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Managing Jewish Nonprofits in this Crisis: FAQs

by Leading Edge

As our field navigates the COVID-19 crisis, here are some questions people have been asking us — and some resources and tips we’ve been sharing.

1. How do I help my staff manage their teams remotely?

A few more remote management tips:

  • Send a daily email to touch base with your full team. It may be an organizational update, a work from the home tip, or your favorite recipe, just something to stay connected.
  • Convene your leadership team every day via Zoom (and require video to be on, it’s important to see each others faces). Require your managers to do the same with their teams.
  • When you have supervision with your team, and your team, in turn, has supervision with theirs, encourage everyone to check in on mental and social space, how they’re feeling, how their family is doing, etc. We may be entering enforced social distancing, but we don’t have to be socially isolated.
  • Monitor your own anxiety and burn out as well as your teams. It is particularly difficult to do this remotely, so look for ways to gather informally:

— Virtual lunches
— Virtual yoga/Zumba/calisthenics
– Walking meeting. Everyone put on their headphones for a walk and talk (no video necessary for this one)

  • Ask your board members to periodically reach out to members of your staff to say thank you for their efforts during this time. That type of appreciation will be felt deeply.
  • Unlike during usual work-from-home situations, respect that what is going on in people’s homes may make working a 9-5 schedule impossible. To the extent that the work allows, give your team the latitude to get their work done when they are able. Be clear when they must be available and let the rest be flexible.

2. How do I pay attention to the social-emotional needs of my team?

  • If you have access to an EAP, encourage your employees to take advantage of it (this also applies to organizations that use a PEO like Trinet or Insperity). 
  • Encourage folks to take breaks, and participate in online mindfulness, yoga or breathing exercises. 
  • Hadar’s Project Zug for folks who would like to do some online learning in pairs
  • Keeping remote wellbeing high

3. How do I think about HR (e.g. sick leave, vacation) in this moment?

4. What kinds of resources can I provide my junior staff?

5. How do I maximize Zoom? 

For more resources we come across later, make sure you follow us on social mediaLinkedInTwitter, and Facebook.

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