Written By: Tauhidah Shakir
I hope this post finds you and your loved ones safe, healthy, and sheltering in place. COVID-19 is a human crisis unlike anything we’ve ever seen. The impacts are far reaching and continue to devastate families, communities, businesses, and ultimately our way of life.
Being a leader during this time takes an extraordinary amount of mental fortitude. In normal circumstances leaders are tasked with teaching, guiding, coaching, and motivating teams towards a common predetermined goal. This can be a daunting task, especially for new leaders, when managing personalities, expectations, and changing business needs. Layer on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, personal fears and anxiety on top of these normal leadership responsibilities and it’s understandable why many leaders are struggling to stay positive and keep it together for not only themselves, their loved ones and teams.
Here a few suggestions to keep in mind as your leading through the adversity caused by COVID-19:
1. Set the tone: Remember that your team is looking to you to gauge whether or not they should be freaking out, similar to how children look to their parents to set the tone. I know this may be easier said than done, especially during this time when you’re juggling personal, professional, and altruistic concerns but setting the right tone for your team is crucial for stability.
2. Lead with compassion and empathy: The pandemic has caused a ripple effect of devastation across our country and many of your employees are bearing these burdens as they attempt to carry on with business as usual. It’s important to press the pause button on business topics for a moment to ask, “How are you doing?” “How are your family and loved one’s.” These are the genuine gestures that differentiate bosses from leaders.
3. Leaders have fears too…it’s ok to admit it: Understanding that COVID-19 is scary and unfamiliar, it would be unrealistic to expect leaders to have all the answers and no fears about the current situation. Sharing your fears, within reason, humanizes you as a leader and makes you more relatable. Assure the team that while you may not have all the answers, you’re committed to helping them navigate through these uncertain times.
4. Don’t let social distancing become social disconnection: Overnight working from home has become a mandate vs a privilege and social distancing has turned virtual meeting platforms into your new all-purpose meeting rooms and favorite HH location. Fight the urge to streamline communication, especially my introverts out there, by canceling meetings that were typically held in person or by relying on email as your go to form of communication. Take advantage of the many virtual meeting tools to help keep your team connected. Your team needs to stay connected now more than ever!
5. Communicate, communicate, communicate: Frequent factual transparent communication helps to ease anxiety and stress during turbulent times. Most people would rather hear bad news vs no news…just ask the millions of people who are glued to their TV’s daily to see updates on COVID-19. The news isn’t good but being informed is empowering. Silence is often interpreted as bad news and hidden agendas, whether true or not. Leaders who keep their teams informed are able to build trust and ultimately have more productive teams. Once the team understands what’s going, and how it impacts them, they can stop theorizing and focus on work.
Strong leadership will determine how we emerge from this pandemic. Your teams are counting on you to pull them through. Focus on being a leader that others want to follow, and you’ll be on the right path. Stay healthy my friends!
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