Unlocking Potential During A Pandemic
One the most critical aspects of the leaders role is to help fuel the motivation of the people they lead and encourage a sense of hope. In a context which is very uncertain, volatile and ambiguous, this can be a real challenge.
It is additionally challenging (yet even more important) in the context of the current pandemic, when more people are continuing to work remotely and the energy and connection of being in room together – eye to eye, shoulder to shoulder – is becoming for many, a distant memory.
Some suggestions for leaders who can sense, or are concerned about flagging motivation levels amongst their teams:
1. Check in with yourself – how are YOU feeling? What can you do to reboot your own energy and sense of purpose? Energy and emotions are contagious – be honest with yourself about how your current state might be impacting those around you and do what you need to do to regroup and re-energise.
2. Connect at a human level – ask each of your team members how they are feeling. Be curious – find out what is helping them feel good right now, and what they are struggling with the most. Reveal something of yourself – what is/isn’t working for you right now? We build trust and connection through sharing something of ourselves and our internal worlds. Don’t be afraid to keep it real and be more personal.
3. Make it safe to have courageous conversations, both in one on one and in whole of team meetings. Ask questions like “what do you think is really going on?, “what assumptions do we need to test?”, “how are we being biased?”, “how are we playing it safe?”. Don’t be afraid to dig deeper into root causes. Brave conversations build the psychological safety we need to keep on innovating and improving what we do/how we work.
4. Prioritise ruthlessly - ask ‘what are the most important things for the people we serve – our customers/clients – right now?’. Times of overwhelm call for a reset in priorities and a strong sense of purpose and structure.
5. Prioritise communication - people like to be informed, especially in uncertain times. In absence of regular communication, stories get made up and anxieties can increase. Be disciplined about regularly sharing what you know and what you don’t know and encourage your team to do the same.
6. Co-create a vision of what is possible – invite people to share their thoughts and ideas around what would be an inspiring future for them/their work and use this as a lever to engage their hearts and minds around achieving that compelling vision.
7. Amp up the praise! When we are feeling a bit down or lacking in energy, it is easy to fall into problem admiration and negative spirals. Build in even greater recognition of the little things that people are doing and make a big song and dance about the big things.
8. Connect back to meaning - even if your organisation is not directly ‘helping people’ to respond to the pandemic, there are many ways in which we are indirectly supporting the communities around us, and most definitely the economy. Help your people connect to what is meaningful about their work right now, even if their current role is different to how it is ‘normally’.
While these ideas may not seem particularly complex or novel, it’s remarkable how often we tend to forget the basics during times of stress!
