other activities that accompany working in an office environment.

Some agency administrators are looking at these positive results and realizing that supervising offenders after COVID-19 is going to be different than it was before. This will mean that not only will the way the officers supervise offenders change, but if agencies continue the practice of allowing staff to work from home (WFH) the supervision of employees and management of probation and parole operations will also have to change.

Tips for Managing a Virtual Workforce

Some administrators may already have managerial and leader-ship techniques for staff in remote locations, such as satellite offices and institutions and some of those skills may also work with leading and managing the virtual work force, but some will not.

Just as we had to develop new methods of leading and man-aging staff when we established satellite offices and residential facilities, the same will prove true with leading and managing WFH employees. Simply put, we cannot lead and manage the virtual workplace the same way we lead and managed before. We must learn new and better ways to lead and manage in the new environment. As Eric Hoffer pointed out, “In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

While this is not an exhaustive list, here are some tips to improve your effectiveness in the art of managing virtual teams.

1. View it as an Opportunity to Grow

Regardless of your comfort level in managing a virtual team, view it as an opportunity to increase your leadership and management effectiveness. Embrace early disruptions and focus on implementing the infrastructure, revised processes and new rituals that will enable your team’s success. As the world moves towards more remote and virtual models, your efforts won’t be wasted.

2. Understand the Challenges of Managing a Virtual Workplace

To lead a virtual team well, managers may discover they need to loosen their reins a little while finding ways to continue to hold employees accountable.

Without the ability to continuously monitor employees in a shared office space, they may find success by focusing more on what gets done and whether it meets well-defined quality standards than whether they are working the traditional 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule. In managing a virtual team, the manager should establish two measurements for work to meet: (1) quality, which should be defined as the completion of a task or responsibility in a manner that meets all standards of excellence for that task or responsibility, and (2) timeliness, which should be defined as completing a task or responsibility on or before the stated deadline for that task or responsibility.

It’s helpful, too, to be willing to experiment a little with technology and how meetings are conducted.

Adopt New Ways of Communicating

While most leaders/managers are aware that communication will be an obvious challenge with managing the virtual workplace, some challenges aren’t so obvious. Not only do you lose some of those hallway conversations, and quick in-office chats, but it goes deeper than that. When you don’t have enough face-to-face communication, it can become difficult to sense intent in messages between you and the person you are supervising. It’s harder to understand a message when it’s only text, or you don’t know the employee as well as other in-office employees.

When you first begin managing a virtual workforce, it will quickly become obvious that people have different preferences when it comes to communication. Some people prefer to be contacted by text, some by a phone call, some by email, some by instant messaging, and some prefer video conferencing even if it is a two-person meeting.

The most effective administrators will establish ways to effectively manage the communication styles of your entire team and create a structure that supports collaboration.

The most important things the manager of a virtual team can do is to establish clear expectations of team members which should begin with effectively communicating the team’s vision and mission. The manager’s focus should be on creating a shared purpose by engaging the team in answering the following questions: “What should be our contribution?”, “What are our objectives?”, “How are others depending on us as a team?” and “What are the key activities for successful performance as a team?”

In clarifying expectations, the manager should clearly define each team member’s role and responsibility, the specific tasks and outcomes to be accomplished and the standards by which performance will be measured.
It is also important that the manager establish clear check-in times for the team as a group and for one-on-one meeting between the manager and each team member.

Benefits of Having a Virtual Workforce

Considering hiring an employee and allowing them to work virtually could improve the pool of candidates when filling positions within your organization. For example, if you were interviewing for a Pre-Sentence Investigation Officer, an applicant with excellent interviewing and writing skills might be the best candidate for the position even though they did not live in your jurisdiction.

This would not be a totally new concept. Dr. Kelli Martin, who was employed by the Tarrant County Community Supervision and Corrections Department, accepted a position as a researcher for the Taylor, Bexar, and Hidalgo County CSCDs, but continues to live in Tarrant County.

A few years ago, El Paso County CSCD allowed an employee whose husband was transferred to move with her husband without giving up her position. She did all the visits to the state facilities for the other officers who had State Jail caseloads, which mean the other officers did not have to travel from El Paso to the locations where the State Jails were, thus reducing the travel costs of state jail visits.

Allowing some employees to continue to work at home would also reduce the amount of office space needed by the department even if employees were allowed to work from home only part of the time. Schedules could be arranged to accommodate the sharing of offices.

Once we adjust to having a virtual workforce, we may find that, with the right technology and the right management and leadership techniques, having a virtual workforce is not significantly different from leading and managing employees located in satellite offices.

The question we should be asking is not “Should we consider adopting components of the virtual workforce environment?”, but “How can we capture the advantages the virtual workforce provides and still effectively fulfill the organization’s vision and mission?”

What is your answer to that question?

It’s Time to Make Lemonade

With the arrival of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), we were all faced with a crisis that has reshaped the way we live our daily lives. Restaurants have been forced to cease dine-in services and serve meals for “take out” or “delivery” only. Well-stocked shelves at grocery stores have been replaced with rows and rows of empty shelves because of “panic buying.” Who would have ever thought that toilet paper would be a prized possession? Schools have either closed entirely or are now providing educational services on-line only. Many states and local governments have issued “shelter in place” orders. Others have encouraged citizens to only leave their homes when necessary. Most churches have replaced congregational worship with on-line worship services and I know of one church which built a stage outside to provide worship services for people who call to get the radio frequency so they can attend worship services much like we used to go to drive-in movies. Sports addicts are being forced to watch reruns of previous games since all sports events have been cancelled. The contents of emails and posting on various social media are now filled with tales of frustration and boredom.

As I was contemplating various topics for this month’s column, it occurred to me that since all of us are faced with the same dilemma — how are we going to deal with this crisis – I decided I would share with you my perspective on dealing with this crisis. I decided the things I will do are:

Realize that dealing with crisis is not something new: In fact, dealing with crisis is a rather common occurrence for all of us. We have all dealt with numerous crises. While this is certainly not an exhaustive list, during my life time, some of the crises that have occurred are the bombing of Pearl Harbor (12/07/41)which resulted in the United States’ participation in World War II which had begun in 1939, the “Recession of 1949,” Korean War (June 25, 1950 – July 27, 1953), Vietnam War (11/1/1955-4/30/75), Cuban Missile Crisis (10/16/62-10/28/62), assassination of John F. Kennedy (11/22/63), assassination of Malcolm X (2/21/65), assassination of Martin L. King (4/4/68), assassination of Robert F. Kennedy (6/6/68), Energy Crisis of the 1970s, AIDS epidemic (1981), Black Monday (1987), Columbine High School Massacre (4/30/99) and numerous other school shootings that followed, “Y2K”, “9-11” (2001), Enron Scandal and Crisis (2001) and a host of others which I cannot recall at the moment.

Control what I can Control – I cannot control the virus, but I can control my reaction to it. I can decide to take all the necessary precautions recommended by the World Health Organization, such as practicing social distancing, washing my hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or if soap and water are not readily available using a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol, and cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces daily.

I can also remember that crises come and go and I do not have to sit around and let this crisis control my every thought. I can choose not to be overcome by boredom, fear and frustration.

Make Lemonade: There is an old adage that says, “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” That is what I decided to do.

During the first few months of 2020, MBA was experiencing less business of almost any year in the nearly 14 years since we started the company. However, it looked as if everything was going to change beginning in the middle of March. On the calendar we had training events in Denton (March 17th-18th), Midland, (March 23rd-24th), Angleton (25th-26th) Corpus Christi (30th -31st) and Tyler (June 17th-18th). I was scheduled to speak at a National Leadership Institute in Annapolis, Maryland the first week in June. A group in Oregon had contacted us about providing them some technical assistance. Things were looking bright, then the Coronavirus arrived. All the March trainings as well as the National Leadership Institute in Annapolis had to be cancelled or rescheduled.

It became glaringly obvious that for the next few months, MBA’s “outgo” would be exceeding its “income.” While nothing will be going into MBA’s coffers, the utility bills (gas, water, electrical, telephone, etc.), payroll, and office expenses will continue to result in withdrawals. All of a sudden, MBA was transformed from a job I love to an expensive hobby I love.

Rather than becoming frustrated and overcome with worry, I am choosing to look at it from a different perspective. First of all, we have dealt with crises before and we managed to survive. Why should this time be any different?

As I began to look at the situation differently, I realized that most of the events we had on the calendar are not being cancelled but rescheduled. We may have to work harder to fit them into our schedule, but most of the projects are still there. Finances may be tight for a while, but we will survive. I have decided I am not going to let this get the best of me. I am going to make lemonade.

I am using the extra time I have available as a result of the coronavirus to do a variety of things: Among them are cleaning and reorganizing my office (which should have been done a long time ago), developing some new workshops, reading some books I have been wanting to read, but have not gotten around to reading and which I hope will also contribute to the development of the new workshops, writing more, and doing some marketing to secure projects for when the crisis is over. Even though my calendar does not look as crowded as it was at the beginning of the month, I feel more productive.

Another impact of the virus is that the Bible Study group I teach at our church on Sunday mornings has been suspended. Most of the people in the group are older than I am. Most are in their 80s & 90s. I am now reaching out to them each day, checking on them by email to find out if they need assistance with something, to encourage them and even share a little humor from time to time. All of that is less time consuming than the six to eight hours a week I spent preparing to teach the Bible Study before the virus caused us to suspend our meetings.

I have friends across the county who are either retired or are near retirement, some of whom are wrestling with some serious illnesses. I decided to call each of them and catch up with what is happening and to try to provide them some encouragement. We shared memories, laughed at some of the things that have happened over the years and in trying to be a blessing to them, they became a blessing to me. What a great time I have had with them. Not sure I would have had that experience if my schedule had not been interrupted by the coronavirus.

As I penned the paragraphs above, a memory bubbled up to the surface of my mind. In 1998, I was driving back from Austin late at night after having been there to testify before the legislature. It was late. I was tired and things had not gone as well as I would have liked. I was afraid that what the legislature was about to do would have a negative impact on the field of criminal justice and especially on probation. As I drove along with my negative thoughts, I began to focus on other areas of my life and the negativity began to permeate my feelings about every aspect of my life. I got to thinking about having kids so late in life and how that was going to affect my retirement. I was thinking, “I’ll be 65 when my oldest child finishes high school and 67 when my youngest finishes, and then I will still be facing college expenses. My children will be going to college on Social Security Scholarships.”

As I was driving and feeling sorry for myself, I began to think about the good things about those situations. As an older parent, I have had more time to devote to my children than I would have had when I was first starting my career. Hopefully, I became a wiser parent for having waited to have children. Financially, I was able to do so much more for my children than I would have been able to do if our children had been born when my wife and I were younger. When I got home, I began to write the following poem:

Aging Gracefully

© 1998

by Mel Brown

Lord, remind me when I whine

of all the things that are mine.

Make me grateful for what I’ve got

and for all the things that I am not.

My knees – they creak and they crack

and I always have a pain in my back;

but when I hurt with each step that I take,

I can know I’m alive, because I still ache.

My eyesight’s not what it used to be

and that’s not all that’s failing me.

My hearing gets worse as each year passes,

but I still have ears to hold up my glasses.

The teeth I have now are all fake;

But, as a result, they don’t ache.

So Lord remind me when I whine

of all the things that are mine

and make me grateful for what I’ve got,

and for all the things that I am not.

And please help me to always recall

halitosis is better than no breath at all.

The question I would like for my readers to answer is, “How are you making lemonade?”

Loyalty and Long-Term Employment, Are They the Same?

While providing some technical assistance to an organization a few years ago, it became apparent to me that a very pleasant employee, who had been  with the organization a very long time and who seemed to be liked by nearly everyone on staff, had learned to do just enough to fly, unseen, under the performance issues radar and really contributed nothing to the organization.

Later, in a conversation with the organization’s chief executive, I asked him to tell me about the employee, who for the purposes of this article will be referred to as Joe.  He described Joe as “a great guy,” “very likeable,” and “very loyal.”

My follow-up question was, “Tell me how Joe has demonstrated his loyalty.” The ensuing conversation between me and the “Exec” went something like this.

His response was, “We have had an extremely high turnover for a number of years, but Joe has stayed with us when so many have not.  He could have taken a job somewhere else, but he has remained loyal to us.”

Me: “Has he told you he has had opportunities to work other places or do you know of specific places that he had the opportunity to take a job and did not?”

Exec: “No, not really.”  I just know that with the high turn-over rate we have had, he has chosen to stay with us.”

 Me:    “Could it be that Joe is just not motivated enough to apply somewhere else?’

 Exec: “That’s what I am saying.  He is loyal to us and does not want to go anywhere else.”

 Me:    “Has Joe ever done anything here that would make you think he is the best employee on your payroll?”

 Exec:  “Not really.”

 Me:    “Has he ever gone out of his way to make another employee successful?”

 Exec:  “I don’t recall him ever doing something like that.”

 Me:    “Does he volunteer to take on tough assignments.”

 Exec: “I don’t believe so.”

 Me:    “Has he ever offered solutions to problems the organization was experiencing.”

 Exec: “Hmmm, not that I remember.”

Me:    “Does he ever do anything for the organization that is not in his job description?”

 Exec: “Now that I think about it, I am not sure.”

Me:    “Has he grown in his current job over the years?”

Exec:  “Not really.”

 Me:    “If every employee you have did their job the way Joe does his, would you think your organization would be the most outstanding organization in the state?”

 Exec:  “No.”

 Me:    “Is there anything about Joe other than he is likeable and he is still on the payroll that makes you think of Joe as a loyal employee.”

 Exec:  “I am beginning to think that maybe Joe is not as loyal as I thought he was.”

 Me:    “I think you are right.  I think you have been confusing loyalty with comfort, lack of motivation and long-term employment. I think Joe is just comfortable, not loyal. He doesn’t seem to be contributing anything significant to this organization and he lacks the motivation to apply for a higher job here or to apply for a job somewhere else.” 

This is a rather long introduction to this month’s column, but I wanted to make a strong point — loyalty has nothing to do with length of employment, blind obedience, or unthinking devotion. The things that demonstrate an employee’s loyalty are:

Integrity – Employees who consistently seek to do the right thing are not just following a personal credo – They are also looking out for the long-term interest of the organization in which they work. Such employees are faithful to the company; possess strong feelings of care, responsibility, and bonding. They have a powerful willingness to make an investment in the organization and sometimes make personal sacrifices for the good of the organization.

Doing Their Best to Make the Organization a Success – Loyal employees make sure they do quality work.  They per-form as if they own stock in the company.  My Administrative Assistant who actually runs the office ensures that it runs smoothly. When making travel arrangements or purchasing supplies, she treats our company’s money as if it were her own.  She makes sure we get the best price for everything we purchase.  

Loyal employees are not limited by their job descriptions.  When they see something that needs to be done, they do it. They volunteer for difficult assignments.  They also become the “go to” person in the organization.  Other people in the organization seek them out for advice.

Dissenting and Disagreeing – Loyal employees do not blindly accept every idea presented by the organization’s executive.  As pointed out by Patrick Lencioni in his book,  The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,   members  of  cohesive  teams  engage  in unfiltered conflict around ideas.  Loyal employees weigh the positives and negatives of a decision, sharing conflicting opinions and play the devil’s advocate.  They create stimulating conversations that lead to better decisions.

 Talking Positively about the Organization – When loyal employees talk to people outside their organization, they talk positively about where they work.  After a decision is made, loyal employees get behind that decision even if they privately disagree. They don’t just pay the decision lip service; they support the decision as if it were their own and work toward its successful implementation. Truly loyal employees put aside their feelings and actively try to make every decision the right decision – instead of undermining it or wishing it would fail so they can prove themselves right.

 Asking Questions Others Will Not — Many employees hesitate to voice their opinions or feelings whether in a group set-ting or in a private meeting.

During a meeting, I once had an employee ask me a question about a new initiative I had just announced to the group. After the meeting, I pulled her aside and ask her why she had raised the question since she had been on the planning committee that developed the initiative.

Her response was, “I was not asking for me.  Some of the people in the room had expressed some concern about it and yet they were not asking questions in the meeting, so I thought I would give you an opportunity to explain it and answer the questions they had, but were hesitant to ask.”

Loyal employees have a great feel for the issues and concerns of the people around them, and they ask the questions or raise the important issues when others won’t. They know that if the organization is going to function well, the executive needs to know what employees are thinking and employees need to know what the executive is thinking.

Preparing You When They are Going to Leave —

As you have realized, truly loyal employees are not your aver-age employees.  They are usually your best employees – the ones you hate to see leave. However, they often do.  They leave for a variety of reasons – a better opportunity, their spouse is being transferred, or to do something entirely different that they have always wanted to do.

When it is time for them to leave, they will tell you. They will help you in any way they can to fill the hole they create by leaving. 

When that time comes, be as loyal to them as they have to you. Wish them well and remain a resource for them as they begin a new adventure. 

What are your Leadership Priorities? Recently I received an email from a friend that contained an illustration I had heard before, but which, for some reason, got me to thinking a little differently this time.  The email said: “$86,400 —